Thomas Baynham of Clearwell (1422-1500)
Born: 1422 at Mitcheldean
Parents: Robert Baynham and Margaret Abrahall
Married: 1458 to Margaret Hody and 1470 to Alice Walwyn
Died: 1500 at Clearwell
Thomas, my eleven times great-grandfather, was born at Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire on 9th April 1422.
He married Margaret Hody, daughter of Sir John Hody, at Stowell, Somerset in 1458, presumably at St. Mary Magdalene Church, when he was 36 and she was 34. They had two sons – Alexander in 1459 and William in c.1463. Margaret is thought to have died later in the 1460s.
Thomas married Alice Walwyn, daughter of William Walwyn of Bickerton, at ………………. Church in ………………..in 1470, when he was 48 and she was 18. They had six children: Isabel in 1471; Elizabeth in 1474; Anne in 1475; Jane in 1476; Christopher, my ten times great-grandfather, c.1478; Agnes (Susanna) in 1482. Alice died in 1518, aged 66.
Thomas also had an illegitimate daughter, Maud.
Thomas died at Clearwell on 16th February 1500, aged 77.
Thomas was born on 9th April 1422 at Mitcheldean in Gloucesterhire, the eldest child of Robert Ap Eynon (or Einon) and Margaret Abrahall, and was baptised on 1st June at the parish church of St Michael.
He was just 14 years old when his father Robert died in 1436 – the Inquisition Post Mortem for Robert, taken on 22nd October, found that “Thomas Baynam, his son and next heir, is aged 14 years 5 months and 3 days”. So Thomas was too young to inherit and would have been a ward until his coming of age at 21.
On 12th February 1438, William Brownyng was appointed “to have the marriage of Thomas, son and heir of Robert Baynam, late tenant in chief, paying for the same 100 marks in hand at the receipt of the Exchequer”. It appears that William Brownyng (or Brounyng) was sometime Escheator for Gloucestershire as he had taken the Inquisition Post Mortem for Thomas’ father Robert two years earlier.
On 13th July 1443 a Writ de Etate Probanda was issued, to set up an inquisition of proof of age for Thomas – to evidence that he was now 21.
The inquisition was taken on 21st January 1444, by Escheator Delariver. It records: “the jurors swear that he was born at Mitcheldean on the feast of St Nichomedis [1st June] 1422 and baptised on the same day in the church there, and was aged 21 on the same feast, 1443. They know and recall this for the following reasons.
John Estcourt, knight, aged 55 and more, saw Richard Wethyr, rector of the church, lift Thomas from the font. Thomas Rous, knight, aged 70 and more, knows because his daughter Katherine married John Yong at Mitcheldean on the same day. Richard Garon, aged 58 and more, on the same day bought a white horse with a black foot for 5 marks from Robert Baynam at Mitcheldean. Richard Kemyll, aged 55 and more, on the same day took at farm a bovate of land in Mitcheldean from Robert Baynam for 21 years, paying 6s. 6d. yearly. William Pricke, aged 52 and more, carried Thomas in his arms to and from the church. Thomas Hoke, aged 70 and more, knows because his son Edward was born on the same day at Mitcheldean. John Venne, aged 62 and more, on the same day at Mitcheldean was gravely wounded in the shin by an arrow shot by Richard Bonynton. Guy Dobyns, aged 49 and more, rode to Longnor to fetch Joan Karles and brought her to Mitcheldean to lift Thomas from the font. John Halle, aged 55 and more, fell from a black horse at Mitcheldean and broke his arm on the same day. John Mody, aged 62 and more, was espoused to Alice Payn at Mitcheldean on the same day. Walter Bayly, aged 73 and more, carried chrism to the font for the baptism. William Willys, aged 64 and more, was hired by Robert Baynam on the same day to build him a new grange in a tenement at Mitcheldean”.
On 6th July 1444 an Order was given to the escheator in Gloucestershire “to give Thomas Baynam, son and heir of Robert Baynam, seisin of his father’s lands; as he has proved his age before the escheator, and for 6s. and 8d. paid in the hanaper the king has respited his homage and fealty until Easter day next”.
Easter day next was 6th April 1445, so Thomas would have travelled to court just before his 23rd birthday in order to pay homage to King Henry VI. Henry was preparing for his impending marriage to Margaret of Anjou; she arrived in England on 9th April and they were married on 22nd at Titchfield Abbey in Hampshire. Where was the king and his court on Easter Day?
Thomas’ first marriage was to Margaret Hody in 1458, at Stowell in Somerset – presumably at St. Mary Magdalene Church. She was the daughter of Sir John Hody (d.1441), Lord Chief Justice of England [ add more on Sir John Hody ]. They had two sons, Alexander in 1459 and William in 1463. It is possible that Margaret died in childbirth.
In 1470 Thomas married Alice Walwyn, daughter of William Walwyn [refer to Alice’s pedigree ].
Thomas had inherited two thirds of the Manor of Dene Magna (now Mitcheldean) from his father, Robert Baynham, when Robert died in 1436; this part was once owned by Thomas’ great-great-great-grandmother Johanna de Dene, the elder daughter and senior co-heir of William de Dene IV who died in 1319. The other part of the Manor was inherited by Thomas’ second wife Alice Walwyn; this part had been owned by the younger daughter and second co-heir of William de Dene IV, Isabella. With her, Alice also brought Clearwell Court and surrounding lands so after his marriage to her in 1470, Thomas passed his share of the Mitcheldean Manor, including lands at Westbury-on-Severn, to his eldest son Alexander and went to live on the Clearwell Estate.
Thomas and Alice’s first child was a daughter, Anne. She married Henry Clifford but had no children with him. Later she married William Trye (1468-1524), son of Wliiam Trye and Isabel Berkeley; they had one son, Edward (1494-1526). Anne died in 1511.
Their second daughter Elizabeth would later marry Robert Russell of Strensham in Worcestershire (1460-1502) and become the great-grandmother of Thomas Russell (1570-1634), overseer of the will of William Shakespeare.
After the death of Robert Russell, Elizabeth married Robert Throckmorton of Coughton Court in Warwickshire (1451-1518) who died in Italy on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She died in 1511 and was buried in the church of St. John the Baptist at Strensham where there is a brass to her and Robert on the north wall of the chancel.
“here lyeth Robert Russell of Strensham, esquire sometyme lord of this manor, and Elizabeth his wife, which Robert deceased the 28th day of June in the yere of our Lord 1502 on whose soules Jesu have mercy amen”.
A third daughter Isabel was born at Clearwell. In c.1490 she married Sir Giles Brydges of Coberley in Gloucestershire, a knight of the body to Henry VII, who died in 1511. In the following year, as Isabel Brugge or Bruggges of Coberley she was included in a royal pardon by King Henry VIII at the beginning of the third year of his reign.
Isabel died around 1515 and is buried in St. Giles’ church at Coberley, where there is a small brass bearing the arms of Brydges & Baynham, all that remains of the monumental brass of Sir Giles, Isabel and their children.
One of her children, John Brydges (1493-1557) was knighted in 1513 after fighting in France at Therouanne and Tournai and later attended King Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, representing Gloucestershire (along with his uncle Sir Christopher Baynham). He later became High Sheriff of Wiltshire and in 1554 was created Baron Chandos by Queen Mary I and given Sudeley Castle. As Lieutenant of the Tower of London he at various times had custody of Thomas Wyatt, Lady Jane Grey and Princess Elizabeth Tudor. He was married to Elizabeth grey, daughter of Edmund Grey, 9th baron grey of Wilton and had 11 children. He is buried in Sudeley Church.
Their only son Christopher, my ten times great-grandfather, was born about 1478 – when Thomas was 56.
Another daughter, Agnes (Susanna), married Ralph Butler of Badmington in Gloucestershire (1480-c.1523), son of John Butler and Elizabeth Langston in 1510; she produced a son John in 1512. Thomas and Alice’s last child was another daughter named Jane. She married Fulke Walwyn (1467-1509) and produced a daughter. Thomas also had an illegitimate daughter, Maud who married William Wyrrall (d. 1577) of Bicknor in Gloucestershire and had four sons and five daughters; Maud died in 1563.
The first reference to Thomas acting in an official role is recorded in a grant of licence on 1st March 1451 to Edmund Ferrers to enter the manor of Teynton which states that ” … because the manor is held in chief by knight service, as was found after the death of William Ferrers, knight, by an inquisition taken at Tewkesbury, co. Gloucester, on 30 September last [1450] before Thomas Baynam, escheator in the county, the manor was taken into the king’s hands.” In 1450 Thomas was 28.
Thomas presented to the Church of Dene Magna three times – once in 1469 and twice in 1485.
[ when did he fund the new chapel in the church? ]
On 2nd June 1470, aged 48, he joined his first commission – he was appointed to a Commission of Array “in the forest of Dene”. The other appointees were “John, earl of Worcester, John Barre, knight … and William Walweyn” (his father-in-law?).
Around this time ‘Thomas Beynam of Mitcheldean’ appears as plaintiff with others, ironmasters, in a case in the Court of Chancery, Six Clerks Office, brought against John Acton, steward of Kidderminster; it concerned an action of trespass brought by John Forde of Coventry against the complainants “because their servants stopped at Newenham [Newnham, in the Forest of Dean], a quantity of Spanish iron consigned to him” and included a petition for a writ of certiorari.
On 30th June 1471 he was appointed to his first Commission of the Peace for Gloucestershire – recorded as ‘Thomas Baynham’.
Similar appointments followed throughtout the 1470s, 1480s and 1490s; and finally in 1499, the last commission to be held before his death.
On several of these commissions he was joined by his three sons – Alexander, William and Christopher.
Also in 1471 Thomas was appointed Sheriff of Gloucestershire for the first time – on 9th November, recorded as ‘Thomas Baynam’.
On 7th March 1472 he was appointed to another Commission of Array, this time for the whole county of Gloucestershire (not just the Forest of Dean).
A repeat appointment followed on 18th June 1473.
In 1476 Robert Hyet, Thomas Baynam and three others, including the Sheriff, were appointed by the king to enquire into a matter that concerned land in the manor of Staunton. An inquisition had found that Richard Staunton had by charter in 1427 enfeoffed Robert Joce and others; and that later Richard’s son and heir Thomas had agreed with William Walshe that he would marry William’s daughter Joan and William would pay him 40l.. and Joan should have a life interest in the property, whereupon at Thomas’s request the surviving feoffees made a grant to Joan in 1458. However, the king was now given to understand that Richard did not make the enfeoffment after all …
In 1477 Thomas became Sheriff of Gloucestershire for a second time – on 5th November, recorded as ‘Thomas Bayneham’.
In 1478 a commitment by mainprise of the keeping of the manor of Staunton on 18th April recited that it had been “taken into the king’s hand by colour of an inquisition taken on 7th February last at Gloucestre before Robert Hyet by virtue of certain letters patent directed to him and to Thomas Baynam and others” – this was the outcome from the appointment in 1476 (above).
In the same year Thomas received his first appointment as Warden of the Forest of Dean and Constable of St. Briavels Castle – a grant in survivorship to Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, and Thomas Baynham on 12th December; this tenure lasted until 1481 when the letters patent were surrendered and a new grant was made by the king.
His next role was on a Commission of Oyer and Terminer, to which he was appointed on 5th July 1479 – “Commission of oyer and terminer to Richard Grey, knight, son of the king’s consort Elizabeth, queen of England, Thomas Lytelton, knight, Richard Croft, knight, Thomas Braynton, Thomas ap Morgan of Gloucestre, Thomas Baynham, Roger Bodnam and Robert ap Jenkyn touching certain offences committed within the parts of South Wales and the marches of the same by John Herbert alias John Bastard”.
In 1481 Thomas’ position as Constable of St Briavel’s Castle was extended on 12th March by a “grant for life to the king’s kinsman Anthony, earl Ryvers, the king’s servant Robert Poyntz, esquire of the body, and Thomas Beynam, esquire of the office of constable of the king’s castle of St. Briavels in the forest of Dene, co. Gloucester, receiving the accustomed fees at the hands of the receivers of the lordship of Newelond with all other profits, in lieu of a like grant to the said earl and Thomas by letters patent dated 12 December 18 Edward IV, surrendered”.
In 1483, on April 27 he was one of seven men to receive a commission for Gloucestershire, “to assess certain subsidies granted to the late king [Edward IV] by the commons of the realm in the last Parliament at Westminster from aliens … and to send their inquisitions to the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer and to appoint collectors so that the sums shall be answered for at Whitsunday”.
In the same year, on 31st August his position as Constable of St Briavel’s Castle was extended again, this time jointly with a Richard Williams – “Grant, during pleasure, to the king’s servant Richard Williams, esquire, one of the ushers of the king’s chamber, and Thomas Baynam, esquire, of the office of constable of Seint Brevellys in the forest of Dene, with the accustomed fees from the issues of the forest at the hands of the receiver there or the bailiff of Newland, parcel of the same, and all other profits”.
In 1484 he was appointed to two more Commissions of Array for Gloucestershire – on 1st May and 8th December; his eldest son Sir Alexander was also a member of both commissions.
On 21st November 1485, he appears as Thomas Beynham with others (as trustees?) in a deed of gift by Laurence Teste, gentilman of Gloucester and late mercer of London.
Repeat appointments as a Commissioner followed in 1486. This time he was joined as a Commissioner of the Peace by his second son William, for whom it was a first appointment.
On 20th October 1489, again with his son William and six others (including Thomas Morgan, father-in-law of his youngest son Christopher), he received a commission “to deliver the goal of Gloucester castle”.
On 13th February 1490 Thomas was given a grant “by mainprise found before the barons of the Exchequer, of the lordship, town and castle of St. Briavels and the king’s forest of Dean, co. Gloucester, with all lands, parks, rents, courts, leets, mines, aeries of hawks, services, profits, commodities and liberties pertaining to the said lordship, town, castle and forest; to hold from Michaelmas last for 3 years, rendering 80l. yearly at the feast of All Saints …”
An indenture dated 4th September 1491 between Thomas Baynham and Morgan Thomas and his wife Lucy enfeoffed Thomas, Alexander and William Baynham, William and Reynold Hody and Thomas Basshe in various manors and other properties.
On 13th February 1494 Thomas was again given a grant “by mainprise found before the barons of the Exchequer, of the lordship, town and castle of St. Briavels and the king’s forest of Dean, co. Gloucester” with all the lands and other rights which he had previousy received in 1490 – this time for 20 years from Michaelmas 1493, rendering the same yearly amount 0f 80l., but this time at the feast of the Purification.
On 7th April of the same year Thomas, along with his three sons Alexander, Christopher and William (and others), was recorded as feoffee of the manor of Puplyngton and other lands in the IPM of Robert Russell Senior. Robert had previously agreed with Thomas that his son and heir Robert Russell the Younger would marry Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth and in consideration of a sum of money paid to Robert Senior by Thomas he enfeoffed the Baynhams and others to the use of Robert the Younger and Elizabeth, now his wife (see Strensham brass above).
A week later on 14th April, Thomas is shown as a witness to a release and quitclaim by Richard Bolyngeop of Whiteclif and Philip Longe of Stanton in Gloucestershire.
On 10th May 1494 Thomas received a release and quitclaim of all lands and tenements, rents, reversions and services in the parishes of Newland and Staunton and elsewhere in the forest from his cousin Robert Beynam. Robert is described as ‘son and heir of William brother of Robert Beynam esquire, of the forest of Dene’; Thomas is described as ‘son of Robert Beynam, his cousin‘.
So Robert the donor is the son of Thomas’ uncle William – this must be the William, son of John ap Eynon, born in 1402.
On 24th November 1498 Thomas was again granted the lordship, town and castle of St. Briavels, this time jointly with “Christopher Baynam (his son), esquire for the body” with all the lands and other rights which Thomas had previousy received in 1490 and 1494 – this time for 30 years from Michaelmas 1497, rendering the same yearly amount of 80l. plus an increment of 3l. 6s. 8d., at the feast of All Saints.
Thomas died on 16th February 1500 at Clearwell, aged 78.
He is buried in the church of St. Michael in Mitcheldean, where there is a wall plaque which commemorates him and his two wives. The ‘monumental brasses’ of his wives were moved onto the plaque from their original position in the North Aisle during a restoration of the church in 1853.
The inscription on the plaque reads: Thomas ap Eynon (alias Baynham) esq, lord of the manor of Michel Dean was born 9th April 1422 & died 16th February 1499. The said Thomas married (1) Margaret daughter of Mr Justice John Hodye, mother of Sir Alexander Baynham, knight, his eldest son and heir (2) Alice daughter & heiress of William Walwyn esq, mother of Sir Christopher Baynham, knight, of Clowerwell. She married 2ndly with Sir Walter Denys, knight, & died the 10th day of October 1518. May God have mercy upon them. Amen.
The ancestral arms of the Baynham family were Gules, a lion passant ermine but Thomas is recorded as receiving a new grant of arms Gules, a chevron between three bulls’ heads caboshed argent, horned or, on the point of the chevron a crescent for difference and these are the ones which appear at the top of the plaque.
On 29th May a Writ of diem clausit extremum was issued to the local escheator in respect of “Thomas Baynham esquire; Gloucester and the adjacent march of Wales”.
Following his death, no IPM was taken in Gloucestershire but there was one taken in Hereforshire on 12th June 1500 which related entirely to the properties of his second wife Alice; it did however confirm his date of death.
Alice survived Thomas and married Sir Walter Denys of Dyrham in Gloucestershire, as his fourth wife; he died in 1505. She survived him too and, as ‘Alice Denys —[ Thomas] — Baynam, esq., co. Glouc., widow‘, was included in a royal pardon by King Henry VIII on his accession in 1509.
She died in October 1518, aged 66.
Notes:
The IPM taken after the death of his father Robert states that Thomas was 14 years 5 months and 3 days old on 12th September 1436, the day that Robert died.
Thomas was baptised on 1st June 1422, but it is possible that he was also born on that day – see Holford, M. L. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, 21 to 25 Henry VI, 1442-1447 (Woodbridge, 2009), no. 145
The baptism entry in the Bishop’s Register says that he was baptised by the Rector, Robert Wethyr. However the list of rectors of St. Michael’s church contained in BGAS Transactions Vol 6 shows a William Wyther appointed as Rector on 19th April 1418
Thomas Baynham’s Inquisition Post Mortem was held on 12th June 1500
Alice Walwyn’s Will was proved on 4th February 1519
Acknowledgements:
- 1438 Appointment of William Browning to have the marriage of Thomas Baynham – National Archives, C 66/441, m. 9
- 1443-4 Writ de Etate Probanda & Inquisition for proof of age of Thomas Baynham – National Archives, C 139/112/70, mm. 1-2
- 1444 Grant to Thomas Baynham of seisin of his father’s lands – National Arhives, C 54/294, m. 9
- 1451 Licence to Edmund Ferrers, referring to Thomas Baynham as escheator – National Archives, C 66/472, m. 11
- 1470 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of Array in the Forest of Dean – National Archives, C 66/526, m. 9d
- c.1470 Thomas Baynham as plaintiff in case in Chancery against John Acton – National Archives, C 1/45/127
- 1471 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of the Peace – National Archives, C 66/527, m. 29d
- 1471 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Sheriff of Gloucestershire – National Archives, C 60/280, m. 5
- 1472 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of Array in the county of Gloucestershire – National Archives, C 66/529, m. 26d
- 1476 Appointment of Thomas Baynham to Commission of Enquiry – National Archives, C 66/539, m. 10d
- 1477 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Sheriff of Gloucestershire – National Archives, C 60/286, m. 11
- 1478 Commitment by Mainprise, referring to Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of Enquiry – National Archives, C 60/287, m. 5
- 1479 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of Oyez and Terminer – National Archives, C 66/544, m. 25d
- 1481 Extension of appointment of Thomas Baynham as Constable of St. Briavels Castle – National Archives, C 60/547, m. 3
- 1483 Appointment of Thomas Baynham to Commission to Assess Subsidies – National Archives, C 66/551, m. 6d
- 1483 Re-appointment of Thomas Baynham as Constable of St. Briavels Castle – National Archives, C 60/554, m. 26
- 1484 (May) Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of Array – National Archives, C 66/553, m. 20d
- 1484 (December) Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of Array – National Archives, C 66/557, m. 20d (starts 21d)
- 1485 Thomas Baynham as recipient with others of gift by Laurence Teste – National Archives, C 54/346, m. 8d (item 75)
- 1486 Appointment of Thomas Baynham as Commissioner of the Peace – National Archives, C 66/561, m. 6 (31d)
- 1489 Commission to Thomas Baynham & others to deliver the goal of Gloucester castle – National Archives, C 66/570, m. 4
- 1490 Grant to Thomas Baynham of the lordship, town and castle of St. Briavels – National Archives, C 60/300, m. 15
- 1491 Indenture between Thomas Baynham and Morgan Thomas & his wife – National Archives, C 54/352, m. 11d (item 604)
- 1494 Re-grant to Thomas Baynham of the lordship, town and castle of St. Briavels – National Archives, C 60/304, m. 15
- 1494 Thomas Baynham as feoffee, with sons, of manor of Puplyngton in IPM of Robert Russell Senior – National Archives, C 149.9.17, m.
- 1494 Thomas Baynham as witness to a release and quitclaim by Bolyngeop and Longe – National Archives, C 54/357, m. 9 (item 978)
- 1494 Release and Quitclaim to Thomas Baynham from his cousin Robert Baynham – National Archives, C 54/354, m. m. 1d (item 708)
- 1498 Re-grant to Thomas Baynham (jointly with his son Christopher) of the lordship, town and castle of St. Briavels – National Archives, C 60/309, m. 13
- 1500 Writ of Diem Clausit Extremum for Thomas Baynham – National Archives, C 60/310, m. 4
- 1500 Inquisition Post Mortem for Thomas Baynham (Herefordshire) – National Archives, C 142/23/178 (item 739)
- Portrait of Sir John Brydges – Wikimedia Commons
- Strensham brass – Mark Baynham
- Coberley brass – Mark Baynham
- Mitcheldean brasses – Mark Baynham