Family and Education

• born by 1516, 1st son of Sir Roger Cholmley of Roxby and Thornton-on-the-Hill by Catherine, daughter of Sir Robert Constable of Flamborough.
• married (1) by 1537, Margaret, daughter of William, 1st Lord Conyers of Hornby, 3 sons, at least 3 daughters;
• married (2) by 1556, Catherine, daughter of Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland, widow of John, 8th Lord Scrope of Bolton (d. 22 June 1549), at least 1 son, Henry†, 2 daughters
• Succeeded father 28 Apr. 1538.
• Knighted 11 May 1544.[1]

Offices Held

• Justice of Peace for Yorkshire, North Riding 1545-54, 1561, 1569-?d.;
• sheriff, Yorkshire 1547-8, 1556-7;
• Commissioner for chantries, Yorkshire 1548,
• Commissioner for relief (North Riding) 1550,
• Commissioner for goods of churches and fraternities (North Riding) 1553,
• Commissioner for castles and enclosure of borders 1555;
• constable, Scarborough castle, Yorkshire 3 Apr. 1548-?d.[2]

Biography

Richard Cholmley’s father, a younger son of a cadet branch of the Cheshire family, had acquired Roxby by 1519. Shortly afterwards he inherited, subject to the widow’s interest, Thornton-on-the- Hill from his brother Sir Richard, treasurer of Berwick-upon-Tweed and lieutenant of the Tower, who died in 1521 leaving only an illegitimate son, Roger Cholmley, later lord chief justice. Roger Cholmley evidently bore his father’s heir no grudge, for in 1537 he wrote to Cromwell in support of Richard Cholmley’s claim to be deputy to the Earl of Rutland in the stewardship of Pickering.[3]

In April 1538, a few days before his father’s death, Cholmley himself approached Cromwell with a suggestion for the appointment of some honest man to keep the courts in the liberty of Whitby Strand, which he himself was afterwards to acquire. In March 1540, as Richard Cholmley of Kingthorpe in Pickering Lythe, he obtained a lease of Whitby abbey, the first of the additions to his Yorkshire property made by this ‘great improver of his estate’, as his great-grandson, Sir Hugh Cholmley, was to call him: it was followed by the priory of Grosmont in February 1545, the manor of Eskdaleside, formerly the property of Whitby, for £333 in March 1546, and further ex-Whitby lands for £1,120 in April 1565. It was the width of his estates, as well as his height and complexion, which made Cholmley ‘the great black knight of the north’. His chief residence was at Roxby, ‘where he lived in great port, having a very great family, at least 50 or 60 men servants, about his house’, and he never travelled to London ‘that he was not attended with less than 30, sometimes 40 men servants’.[4]

Cholmley served as captain of 100 men in the Scottish war of 1544 and was knighted at Leith by the Earl of Hertford. Later in the same year he was so much engaged with the Scottish ships which threatened the Yorkshire coast that the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury and others asked the Privy Council for a respite of his summons to appear before the general surveyors. It was ostensibly for his services to Henry VIII that in April 1548 he was appointed constable of Scarborough castle and granted the manor of Northstead at a rent of £24, both grants being for life. As constable, Cholmley probably had a say in the choice of Members for Scarborough, although they do not seem to have included anyone closely connected with him. The office may also have impinged upon his own Membership of the Parliament of 1558. On 30 Jan. of that year he was instructed either to reside in the castle himself or to send his son there. The order was perhaps prompted by the recollection of Thomas Stafford’s attack on the town in the previous April, an episode in which, perhaps significantly, Cholmley is not known to have figured, and the option to send his son may have been a concession to Cholmley’s duty to attend a Parliament which had opened ten days earlier. It was probably not to him, but to Sir Roger Cholmley, that a bill concerning exigents and proclamations was committed on 27 Jan., so that he may or may not have gone north before the session ended, but he was there soon afterwards, being one of those thanked by the Privy Council for the burning of Coldingham.[5]

Cholmley’s later career was clouded by his Catholicism, his dangerous connexions and his alleged misbehaviour. Omitted from the archbishop of York’s return of 1564 because he had already been dropped from the North Riding bench, he was described by the archbishop in the following year as ‘obstinate in religion’: (Sir) Thomas Gargrave, however, judged him a Catholic of the ‘mean or less evil sort’, and he certainly yielded in staunchness to his second wife, Catherine Clifford, to whom he was in any case consistently unfaithful. Of his political attachments the most compromising was that to the Earl and Countess of Lennox, whose servants included Cholmley’s brother Roger and son Richard: it was to Lennox’s son Darnley that, according to one William Rogers in 1567, Cholmley and his eldest son were prepared to deliver Scarborough castle.[6]

In spite of his religious and political allegiances, including a link with the 6th Earl of Westmorland, whose father had married two of Cholmley’s sisters, he held aloof from the rebellion of 1569 and felt secure enough to appeal to the 3rd Earl of Sussex early in the following year for a young kinsman, ‘the Earl of Northumberland’s man’, who had done no more than follow his master ‘in this his evil enterprise’. During the rebellion (Sir) Henry Gates seems to have made himself responsible for the safety of Scarborough castle, but nothing has been found to confirm the statement that in 1568 Cholmley was deprived of the constableship: it was not until after his death that Gates secured the office for his son Edward Gates†. Not all Cholmley’s troubles sprang from religion and politics. He was accused of various abuses and peculations in the lordship of Pickering and in particular of demolishing part of the Queen’s castle of Pickering to build his own house at Roxby. In 1577 the Privy Council ordered the council in the north to examine a complaint brought against him for enclosure.[7]

Cholmley died on 17 May 1583 and was buried at Thornton-le-Dale. His son and heir Francis was then aged 46 and more. Under a settlement of 31 Oct. 1579 Francis would be succeeded by his half-brother Henry.[8]

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Authors: L. M. Kirk / Alan Davidson

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Yorks. (Harl. Soc. xvi), 53; Glover’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 219; R. W. Jeffery, Thornton-le-Dale, 268-71; Gooder, Parlty. Rep. Yorks. ii. 17-19; LP Hen. VIII, xix.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII, xvi, xx; CPR, 1547-8, p. 92; 1548-9, pp. 133, 136; 1550-3, p. 394; 1553, pp. 354, 414; 1553-4, p. 26; 1554-5, p. 110; 1555-7, p. 54; 1569-72, p. 224.
• 3. NRA 14941 (N. Riding RO, ZPK/2); VCH Yorks. (N. Riding), ii. 20, 406; Somerville, Duchy, i. 534; LP Hen. VIII, xii, xiv.
• 4. LP Hen. VIII, xiii, xv, xx, xxi; CPR, 1554-5, pp. 257-8; 1563-6, p. 206; VCH Yorks. (N. Riding), ii. 503; H. Cholmley, Cholmley Mems. (1787), 6-9, 11; J. T. Cliffe, Yorks. Gentry, 14, 108, 112.
• 5. LP Hen. VIII, xix, xxi; HMC Bath, iv. 58, 60, 66, 72; CPR, 1548-9, p. 133; APC, vi. 254, 396; Scarborough, ed. Rowntree, 215-16; CJ, i. 47.
• 6. CSP For. 1562, pp. 5, 33; APC, vii. 231, 233, 301; SP15/12/68, i and ii, calendared CSP Dom. 1601-3, Add. 1547-65, p. 567; J. J. Cartwright, Chaps. Yorks. Hist. 67; H. Aveling, Northern Catholics, 72, 96, 105; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xxxv. 176; CSP Scot. ii. 159-60, 165, 310.
• 7. C. Sharp, Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569, p. 129 and n; Scarborough, ed. Rowntree, 219; J. B. Baker, Scarborough, 97; CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 109; N. Riding Rec. Soc. n.s. i. 205, 207 seq.; APC, ix. 382.
• 8. C142/214/157; NRA 14941 (N. Riding RO, ZPK/4).

---

Links:

• http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I30689&tree=EuropeRoyalNobleHous
• ________________________
• 'Miscellanea (1914) Vol: 13
• http://archive.org/details/miscellanea13cath
• http://archive.org/stream/miscellanea13cath#page/92/mode/1up
• Pg. 92
• ' (47) Sir Richard Cholmeley, of Roxby, Yorks, knighted 11 May 1544, was High Sheriff of Yorkshire 1556-7, and governor of Scarborough Castle from 1557 to his
• http://archive.org/stream/miscellanea13cath#page/93/mode/1up
• Pg. 93
• 'death, which occurred in or just before May 1583. He married (1) Margaret, d. of William, Lord Conyers; and (2) Katharine, d. of Henry, Earl of Westmorland, and widow of John, Lord Scrope. He was in trouble in 1565 ; but not apparently on account of religion. (Shaw, ii. 55 ; Foster, G.V.Y. 220; Cal. Dom. 1581, 109; Dasent, vii.)
• ___________________________
• 'Sir Richard Cholmondeley1
• M, #347599
• Last Edited=4 Apr 2009
• ' Sir Richard Cholmondeley married Lady Catherine Clifford, daughter of Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland and Lady Margaret Percy.1
• ' He lived at Roxby, Yorkshire, England.1
• Citations
• 1.[S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1064. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p34760.htm#i347599
• _________________
• 'Margaret CONYERS
• Born: ABT 1510
• Father: William CONYERS (1º B. Conyers of Hornby)
• Mother: Anne NEVILLE (B. Conyers of Hornby)
• Married 1: Henry SCROPE
• Children:
  • 1. Francis SCROPE of Danby
  • 2. Henry SCROPE
  • 3. Christopher SCROPE of Spennithorne
  • 4. John SCROPE
• 'Married 2: Richard CHOLMLEY (Sir) (son of Sir Roger Cholmley and Catherine Constable) (m.2 Catherine Clifford, B. Scrope) 1515, Thornton, Yorkshire, England
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/CONYERS1.htm#Margaret CONYERS3
• ______________________
• Catherine CLIFFORD (B. Scrope of Bolton)
• Born: 1513, Skipton, Yorkshire, England
• Died: 1598
• Buried: 1598, Whitby, Yorkshire, England
• Father: Henry CLIFFORD (1º E. Cumberland)
• Mother: Margaret PERCY (C. Cumberland)
• Married: John SCROPE (8° B. Scrope of Bolton) 1530, Skipton, Yorkshire, England
• Children:
  • 1. Henry SCROPE (9° B. Scrope of Bolton)
  • 2. Margaret SCROPE
  • 3. John SCROPE
  • 4. George SCROPE
  • 5. Edward SCROPE (b. ABT 1538 - d. Sp.)
  • 6. Elizabeth SCROPE
  • 7. Thomas SCROPE (b. ABT 1544 - d. Sp.)
  • 8. Eleanor SCROPE (b. 1545 - d. Sp.)
  • 9. Catherine SCROPE (b. ABT 1547 - d. unmd.)
  • 10. Bridget SCROPE (b. ABT 1548)
  • 11. Joan SCROPE (b. 1549)
• 'Married 2: Richard CHOLMLEY (Sir) (son of Richard (NAME ERROR?) Cholmley and Catherine Constable) (w. of Margaret Conyers) ABT 1533, Yorkshire, England
• Children:
  • 12. Henry CHOLMLEY of Whittby (Sir) (m. Margaret Babthorpe)
  • 13. John CHOLMLEY
  • 14. Catherine CHOLMLEY (m. Richard Dutton ABT 1567, Grandmount, Yorkshire, England)
  • 15. Margaret CHOLMLEY (m. Sir James Strangeways ABT 1565, Grandmount, Yorkshire, England)
  • 16. Ursula CHOLMLEY (d. AFT 1580) (m. Thomas Stanley, Esq.)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/CLIFFORD.htm#Catherine CLIFFORD (B. Scrope of Bolton)
• ___________
• Sir William Conyers, 1st Lord Conyers, Constable of Richmond & Middleton Castles, Bailiff of the Liberty of Richmond1,2,3,4
• M, b. 21 December 1468, d. circa 14 April 1524
• Father Sir John Conyers5,6 b. c 1432, d. 26 Jul 1469
• Mother Alice Neville5,6 b. c 1437, d. b 11 Dec 1490
• Sir William Conyers, 1st Lord Conyers, Constable of Richmond & Middleton Castles, Bailiff of the Liberty of Richmond was born on 21 December 1468 at of Hornby, Yorkshire, England.2,3 A contract for the marriage of Sir William Conyers, 1st Lord Conyers, Constable of Richmond & Middleton Castles, Bailiff of the Liberty of Richmond and Mary le Scrope was signed on 21 June 1479 at York, Yorkshire, England; They had 1 daughter.1 Sir William Conyers, 1st Lord Conyers, Constable of Richmond & Middleton Castles, Bailiff of the Liberty of Richmond and Mary le Scrope obtained a marriage license on 24 September 1479; Being related in the 4th degree.2,3 Sir William Conyers, 1st Lord Conyers, Constable of Richmond & Middleton Castles, Bailiff of the Liberty of Richmond married Anne Neville, daughter of Sir Ralph Neville, 3rd Earl of Westmoreland, Lord Neville and Isabel Booth, before 6 February 1499 at of Raby, Westmoreland, England; They had 1 son (Sir Christopher, 2nd Lord Conyers) and 2 daughters (Katherine, wife of Sir Francis Bigod; & 'Margaret, wife of Sir Richard Cholmeley)'.2,7,3,4 Sir William Conyers, 1st Lord Conyers, Constable of Richmond & Middleton Castles, Bailiff of the Liberty of Richmond died circa 14 April 1524; Age 55.1,3
• Family 1 Mary le Scrope d. b 6 Feb 1499
• Family 2 Anne Neville b. c 1476, d. bt 29 Apr 1525 - 28 Jul 1550
• Children
  • Sir Christopher Conyers, 2nd Lord Conyers+8,2,3 d. 14 Jun 1538
  • Katherine Conyers+2 b. c 1510, d. 21 Oct 1566
• Citations
• 1.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. III, p. 404.
• 2.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 228.
• 3.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 532.
• 4.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 254.
• 5.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 227-228.
• 6.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 531.
• 7.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 545.
• 8.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. III, p. 404-405.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1575.htm#i47334
• ___________________
• 'Catherine Clifford1
• F, b. 1517, d. 1598
• Father Sir Henry Clifford, 1st Earl Cumberland, 11th Lord Clifford b. 1493, d. 22 Apr 1547
• Mother Margaret Percy b. c 1498, d. 25 Nov 1540
• ' Catherine Clifford was born in 1517 at of Skipton, Yorkshire, England. She married John le Scrope, Baron Scrope of Bolton, son of Henry le Scrope, 7th Baron Scrope of Bolton and Mabel Dacre, in 1530. Catherine Clifford married Sir Richard Cholmeley, son of Roger Cholmeley and Catherine Constable, circa 1548.2 Catherine Clifford died in 1598.
• Family 1 John le Scrope, Baron Scrope of Bolton b. c 1515, d. 22 Jun 1549
• Children
  • John Scrope3 b. c 1532
  • Sir Henry Scrope, 9th Lord Scrope3 b. c 1534, d. 13 Jun 1592
  • (Miss) Scrope+ b. c 1540
• 'Family 2 Sir Richard Cholmeley b. c 1513
• Child
  • Sir Henry Cholmondley+2 b. c 1549, d. 1614
• Citations
• 1.[S10439] Unknown author, The Complete Peerage, by Cokayne, Vol. XI, p. 548.
• 2.[S11576] A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, by John Burke, Esq. and John Bernard Burke, Esq., p. 113.
• 3.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XI, p. 548.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1119.htm#i33605
• _____________
• THERE ARE REFERENCES THAT LIST ROGER THE HUSBAND OF DIONYSIA (PHILLIPS) HOMDEN & ELIZABETH MITCHELL AS THE SON OF JOHN CHOLMELEY & MARY TURNER, NOT THE SAME AS THE RICHARD WHO MARRIED MARGARET CONYERS & CATHERINE CLIFFORD
• 'Sir Richard Cholmeley1
• 'M, b. circa 1513
• Father Roger Cholmeley b. c 1488, d. 28 Apr 1538
• Mother Catherine Constable b. c 1493, d. 1585
• ' Sir Richard Cholmeley was born circa 1513 at of Bletchingley, Surrey, England. He married Dionysia Phillips circa 1534. Sir Richard Cholmeley married Catherine Clifford, daughter of Sir Henry Clifford, 1st Earl Cumberland, 11th Lord Clifford and Margaret Percy, circa 1548.1 Sir Richard Cholmeley was buried on 17 May 1563 at Thornton le Dale, Yorkshire, England.
• 'Family 1 Dionysia Phillips b. c 1514, d. 1558
• Child
  • John Cholmeley+ b. c 1536, d. 12 Jan 1572
• 'Family 2 Catherine Clifford b. 1517, d. 1598
• Child
  • Sir Henry Cholmondley+1 b. c 1549, d. 1614
• Citations
• 1.[S11576] A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, by John Burke, Esq. and John Bernard Burke, Esq., p. 113.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2629.htm#i78987
• ____________
• Catherine CONSTABLE
• Born: ABT 1498, Flamborough, E. Rich, Yorkshire, England
• Died: ABT 1585, York, Yorkshire, England
• Father: Robert CONSTABLE of Nuneaton (Sir Knight)
• Mother: Jane INGLEBY
• Married: Roger CHOLMELEY (Sir Knight) (d. 28 Apr 1538) (son of John Cholmley and Joan Eyton) 1512
• Children:
  • '1. Richard CHOLMELEY (Sir) (b. 1488 - d. 17 May 1563, Spofforth) (m.1 Margaret Conyers - m.2 Dyonisia Phillips - m.3 Catherine Clifford, B. Scrope) - m.3 Dau. Homden - m.4 Elizabeth Mitchel)
  • 2. Marmaduke CHOLMLEY
  • 3. Roger CHOLMLEY (d. 1 Apr 1587) (m. Joan Neville)
  • 4. Henry CHOLMLEY
  • 5. John CHOLMLEY
  • 6. Elizabeth CHOLMLEY (m. Richard Redman)
  • 7. Jane CHOLMLEY (C. Westmoreland) (m. Henry Neville, E. Westmorerland)
  • 8. Margaret CHOLMLEY (C. Westmoreland) (m.1 Henry Gascoine - m.2 Henry Neville, E. Westmorerland)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/CONSTABLE.htm#Catherine CONSTABLE3
• ______________