Thomas West (abt. 1556 - 1602)

Born about 1556 in England

Ancestors

Husband of Anne (Knollys) West — married 19 Nov 1571 in England

Descendants

Died 24 Mar 1602 at about age 46 in England

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Biography

Thomas West, Knt., 2nd Lord La Warr (or De la Warr), of Wherwell, Hampshire^[1][2]

Birth and Parentage

Thomas West, born c. 1556 (aged 40 in 1596^[1][2][3]), was the eldest son and heir of William West, Knt., 1st Lord De La Warr, by his first wife, Elizabeth Strange, the daughter of Thomas Strange of Chesterton, Gloucestershire.^{[1][2][4][3][5]}

Marriage and Children

Thomas West married, on 19 November 1571, Anne, daughter of Francis Knolles (or Knollys, Knowles), K.G.,^[3] and Katherine Carey, daughter of William Carey, Esq.^[1][2]

Children: Thomas and Anne had six sons and eight daughters.^[1][2][6]

Sons

1. Robert West, Knt.^[1][2][4]
2. Thomas West, Knt., 3rd Lord La Warr, Governor of Virginia,^[1][3][4] born 9 July 1577, died 7 June 1618, married Cecily Shirley^[7] and had seven chlidren.^[2]
3. Walsingham West^[1][2]
4. Francis West, Esq., Governor of Virginia,^[1] born 28 October 1586, died before 28 April 1634, married three times.^[2]
5. Col. John West, Governor of Virginia,^[1] born 14 December 1590, died in 1659, married Anne ____ and had one son.^[2]
6. Lieut. Col. Nathaniel West,^[1] born 30 November 1592, died before February 1623, married Frances Greville and had one son.^[2]

Daughters

1. Elizabeth West, (first of name)^[1][2] born 11 September 1573, died 15 January 1632/3. married Herbert Pelham, Esq., son and heir of Anthony Pelham.^[8][9]
2. Lettice West, married Henry Ludlow, Esq.^[1][2]
3. Anne West^[1][2][10]
4. Penelope West, married Herbert Pelham, Esq., son and heir of Herbert Pelham^[1][2]
5. Katherine West^[1][2]
6. Helen West, born 15 December 1587, died before 11 May 1637, married William Savage, Knt.^[1][2]
7. Anne West (2nd of the name),^[1] born 13 February 1588, married (1) John Pellatt, Esq.,^[11] (2) Rev. Christopher Swale, (3) Rev. Leonard Lechford^[2][12]
8. Elizabeth West (2nd of the name), married Richard Saltonstall, Knt.^[1][2]

Member of Parliament

Thomas may have sat in the House of Commons five times, representing:

• Chichester, Sussex, 1571^{[1][2][3][4][13]}
• East Looe, Cornwall, 1572-1583^{[1][2][3][4][13]}
• Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, 1586-1587^[1][2][3][4]
• Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 1592-1593^[1][2][3][4]
• Hampshire, 1588-1589 (Knight of the Shire)^{[1][2][3][13]}

Uncertainties about which Thomas West represented Chichester, East Looe and Hampshire are discussed in the Research Notes.

Knighthood

Thomas was knighted on 7 December 1587^[3] by Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester when the Earl landed at Flushing (Vlissingen) in what is now the Netherlands.^[14]

Offices Held

Thomas was a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire from 1582 and for Sussex from 1596.^[4]

He was Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire in 1585^[1][2] and Sheriff of Hampshire in 1585/6.^[1][2][3] He also held the post of Keeper of the Forests of Alice Holt and Wormer".^[1][2][4] From 1590 he was a Chamberlain of the Exchequer.^[4]

In 1595/6 (38 Elizabeth) Thomas was appointed one of the commissioners for putting in execution an act passed in the first year of her reign, "An acte restoring to the crowne of the ancient jurisdiction over the state, ecclesiasticall and spirituall, and abolishing all foreigne power repugnant to the same."^[15]

Elevation to the Peerage

Thomas became 2nd Lord de la Warr in 1595 on the death of his father.^[1][2] This was the second creation of the title, which had previously fallen into abeyance in 1554 on the death of Thomas West, 9th Baron de la Warr of the original creation.^[16] In 1597 Thomas successfully petitioned the House of Lords to have the "precedency" of the original creation of the title,^[1][2][3] and thereafter on occasions styled himself the 11th Baron de la Warr.^[17]

Last Years and Death

In 1599 Thomas set off with the Earl of Essex for Ireland, but there is no evidence that he actually reached Ireland.^[4] Two years later, in 1601, his rank as peer meant he took part in the trials of the Earls of Essex and Southampton.^[2][3][4] His son Thomas had been involved in Essex's rebellion, and had to give a bond of £2000 and pay a fine of £1000.^[7] This made a sizeable dent in Thomas's resources.^[4] During the trial the Earl of Essex asked Thomas's forgiveness for bringing his son into danger.^[15]

Thomas died on 24 March 1601/2 (1602 in modern reckoning).^[1][2][3] He left no will.^[4]

Anne, his widow, was resident in the parish of St. Katherine Coleman, London in 1608. Her will, dated 2 July 1633, was proved on 17 August 1633.^[1][2]

Research Notes

Birth

About 1556 (location not stated).^[1][2] A birth date of 9 July 1557, in Halnaker, Sussex, England, was previously given, but with an unreliable source.^[18] The date was almost certainly a confusion with the birth date of his son Thomas, who was born on 9 July 1577.^[19]

Middle Name

Sir Thomas is often given the middle name Leighton on the internet. This has evidently spread from an original confusion with Sir Thomas Leighton, who married Elizabeth Knollys, the sister of the Anne Knollys who married Sir Thomas West.

Parliament

The History of Parliament Online states that there is a little uncertainty as to whether it was this Thomas West who represented Chichester and East Looe in Parliament. It is just possible it was his uncle Thomas West (d. 1622).^[4][13] It may also have been his uncle who represented Hampshire in Parliament in 1588-9, and the History of Parliament Online regards this as a bit more likely, as the Hampshire Member of Parliament was called Esquire, not Sir.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013), Vol V, pp 352-357, WEST #14 William West and WEST #15 Thomas West
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. IV, pp 323-329, WEST #14 William West and WEST #15 Thomas West, Google Books.
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13} George Edward Cokayne and Vicary Gibbs, eds. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. IV: Dacre - Dysart, 2nd edition. (London, 1916). Online at Archive.org, 159-160.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14} History of Parliament Online, entry for 'WEST, Thomas II (c.1550-1602), of Offington, Suss. and Wherwell, Hants'
5. ↑ Frederic William Weaver (ed.). The Visitations of the County of Somerset in the years 1531 and 1573, with additional Pedigrees, chiefly from the Visitation of 1591, printed by W Pollard, Exeter, 1885, p. 88, Internet Archive.
6. ↑ History of Parliament Online biography says he had six sons and six daughters.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} History of Parliament Online, entry for ['WEST, Thomas III (1577-1618), of Wherwell, Hants'.
8. ↑ Richardson, 'Magna Carta Ancestry, IV:329 WEST 16: Elizabeth West.
9. ↑ Elizabeth's husband Herbert Pelham-31 is the father of her sister Penelope's husband Herbert Pelham-202, but by his first wife, Katherine Thatcher; Elizabeth was his second wife. (Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, IV:327 WEST 15.iii and IV:329 WEST 16.)
10. ↑ Possibly born 21 May 1581 - the birthdate shown for West-1802 (the 2nd Anne of the name in the list of daughters above).
11. ↑ Michael Johnson Wood. The Earliest Shermans of Dedham, Essex, and their Wives, Part 4, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 167, July p. 224
12. ↑ Richardson, Royal Ancestry, V:356 WEST 15.vi.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4} History of Parliament Online, entry for 'WEST, Thomas I (d.1622), of Testwood in Eling, Hants'
14. ↑ W. A. Shaw. The Knights of England, Vol. II, Sherratt and Hughes, 1906, p. 86
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1} Collins's Peerage of England, augmented by Sir Egerton Brydges, Vol. V, London, 1812, p. 18
16. ↑ Wikipedia: Thomas West, 9th Baron de la Warr
17. ↑ Wikipedia: Thomas West, 2nd Baron de la Warr
18. ↑ Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (The Generations Network, Inc., Provo, UT, USA, 2004).
19. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'West, Thomas, third Baron De La Warr', print and online 2004, revised online 2008, available online via some libraries.

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013. See also WikiTree's source page for ‘’Royal Ancestry’’.
• Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011. See also WikiTree's source page for ‘’Magna Carta Ancestry.’’
• Cokayne, George Edward and Vicary Gibbs ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. IV: Dacre - Dysart, 2nd edition. (London, 1916).

See also:

• Wikipedia: Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr
• Brown, Alexander. Sir Thomas West, Third Lord De La Warr, in Magazine of American History, Vol. 9 no. 1 (Jan 1883), pp. 18-30, Internet Archive. A revised list of children was given by Brown in a later issue: Vol. 9 no. 6 (Jun 1883), pp. 462-464, Internet Archive. This is said to be a verbatim transcription of a family document, the "Bennet Roll", and now shows two daughters called Anne, but only one called Elizabeth. This same list was given by Brown, with his own footnotes added, in The Genesis of the United States, Houghton, Mifflin and Co, Vol. II, 1897, p. 1045, Internet Archive.
• Stone, Letta Brock. The West Family Register, W F Roberts, Washington, 1928, p. 377, PDF downloadable at Internet Archive
• Siege of Sluis leading up to Spanish Armada. [1]
• Benolte, Thomas; Philipot, John; & Owen, George. The Visitations of the County of Sussex: 1530 and 1633-4. London: The Harleian Society, 1905. Vol LIII, p 153, Pellett.

Acknowledgements

See the Changes tab for details of edits to this profile. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Magna Carta Project

This profile was re-reviewed and approved for the Magna Carta Project 11 Jun 2020 by Thiessen-117.

Thomas West is in trails badged by the Magna Carta Project in May 2015 (and re-reviewed in June 2020) from the West Gateways Gateway Ancestors (Thomas West, Francis West Esq., John West, Nathaniel West, Elizabeth (West) Saltonstall, Anne Humphrey and Herbert Pelham) to Magna Carta Surety Barons William de Mowbray, Gilbert de Clare, Richard de Clare, John de Lacy, Saher de Quincy, Hugh le Bigod and Roger Bigod. The trails are outlined in the Magna Carta Trails section on John West's profile (see also Humphrey and Pelham trails).

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".