Sir Thomas Englefield, K.B., Speaker of the House of Commons

Surname has also been reported to be Inglefield.

• Sir Thomas II ENGLEFIELD.
• Born: circa 1450,
• probably at Englefield, Berkshire, England
• Speaker of the House of Commons
• Died: 3rd April 1514 at Englefield, Berkshire.

Thomas Englefield was the only son of John Englefield Esq. of Englefield House in Berkshire, by his wife, Jane, the daughter of John Milbourne of London. His father died while he was in his teens and his grandfather, Robert Englefield, had him educated in law at the Middle Temple. His grandfather died in 1470 and Thomas inherited the Englefield estate at the age of only about twenty. About ten years later, he married, for the first time, to Margery, the daughter of Richard Danvers of Prescote in Oxfordshire. Together, they had two sons and eight daughters.

The Englefields also held lands in the Welsh Marches and Thomas therefore became JP for Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire in 1493. To these, he added a similar post in Berkshire the following year, and he held all these offices until his death. Being also an MP (probably for Berkshire), he was elected Speaker of House of Commons in 1497. By 1500, he was a bencher of the Middle Temple and, in 1501, he was knighted into the Order of the Bath. An honour which was followed by his appointment onto the Council in the Welsh Marches the following year. Sir Thomas received many Royal commissions throughout his life, including, for several years, the collection of the lay subsidy tax for Berkshire. He was a Justice in Chester and both North and South Wales, and was made a King’s Councillor in 1509. In this year, he acted as an executor to the will of King Henry VII and was one of the committee appointed to determine coronation claims.

With the accession of King Henry VIII, Sir Thomas Englefield became one of the key men of experience upon whom the young monarch relied in the early years of his reign. Thus, he was a natural choice to serve as Speaker – for a second term – in the first Parliament of Henry’s reign. On 23rd January 1510, he made the usual speech professing his unworthiness for the post and this was balanced by another, delivered at the bar of the Lords, on 23rd February following, in which he praised King Henry's gifts of nature, grace and fortune.

Margery having died, Sir Thomas, not long afterwards, married Mary, daughter of Sir John Fortescue of Ponsbourne in Hertfordshire and widow of both John Stonor (d.1499) of Stonor Park (Oxfordshire) and Anthony Fettiplace (d.1510) of Swinbrook (Oxfordshire). She was the sister of the Blessed Adrian Fortescue and, maternally, a cousin to Anne Boleyn’s father, the Earl of Wiltshire & Ormond.

When the King travelled to France in the Summer of 1513, Sir Thomas was appointed as one of the four councillors whose job it was to advise Queen Catherine, who remained behind as regent in England – perhaps the pinnacle of his career. Englefield died not long afterwards. Having made his will on 4th March, he passed away not quite a month later. He was buried beneath a fine canopied altar-tomb inlaid with portraits of himself and his family in brass. It still stands between the high altar and the Englefield Chapel in the parish church at Englefield, though the brass has long disappeared. Sir Thomas’ eldest son had predeceased him, and so his twenty-six-year-old second son and namesake inherited his fortune. He was later to become a justice of the common pleas and father of Sir Francis Englefield, Master of the Court of Wards & Liveries.

 © Nash Ford Publishing 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Berkshire History. Added By Patricia McMahan-Chambers.

• __________________________
• ENGLEFIELD, Sir Thomas (1455-1514), of Englefield, Berks.
• Family and Education
• b. 1455, o. s. of John Englefield of Englefield by Jane, da. of John Milborne of London. educ. M. Temple. m. (1) by 1487, Margery, da. of Richard Danvers of Prescote, Oxon., 1s. 4da.; (2) Mary, da. of Sir John Fortescue of Ponsbourne, Herts., wid. of John Stonor of Stonor, Oxon. and of Anthony Fettiplace (d. 23 Dec. 1510) of Swinbrook, Oxon., 1da. suc. fa. 1465, gd.-fa. 1473. KB 14 Nov. 1501.1
• Offices Held
• Bencher, M. Temple by 1500.
• J.p. Glos., Herefs., Salop, Worcs. 1493-d., Berks. 1494-d.; commr. array, Wales and the marches 1502, subsidy, Berks. 1503, 1512, 1514, 1515; other commissions 1489-d.; member, council in the marches of Wales 1502; justice of Chester 1505, of assize, N. Wales 1506, S. Wales 1508; Councillor by 1509.2
• Speaker of House of Commons 1497, 1510.
• Biography
• Sir Thomas Englefield was one of the experienced men upon whom Henry VIII relied in the early years of his reign. He was an executor of the late King’s will and one of the committee appointed to determine coronation claims. He was thus a natural choice to serve a second term as Speaker in the first Parliament of the reign; the speech of 23 Jan. 1510 in which he made the ritual profession of unworthiness was balanced by another, delivered at the bar of the Lords on 23 Feb., in which he praised Henry VIII’s gifts of nature, fortune and grace. Neither on this occasion nor in 1497 is his constituency known but both times it is likely to have been Berkshire, for which several of his ancestors had sat and in which he was an active administrator.3
• Englefield had also inherited land in Buckinghamshire and Shropshire and he acquired further property in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire. When the King went to France in the summer of 1513, leaving Queen Catherine as regent, he was one of the four Councillors left in England to assist her. He made his will on 4 Mar. 1514 and died on the following 3 Apr., leaving a son of 26 who was to become a justice of the common pleas.4
• Ref Volumes: 1509-1558
• Author: T. F.T. Baker
• Notes
• 1. Date of birth given in HP, ed. Wedgwood 1439-1509 (Biogs.), 301. PCC 33 Fetiplace; Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 5), ii. 203.
• 2. CPR, 1485-94, pp. 278, 320, 434, 439, 441, 488, 498, 505; 1494-1509 passim; LP Hen. VIII, i; Statutes, iii. 83, 118, 173; P. H. Williams, Council in the Marches of Wales, 10; J. S. Roskell, The Commons and their Speakers, 1376-1523, pp. 114n, 305, 310; Rot. Parl. vi. 542.
• 3. VCH Berks. iii. 406; Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvii), 121-3; LP Hen. VIII, i; Elton, Studies in Tudor and Stuart Pol. and Govt. i. 318; LJ, i. 4, 8.
• 4. VCH Bucks. iv. 169; VCH Worcs. iii. 569; VCH Berks. iii. 254; J. B. Blakeway, Sheriffs of Salop, 69; LP Hen. VIII, i; C142/29/63, 67, 79, 114, 121; PCC 33 Fetiplace
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/en...

[Note the "1 daughter" by second wife. Other sources claim this is Elizabeth Englefield White. However, given the birth dates of Elizabeth White's children, this is impossible.]

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Speaker of England's House of Commons from 1496 - 1497 & again in 1509. A Knight of the Bath. his family were certianly lords of the manor there for many generations. However, he also held land on the Welsh border, notably in Worcestershire where he became a magistrate & High Sheriff.

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• Sir Thomas Englefield
• M, #47499, b. circa 1458, d. between 4 March 1514 and 24 April 1514
• Father John Englefield b. c 1435, d. 26 Feb 1464
• Mother Joane Milbourne b. c 1435
• Sir Thomas Englefield was born circa 1458 at of Englefield, Berkshire, England. He married Margery Danvers, daughter of Richard Danvers, Esq. and Elizabeth Langston, circa 1480. Sir Thomas Englefield died between 4 March 1514 and 24 April 1514 at Englefield, Berkshire, England.
• Family Margery Danvers b. c 1457
• Child
  • Sir Thomas Englefield, Sheriff of Berkshire & Oxfordshire+ b. 1488, d. 28 Sep 1537
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1580.htm#...
• _______________________
• Thomas ENGLEFIELD of Englefield (Sir)
• Born: 1455, Englefield, Berkshire, England
• Died: 3 Apr 1514
• Notes: See his Biography.
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasEnglefield.htm
• Father: John ENGLEFIELD
• Mother: Jane MILBOURNE
• Married 1: Margery DANVERS (dau. of Sir Richard Danvers of Prescote) BEF 1487
• Children:
  • 1. Richard ENGLEFIELD (dsp)
  • 2. Thomas ENGLEFIELD of Englefield (Sir)
  • 3. Joan ENGLEFIELD
  • 4. Anne ENGLEFIELD
  • 5. Margaret ENGLEFIELD
• Married 2: Mary FORTESCUE AFT 1510
• Children:
  • 6. Elizabeth ENGLEFIELD
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/ENGLEFIELD.htm#Thomas ENGLEFIELD of Englefield (Sir)1
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• WHITE, Thomas II (1507-66), of South Warnborough, Hants.
• b. 25 Mar. 1507, 1st s. of Robert White of South Warnborough by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Thomas Englefield of Englefield, Berks. educ. I. Temple, called. m. by 1532, Agnes, da. of Robert White of Farnham, Surr., 14s. inc. Henry and Thomas IV 6da. suc. fa. 2 Mar. 1521. Kntd. 2 Oct. 1553.2
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/wh...
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