Sir Thomas Saunders

• Son of Nicholas Saunders and Alice Saunders (Hungate)
• BOTHERS: Sir William and Sir Thomas Saunders, M.P., High Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey 1553 HELD ARMS: "Three Elephant Heads" holding in the mouth a sprig of Alisaundre, of ALEXANDER THE GREAT PLANT; with two slipped Thistle leaves representing the Scotch descent of his wife's mother LILIAN. Ancestors of the Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Hertfordshire and Irish Saunders.
• BRIDGET SAUNDERS, wife of William Saunders; "High Sherrif of Surrey, Sussex 1553" with his brother Thomas Sauders. William and Bridget Saunders daughter: Anne Saunders married the celebrated SIR JOHN MIDDLEMORE (d 1633)
• Thomas Saunders father: William Saunders of Ewell; (b 1469) (d1571); which city in early times has a Elephant as its crest; from which it is supposed the SAUNDERS Armorial Bearings of Three Elephants' Heads originated.
• His father: William Saunders of Compton Martin; married Ann Bouchier; whose ancestor was Sir William Bouchier, Count of Ewe; who married Ann; daughter of THOMAS of Woodstock, the son of King Edward III.
• Mary Saunders was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Saunders of Surrey. Sir Thomas Saunders : Member of Parliament for Lewes in 1534; High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex 1553". Granted lands in "Wates, Michleham, Dorking"
• Through Thomas Saunders's daughter; Mary, is a direct link to "Alexander The Great's" second son Robert. of Mechleham.

SAUNDERS, Thomas (by 1513-65), of London and Charlwood, Surr.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982, Available from Boydell and Brewer

ConstituencyDates

• GATTON, 1542
• SURREY; Mar. 1553
• REIGATE; Oct. 1553
• SURREY; 1558

Family and Education

• Birth, by 1513, 3rd but 1st surv. s. of Nicholas Saunders of Charlwood by Alice, da. of John Hungate of (?Saxton), Yorks. educ. I. Temple, adm. 1527. m. settlement 6 June 1539, Alice (d. 21 May 1558), da. of Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbury, Chislehurst, Kent, 3s. 2da. Kntd. ?1550. suc. fa. 29 Aug. 1553.2

Offices Held

Attendant on Lent reader, I. Temple 1546, 1547, Summer 1546, Autumn reader 1546, 1547, treasurer 1556-8, gov. in 1557.

Solicitor, household of Queens Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard 1540; j.p. Surr. 1541-58, q. 1558/59-d.; commr. chantries Surr., Suss. and chantries, Surr., Suss. and Chichester 1548, relief, Surr., Suss. 1550, goods of churches and fraternities, Surr. 1553, musters 1557, conventicles 1557, subsidy 1563; King’s remembrancer, the Exchequer Aug. 1549-d.; sheriff, Surr. and Suss. 1553-4.3

Biography

The will of Thomas Saunders’s great-uncle Henry Saunders suggests that he was a third son, but when his father died in 1553 he was left heir to extensive property in Surrey. Both his great-uncle, the father of William Saunders, and his uncle William, father of Nicholas Saunders the Catholic controversialist, may have been members of other inns, but he established the family’s connexion with the Inner Temple, where on his admission in 1527 he was pardoned all vacations and offices and allowed to be out of commons at his pleasure. His long upward progress there received occasional checks: his refusal to read in the summer of 1547 cost him temporary demotion from the bench, and in 1560 his work as treasurer was challenged and he was called upon to re-account. No such setbacks appear in his government career. Appointed solicitor of the Queen’s household in 1540, originally for Anne of Cleves but then for Catherine Howard, he obtained the reversion of the office of King’s remembrancer in 1545 and the office itself in 1549. Its previous holder was (Sir) Christopher More, a fellow Inner Templar who had settled in Saunders’s own county; in February 1547 Saunders indemnified More against any harm resulting from his visits to the Exchequer ‘to see and peruse the records and process there for his learning and knowledge of the course of the said office’. He was to retain the post until his death. Similar continuity marked Saunders’s record in local administration: for the last 24 years of his life he served every regime in turn.4

Saunders sat in the Commons under three successive monarchs and at intervals over a span of 16 years. His return for Gatton to the Parliament of 1542 he must have owed to Sir Roger Copley, described in the indentures as ‘burgess and only inhabitant of the borough’, but whether as Copley’s near neighbour at Charlwood or through an intermediary like Copley’s father-in-law (Sir) William Shelley it is impossible to say. In the first session he shared in the passing of the Act (33 Hen. VIII, c.21) attainting his mistress the Queen. Whether he unsuccessfully sought a seat at the two following elections is not known, but when on 1 Feb. 1552 the Council sent a writ for the election of a knight for Surrey to replace either Sir Christopher More, or more probably More’s successor, it was accompanied by an instruction to the sheriff, Sir Robert Oxenbridge, to ‘prefer’ Saunders. This may well have been done on the initiative of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester: as treasurer, Winchester was Saunders’s departmental chief, and he had probably engineered Saunders’s knighthood in 1550 shortly after his own promotion. In the event the Council’s recommendation was ignored and the sheriff returned John Vaughan I. Twelve months later the Council prepared to intervene again; this time it favoured the re-election of Vaughan and the other previous Member Sir Thomas Cawarden, but whereas Cawarden was chosen Vaughan was passed over in favour of Saunders. What lay behind this reversal can only be guessed at: the implied assertion of shire independence may have been more apparent than real and the explanation lie in an amicable adaptation to circumstances.5

Saunders was not to regain the knighthood of the shire until 1558; at three of the intervening elections it was his ultra-Catholic cousin William Saunders who replaced him, once during Saunders’s shrievalty. Still he was elected for Reigate, where his patron was probably the lord of the manor, Lord William Howard from whom he held property there. Unlike some other Members from Surrey he did not oppose the initial measures for the restoration of Catholicism, and it was in the course of the second session that he was pricked sheriff. He had presumably won the Queen’s confidence by ignoring the attempt of the Council, as soon as Edward VI was dead, to secure Surrey for Jane Grey, and his conduct during Wyatt’s rebellion justified his choice. The invidious duty of sequestering Cawarden’s goods and, with William Saunders, of removing Cawarden’s weapons he appears to have carried out efficiently but humanely, afterwards sending Lady Cawarden a letter of apology and ‘a token of your own’, and he may not have been wholly to blame for the failure to return all the goods with which Cawarden was later to charge him.6

Before succeeding his father at Charlwood in August 1553 Saunders had himself acquired the manors of Flanchford and Hartswood in 1539 and in the following year had had three manors in Sanderstead and Warlingham settled on him by his father on his marriage to Alice Walsingham. In 1543 he took a 21-year lease of a house in the Blackfriars, which presumably became his London residence; from 1550 his landlord there was his Surrey neighbour Cawarden. This transaction apart, Saunders did not interest himself in monastic property. His legal standing made him a suitable choice as an overseer of wills, and among those who named him in this capacity were his father-in-law Walsingham and one of his successors as Member for Gatton, John Tingleden. Saunders’s own will, which he drew up himself, was meticulous in its provisions and requirements. His wife was to have a life interest in most of his property but if she remarried she would have to give the heir written sureties against despoiling of woods or furnishings; the rest of the property was divided among the younger children. Anxious that at least one of his sons should study law, Saunders promised his law books to whichever of them did so. His care for learning showed itself in his ample provision for ‘an honest parish clerk at Charlwood that can play the organ and teach children, for maintenance of God’s service’, and the bequest of his ‘books of humanity and stories in Latin or French’ to his own children. Although he made the will on 7 Mar. 1563, Saunders did not die until 18 Aug. 1565, probate following on 7 July 1566.7

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

THOMAS SAUNDERS OF AGMONDESHAM

Charles Bostock (b1569) married Mary Saunders (b 1575) Daughter of: Knight: Sir Thomas Saunders and wife Mary Sir Thomas Saunders : Member of Parliament for Lewes in 1534; "High Sheriff of Surrey AND Sussex 1553". Granted lands in "Wates, Michleham, Dorking"

THE, SAUNDERS, SANDERS, SANDARS FAMILY AND ITS ROYAL BLOOD CONNECTIONS:

(Under the Sprig of Alexander (Alisaundre) the Great, from which the surname is derived and which

came into existence during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries)

1250 the family of ALEXANDER THE GREAT; spelt ALISAUNDRE-ALISANDER:

EUDO, married his first wife; Alice; daughter of Mathew "Duke of Lorraine"; descendents of the Counts of Hapsburgh and the Dukes of Zaringen and Teck.

Eudo and Alice had two sons: The eldest son was named Eudo, "Duke of Burgundy"and their second son "Alisaundre"(Alexander)"Lord of Montagu"

EUDO, "Duke of Burgundy" married Mary, the daughter of Count Theobald of Champagne; the GRANDSON of William the Conqueror; and BROTHER OF KING STEPHEN of England; Descendents from King Robert of France 1032, came to England during the reign of Henry III 1220.

EUDO, "Duke of Burgundy"; married Theresa, daughter of Alfonso DENIS, King of Portugal and Theresa's mother Beartice, daughter of William, Count of Challon. Eudo and Theresa's son was named EDUO; who married Elizabeth; daugher of Peter of Courtnay, Emperor of Constantinople, the son of King Louis VI of France.

It is HERE where the Dennis/Denis family and Arthur Bostock's lineage splits from his brother Charles (1569); the Saunders family OF SURREY and Charles Bostock's lineage.

SAUNDERS OF SURREY:

Count ALISAUNDRE "Alexander The Great" settled in WILTSHIRE. His second son SIR ROBERT ALYSANDRE of Melksham 's HELD THE ARMS "Three Elephants Heads"

Count Alexander, the son of EUDO,( Lord of Montagu and Chagny in France). Alexander's arms appear in the Rose Window of "Wilton Church" in Salisbury

BOTHERS: Sir William and Sir Thomas Saunders, M.P., High Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey 1553 HELD ARMS: "Three Elephant Heads" holding in the mouth a sprig of Alisaundre, of ALEXANDER THE GREAT PLANT; with two slipped Thistle leaves representing the Scotch descent of his wife's mother LILIAN. Ancestors of the Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Hertfordshire and Irish Saunders.

BRIDGET SAUNDERS, wife of William Saunders; "High Sherrif of Surrey, Sussex 1553" with his brother Thomas Sauders. William and Bridget Saunders daughter: Anne Saunders married the celebrated SIR JOHN MIDDLEMORE (d 1633)

Thomas Saunders father: William Saunders of Ewell; (b 1469) (d1571); which city in early times has a Elephant as its crest; from which it is supposed the SAUNDERS Armorial Bearings of Three Elephants' Heads originated.

His father: William Saunders of Compton Martin; married Ann Bouchier; whose ancestor was Sir William Bouchier, Count of Ewe; who married Ann; daughter of THOMAS of Woodstock, the son of King Edward III.

MARGARET SAUNDERS, another daughter of Sir Thomas Saunders, M.P., King's Remembrancer of the Exchequer, of Surrey, by his wife Alice, daughter of Sir Edmund Walsingham, Lieutenant of the Tower of London (a near relative of Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen Mary). Frances, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, married Richard, son of the Earl of Clanricarde by Margaret his wife, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel; Margaret Saunders married Thomas Goodyere, son of Sir Francis Goodyere by his wife, who was a daughter of Sir Ralph Rowlett of Herfordshire;

The family FitzAlan of Arundel were descendents of the High Steward/Stewarts of Scotland, and the Lord of Oswestry "Sherriff of Shropshire", county SALOP, and Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, Ireland.. FitzAlan of Oswestry history and descendants are described fully in "Round's Perrage and Family History".

ST. Martin of Ewell, Epsom:

EWELL, an ancient market town later called "Ebbishem/Ebbesham"; was once a Roman Fortress that made up the Kingdom of the South Saxons. It was founded and named after the "Valiant" Queen Ebba and Ethelwoolf/Eidilwalch; the first Christian King,

Ebba was the daughter of Gustridus, the brother of Rubenus. She was baptized a Christian by Bishop Wilfred in AD660.

EWELL: a borough of Epsom; in the county of Surrey, 15 miles Southwest of London.. Known in ancient times for a sacred place located behind ST MARTIN PARISH, known as "THE VENERABLE BEDE" in "Historia Ecclesiastica". Explained when Mellitus (later the Archbishop of Canterbury) was sent by Gregory the Great to England in 601; a stream believed to have "healing powers"; and later to be known as the origin of "Epsom Salts".

The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle AD882: A charter was issued on the authority of Alfred, King of the Saxons for the establishment of EWELL. By 150AD Ewell was the largest village in Surrey.

Richard Corbett, D.D. The Bishop of Oxford and Norwich, and the Dean of Christ Church was born in Ewell. Christ Church is where Charles Bostock (1569) was educated.

There are so many "former" Manors/Halls owned by the Bostock family; It isn't any wonder why it has been so hard to trace them. By following the FIVE marriages of Margaret Bostock; transfer of ownership becomes a little easier to understand. It also makes me wonder how all of these husbands died.

Manor of “OLDBURY

OLDBURY, appears to have been granted to the Abbey of Polesworth before the Conquest, as tradition says that when the nuns were evicted from Polesworth by the first Robert Marmion they retired hither. (fn. 92) About 1130 the second Robert Marmion and Milicent his wife agreed to the removal of the convent from Oldbury to Polesworth

Jasper Fisher had acquired "Oldbury" by 1576, (fn. 102) when he conveyed it to Richard Bostock, probably for settlement on his marriage with Margaret Bostock. Jasper was dead by 1581, when Anne wife of Richard Wolveriche and Katherine Norwood, widow (his heirs) (fn. 103) conveyed the manor to Margaret Fisher, his widow. (fn. 104) She in 1599, as Margaret Saunders, widow, of Ewell, in Surrey , transferred it to her stepson, Sir Nicholas Saunders, his wife Elizabeth, and William Blount of Arleston, Derbyshire. (fn. 105) In 1604, they sold it to Richard Whitehall (fn. 106) who subsequently acquired part of the manor of Mancetter (see above). Richard Whitehall died in 1640,

Fisher's Folly (OWNED BY JASPER FISHER AND MARGARET BOSTOCK BLOUT, FISHER, SAUNDERS) Locate in Bishopsgate Street , in Bishopsgate Ward ..

Fisher's Folly: A house built by Jasper Fisher, one of the six clerks in Chancery. It afterwards belonged to the Earl of Oxford and in Stow 's time to Sir Roger Manars (S. 167).

Capital messuage, buildings, yards, etc., at Bishopsgate, formerly the six gardens late purchased of Martin Bowes, etc., belonging to Jasper Fisher, 22 Eliz. 1580 (Lond. p.m. III. p. 19).

He also had possession of an alley called "Toddes alley" with houses, etc., at Bishopsgate, 22 Eliz. 1580 (ib.) which formerly belonged to the priory or new hospital of St. Mary without Bishopsgate, 32 H. VIII. 1540 (L. and P. H. VIII. XV. p. 411).

In the 17th century the house was occupied by the Earls of Devonshire William Cavendish; as their town house and called Devonshire House (q.v.).

Earls of Devonshire : William Cavendish and Isabel Leigh connection

Isabel Leigh:daughter of Ralph Leigh, remarried Sir Edmund Howard: parents of Queen Catherine Howard, 4th wife of King Henry IV.

SOURCES

• "Thomas Homer Saunders" Printed by C. Tinling & Co., Ltd., Liverpool
• " Surrey Archaeological Collection" Vol IV
• "History of the Worthies of England "
• "History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach" by: J.P. Earwaker 1890
• "Gentleman's Magazine" Vol III 1867 London
• " Victoria County History: "A History of the County of Warwick : Vol 4" edited by: L.F. SALZMAN
• " A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies", 1838, p. 514. Burke, John
• “ Parishes: Mancetter', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4: Hemlingford Hundred (1947), pp. 116-126.
• “ Finsbury Pavement - Fisher's Folly', A Dictionary of London (1918)"
• Bodl. e Museo 17.
• Date of birth estimated from education. Vis. Surr. (Harl. Soc. xliii), 18; Surr. Arch. Colls. iv. 10; xi. 18; C142/141/25; City of London RO, Guildhall, rep. 12(1), f. 177; CPR, 1553, p. 357.
• LP Hen. VIII, xvi, xvii, xx; CPR, 1547-8, p. 90; 1549-51, p. 135; 1550-3, p. 395 1553, pp. 357, 415; 1560-3, pp. 441, 485; 1563-6, p. 137; HMC 7th Rep. 607; The Gen. n.s. xxx. 26; Guildford mus. Loseley 1074; City of London RO, rep. 12(1), f. 177; Manning and Bray, Surr. ii. 190.
• Manning and Bray, ii. 190; VCH Surr. iii. 185; PCC 15 Ayloffe; Cal. I.T. Recs. i. passim; The Gen. n.s. xxx. 26; LP Hen. VIII, xx; Guildford mus. Loseley 1128/20.
• APC, iii. 470-1; Strype, Eccles. Memorials, ii(2), 65-66.
• VCH Surr. iii. 237; Wards 7/10/117; HMC 7th Rep. 608-11, 614, 615.
• VCH Surr. iii. 237; iv. 239, 336; Wards 7/10/117; Guildford mus. Loseley 1074; Manning and Bray, ii. 190; Surr. Arch. Colls. xvii. 14; LP Hen. VIII, xviii; PCC 25 Coode, 30 Bucke, 19 Crymes.

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