Thomas White MP (abt. 1517 - 1590)

Born about 1517 in Poole, Dorset, England

Ancestors

Husband of Ann (Williams) White — married before 1548 in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 21 Dec 1590 at about age 73 in Fiddleford Manor, Near Sturminster Newton, Dorset, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ted Pitman [send private message]

Biography

Birth

Thomas White was born in abt 1517, probably in Poole, Dorset ,the son of Thomas White, a prominent Catholic and wealthy merchant and Cicily Webbe the daughter of William Webb alias Kellow, the MP for Salisbury . ^{[1] [2]}

Occupation and Public Life

He worked with his father, retaining a counting house and cellars in his fathers house and another rented property in Poole after his death in 1557 . He also inherited land in four South Western counties. He was granted licence to enter his lands on 4th July 1557^[3] He held the offices of

Bailiff in 1545

Mayor in 1551 at age 34

MP; the second member for Poole in 1553. He shared £4 3s.4d with the other member as expenses for the sitting.

Subsidy collector for Puddletown 1557

^[4]

Marriage and Children

Thomas married Anne Williams the daughter of Margarie Baker of Lyme and John William of Herringston^[5] This marriage date is an estimate based upon the fact that both the elder daughters were married in 1565, however, his eldest living son does not appear to have been born at the time that his grandfather's will was written on in 1555 ^[6] Their children were;

Edith married Rodger Stanter of Horningsham Wiltshire

Cecile married Hugh Bamfield of Fittleford

Ann (unmarried in 1565)

Thomas born after 1555 and before 1560^[7]

Bartholomew born before 1565 ^[8] though this makes impossible a statement that he matriculated at age 12 in 1581 however 12 is also an unlikely age for Matriculation ( ^[9]

Fiddleford

In 1539 his father Thomas White of Poole bought or obtained the tenancy of Fyttlleford (now called Fiddleford) Manor near Sturminster Newton, Dorset.^[10]

The house dated from the 14th century and still contained the traditional great hall with open hearth and solar. Thomas and Anne appear to have lived at Fittleford and remodelled the building perhaps after the estate was conveyed to Thomas by the crown in 1576/7^[11]The hall was rebuilt in stone with a large fireplace and a great bay or oriel window was added. The roof was extensively altered and an ornate plaster ceiling put in place. Staircases were added to reach the upper rooms. The house still bears witness to Thomas and Ann with their intials carved above the stone doorway surrounds . Recent research using dendrochronology has also dated the roof timbers to the time just prior to Thomas's death.^[12],^[13] English Heritage says 'tenants' elsewhere says bought. The family certainly remained in possession until the time of Charles 1.

Grant of Arms

In 1559 Thomas became an armiger. His arms and crest were described as;

Arms : Per pale Or and Azure, on a fess engraved Argent between three

greyhounds courant counter-changed a fleur-de-lis between two lozenges Gules.

Crest : An arm embossed, couped above the elbow vested Or charged with

two bars wavy. Gules cuffed Argent, the hand holding by the legs a heron wing's expanded proper^[14]

Death and Burial

Thomas died on 21 Dec 1590.^[15] He was buried in the church at Sturminster Newton.(will of wife requests burial beside her husband in the aisle at that church)^[16] According to a typescript 'history of the Whites of Fiddleford' in the Poole Heritage centre, his Inquisition post mortem (PRO C142/228/36 33 Elizabeth ) his land holdings were much the same as those left by his father. According to the History of Parliament entry citing the same document 'his inheritance passed to his son Thomas, aged 30'

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/webbe-william-1466-1523
2. ↑ Will of William Kellowe or Kellow or William Webbe or Web, Mercer or Merchant of Salisbury, Wiltshire National Archives PROB 11/21/199 , Probate date 1523 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D975568 viewed on Ancestry.co.uk (misindexed as William Kellowe of 'New sap' (sic)

   Text '...to Cecily Whight my daughter, the wife of Thomas of Pole and to her heirs lawfully [ ] , Thomas Whight the son of the said Cicily and to Edith and Johane, tenne pounds sterling? or the value of that in plate to be delivered to them when they com to lawful age by my executors

   (the children also received other bequests including to the girls some beads and an almanac and to Thomas a silver ? The executor was their father, Thomas Whight)
3. ↑ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1555-1557, 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, Part 6 p374 , volume 3, digitised p no 382 https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/79930?availability=Family%20History%20Library
4. ↑ MK Dale; WHITE, Thomas III (by 1517-90), of Fittleford in Sturminster Newton, Dorset. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/white-thomas-iii-1517-90
5. ↑ The visitation of the county of Dorset, taken in the year 1623. by St. George, Henry, 1581-1644; College of Arms (Great Britain); Lennard, Samson, d. 1633
6. ↑ Will of Thomas White of Whitte, merchant of Poole, probate date 9 July 1557 National Archives PROB 11/39/278 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D954766 viewed on Ancestry UK (indexed as Thomas Whitte, Poole, Dorss, England. The will includes

   small bequests to the three sons and two daughter of John Mann, that he begat upon my daughter* These are named, his 'godsonne' Thomas Mann, William Mann, John Mann, Agnes and Edyth. (* a tree at Poole local history centre suggests that John Mann was married to a daughter named Eleanor)

   small bequests to his god sonne Thomas Mesurer , Benjamin Mesurer and the unnamed daughters of his daughter Edyth and husband James Mesurer, with provision for similar bequests to any more children by the said James Mesurer and to any other husband after his death

   After provision for his wife Christian, his son Thomas White was to inherit the bulk of the estates , long lists of lands in including Fittleford and parts of surrounding parishes as well as elsewhere in Dorset , Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, to said sonne Thomas Whyte and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten or to be begotten (a phrase frequently used a in this will) but there was a default position in case Thomas had no male heirs (and none are named) for default of issue of the body of my said sonne, instructions were given for the division on the estate between Thomas Mann (the houses and lands in and around Poole plus some inherited by Thomas White senior from his mother) and to James and Edyth Mesurer. and her heirs (the estates elsewhere including Fittleford)

7. ↑ "He lived until 21 Dec. 1590, when his inheritance passed to his son Thomas, aged 30."The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982 published online http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/white-thomas-iii-1517-90 .
8. ↑ "The visitation of Dorsetshire, A.D. 1565; Coll. Armor. G. 8; Harl. mss. 888, 1092. Edited by Walter C. Metcalfe"https://archive.org/stream/visitationofdors00harvuoft/visitationofdors00harvuoft_djvu.txt
9. ↑ Bartholomew Matriculated aged 12 in 1581'West-Wicksted', in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford, 1891), pp. 1600-1626 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1600-1626 [accessed 9 August 2015
10. ↑ Hutchins History and Antiquities of Dorset " He died 28 Dec, 3 and 4 Philiip and Mary, seized of the manor of Fittleford, held by socage and 7s rent
11. ↑ Hutchins op cit "In the reign of Elizabeth this manor was in the hands of the crown and was conveyed to Thomas White Esq De minibus reginae amovendid de manerio de Frettleford in com Dorsetiae Thomas Whyte arm...19 Eliza.'
12. ↑ List entry for Ancient Monument, Fiddleford Manor http://list.historicengland.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1013372
13. ↑ http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/fiddleford-manor/history/
14. ↑ The visitation of Dorsetshire, A.D. 1565 op cit
15. ↑ History of Parliament online op cit
16. ↑ Will of Ann White of Fyttlleford, Dorset, England The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 86 viewable online on Ancestry UK