Thomas Hungerford (speaker)
Farley Church
.
Sir Thomas de Hungerford (died 3 December 1397) although that office had existed before his tenure.
Origins
Hungerford was the son of Walter de Hungerford of
Member of Parliament for Wiltshire, in 1331/2, 1333/4 and 1336. His mother was Elizabeth FitzJohn, daughter and heiress of Sir Adam FitzJohn of Cherhill
in Wiltshire. The Hungerford family had been seated in Wiltshire since at least the twelfth century.
Uncle
Thomas's uncle was Robert Hungerford (d.1355), a
Member of Parliament for Wiltshire in 1316 and a commissioner to inquire into the possessions of the Despensers after their attainder in 1328, and gave much land to the hospital at Calne in memory of his first wife, Joan, to the church of Hungerford, Berkshire, and to other religious foundations. He was buried in 1355 in Hungerford Church, where an elaborate monument long existed above his grave. An inscription to his memory is still extant in the church. His second wife was Geva, widow of Adam de Stokke, but he left no issue.[4]
Career
Hungerford was
Member of Parliament for Somerset in 1378, 1382, 1388, and 1390. He was returned for both constituencies in 1384 and January 1389/90. He was knighted in February 1375. He was closely associated with John of Gaunt and acted for some time as steward of Gaunt's household.[3]
Owing to Gaunt's influence, he was chosen in January 1376/7, in the last of
Farleigh Castle. In about 1384 he aroused the suspicion of King Richard II, who attached him, but he obtained a pardon and also a confirmation of his free warren at Farleigh.[7]
Marriages and children
He married twice:
- Firstly to Eleanor Strug, daughter and heiress of Sir John Strug of Heytesbury;
- Secondly to Joan Hussey (d. 1 March 1412), heiress of Sir Edmund Hussey of Holbrook, by whom he had one surviving son and heir, three other sons having predeceased him:[7]
- Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (d. 1449)
Death and burial
Hungerford died at Farleigh on 3 December 1397, and was buried in the Chapel of St Anne (north transept chapel) of St Leonard's Chapel, Farleigh Hungerford Castle,Hoare's Modern History of Wiltshire, Heytesbury Hundred, p. 90.
Sources
- Lee Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 28, pp. 257,258
- Dugdale's Baronage;
- Collinson's Somerset, iii.353;
- Manning's Lives of the Speakers;
- Returns of members of parliament;
- Hoare's Hungerfordiana, privately printed, 1823;
- Canon Jackson's Guide to Farleigh-Hungerford, 1853.
- Attribution
- History of Parliament HUNGERFORD, Sir Thomas (d.1397), of Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset and Heytesbury, Wilts
- Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
References
- History of Parliamentbiography
- ^ d'Ewes, Simonds (1682). "Journal of the House of Commons: January 1559". The Journals of All the Parliaments During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. Shannon, Ireland. p. 37-44 – via British History Online.
- ^ a b Lee Vol 28, pp. 257,258.
- ^ Lee Vol 28, p. 257 cf. GouGrH, Sepulchral Monuments, i. 107, plate xxxviii; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. viii. 464, ix. 49, 165, 293.
- ^ Lee Vol 28, p. 258 Cites: Stubbs, Constit. Hist. 1883, ii. 456.
- ^ Lee, Vol 28, p. 258 Cites: cf. Stubbs, iii. 453.
- ^ a b Lee Vol 28, p. 258.
- History of Parliament biography of "Hungerford, Sir Thomas (d.1397), of Farleigh Hungerford, Som. and Heytesbury, Wilts."
- ^ Lee Vol 28, p. 258 Citation: Leland, Itin. ed. Hearne, ii. 31.
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