Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton
Sir Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (1495 – 23 August 1568) was an English nobleman and a follower of King
Early life
He was born in Wharton, Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Wharton of Wharton Hall and his wife Agnes Warcup, daughter of Reynold or Reginald Warcup of Smardale.[2] His younger brother was the English martyr Christopher Wharton. His father died around 1520, and in April 1522 he served on a raiding expedition into Scotland.[3]
Officer on the Scottish border
On 10 February 1524 he was placed on the commission for the peace in
In 1531 he purchased the manor of Healaugh, near Tadcaster where he resided for the latter part of his life.
Official posts
In 1532 he appears to have been captain of
During the northern rebellions of 1536 Wharton remained loyal to Henry VIII. In October 1536 the rebels marched on his house at Kirkby Stephen to force Wharton to join them, but he had escaped and joined the
Battle of Solway Moss
During 1542 both English and Scots were preparing for war, and Wharton submitted a plan for raiding Scotland and seizing the person of
The Rough Wooing
In 1543 Wharton was occupied with forays into Scotland, and with intrigues to win over disaffected Scots nobles and obtain control of the south-west of Scotland. For his services in these matters and at Solway Moss he was early in 1544 raised to the peerage as Baron Wharton, and in letters of the period was called "Lord Wharton." Exactly how this happened was the subject of later interest.[3][6]
Wharton's intelligence network included a Scottiah woman, Katherine Robinson. She came to him at Carlisle Castle in February 1543, at the start of the war known as the Rough Wooing and said that the Laird of Buccleuch was willing to capture Mary, Queen of Scots and bring her to him. Wharton was worried the Scottish queen would be harmed if Buccleuch or the Earl of Bothwell kidnapped her. The Duke of Suffolk advised him to give Buccleuch a non-committal answer.[7]
In 1544, Wharton acted as a commissioner to draw up terms and
In December 1546 Wharton wrote to Wriothesley about gold-mining in Scotland at Crawford Moor, and offered to investigate the ground. Wharton recalled a conversation with the Scottish ambassador Adam Otterburn, who said that James IV had mines but only found loose pieces of gold or gold ore rather than a vein, and spent more on the work than he recovered. The Duke of Albany also opened mines. Wharton owned a gold medallion coined by Albany, said to be minted from Scottish gold.[10]
War under Edward VI
With the accession of
In the autumn William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton was appointed Warden of the East Marches, but his relations with Wharton were strained, and led eventually to a challenge from Henry Wharton to Grey, though Somerset on 6 October 1549 forbade a duel. Their joint invasion of Scotland in February 1548 was a failure. Wharton and Lennox left Carlisle on the 20th, sending on Henry Wharton to burn Drumlanrig and Durisdeer. Wharton himself occupied Dumfries and Lochmaben, but on the 23rd a body of 'assured' Scots under Maxwell, who accompanied Henry Wharton, changed sides, joined Angus, and compelled Henry Wharton, with his cavalry, to escape across the mountains. News was brought to Carlisle that the whole expedition had perished, and Grey, who had penetrated as far as Haddington, retreated. In reality the Scots, after their defeat of Henry Wharton, were themselves thrown back by his father; many were captured or killed, but Wharton was forced to retreat, and Dumfries again fell into Scottish hands. In revenge for Maxwell's treason, Wharton hanged his pledges at Carlisle, and so initiated a lasting feud between the Whartons and the Maxwells.[3]
After Somerset's fall in October 1549 Wharton's place as warden was taken by his rival, Baron Dacre; but early in 1550 Wharton was appointed a commissioner to arrange terms of peace with Scotland and afterwards to divide the debatable land. He was one of the peers who tried and condemned Somerset on 1 December 1551. On 8 March 1552 the council effected a reconciliation between Wharton and Dacre; and when, in the following summer, Northumberland secured his own appointment as lord-warden-general, Wharton was on 31 July nominated his deputy-warden of the three marches.[3]
Under Queen Mary
On Edward VI's death Dacre sided at once with
In spite of advancing years, Wharton retained his wardenry throughout Mary's reign, the Earl of Northumberland being joined with him on 1 August 1557 when fresh trouble with the Scots was imminent (owing to the war with France). In the parliament of January 1558 a bill was introduced into the House of Lords for punishing the behaviour of the Earl of Cumberland's servants and tenants towards Wharton, but it did not get beyond the first reading.[3]
Later life
In June 1560 Norfolk, then lieutenant-general of the north, strongly urged Wharton's appointment as captain of Berwick-upon-Tweed, his restoration to the west marches being impossible because of his feud with Maxwell, who was now friendly to the English; but the recommendation was not adopted. He saw no further service, died at
Family
Wharton was twice married: first, before 4 July 1518, to Eleanor, daughter of Sir Bryan Stapleton of Wighill, near Healaugh; and, secondly, on 18 November 1561, to Anne, second daughter of Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury and widow of John Braye, 2nd Baron Braye, by whom he had no issue. By his first wife he had;
- Thomas Wharton, 2nd Baron Wharton
- Sir Henry Wharton, a dashing leader of horse, who served in many border raids, was knighted on 23 February 1547–8 for his services during the expedition to Durisdeer, led the horse to the relief of Haddington in July 1548, and died without issue about 1550, having married Jane, daughter of Thomas Mauleverer, and later wife of Robert, 6th Baron Ogle;
- Joanna, wife of William Penington of Muncaster, ancestor of the Barons Muncaster.[3]
- Agnes, who married, (1) Richard Musgrave. Their daughter Eleanor Musgrave (1546-1623) married the diplomat Robert Bowes, (2) Humphrey Musgrave of Hayton Castle in Cumbria.[11]
Legacy
Thomas Wharton was the founder of Kirkby Stephen Grammar School.[12]
References
- Wharton, Edward Ross (1898). The Whartons of Wharton Hall. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Wharton, Nathan Earl (1949). The Wharton Sleeve. San Marino, Calif.: privately published manuscript.
- Dale, Bryan (1906). Good Lord Wharton. London: The Congregational Union of England and Wales.
- Haynes, Samuel, ed., A Collection of State Papers, vol. 1, London (1740)
- HMC, Historical Manuscripts Commission, Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury, vol. 1 London (1883)
- James, M.E., Change and Continuity in the Tudor North: The Rise of Thomas First Lord Wharton, Borthwick Papers no. 27 (University of York, 1965)
- Davidson, Alan, 'Wharton, Thomas I (c. 1495–1568), of Wharton and Nateby, Westmorland, and Healaugh, Yorks', The History of Parliament 1509-1558 (article published 1982) Read here.
Notes
- ^ Subject studies include: M.E. James, Change and Continuity in the Tudor North: The Rise of Thomas First Lord Wharton, Borthwick Papers no. 27 (University of York, 1965); Alan Davidson, 'Wharton, Thomas I (c. 1495-1568), of Wharton and Nateby, Westmorland, and Healaugh, Yorks', The History of Parliament 1509-1558 (article published 1982) Read here.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29172. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21937. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ John Roche Dasent, ed., Acts of the Privy Council, vol. 1 (1890), 59, 63
- Charles Harding Firthconsidered therefore that the decision of the House of Lords was erroneous.
- ^ Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 447-51.
- ^ HMC Salisbury, Hatfield, vol. 1 (London, 1883) pp. 30, 33-35.
- ^ HMC Salisbury, Hatfield, vol.1 (London, 1883), pp. 40-41 Haynes (1740), pp. 37, 39.
- ^ State Papers Henry VIII, 5:4 (London, 1836), pp. 574-5, 1 December 1546.
- ^ Joseph Nicolson & Richard Burn, History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland, vol. 1 (London, 1777), p. 595.
- ^ "Kirkby Stephen Grammar School". co-curate.ncl.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Wharton, Thomas (1495?-1568)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.