Sir Thomas de la Mare, of Aldermaston

Sir Thomas de la Mare, of Aldermaston

• Born: 1420 probably at Aldermaston, Berkshire
• Sheriff of Oxfordshire & Berkshire
• Died: 2nd September 1492 at Sion Abbey, Middlesex
•  Knight of the Sepulchre.(Parochial Topography of the Hundred of Wanting, By William Nelson Clarke. p164.)

Biographical notes

• from Sir Thomas De La Mare (1420-1492)

Thomas was now an important landowner and the following year [1450] he was appointed as one of the commissioners for Berkshire sent out to collect a subsidy for the defence of the Realm. He then became Justice of the Peace for the county in 1454 and, again, in 1456. The following year, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, as well as "to all repasts when Lord or Lady Buckingham, or the Earl of Stafford, or Henry Stafford should be in London or Westminster". Thus, it appears that Thomas was, at an early date, enjoying the patronage of the great House of Stafford.

In 1457 & 8, Thomas was serving as a commissioner of array for Berkshire, and the following year became  Sheriff for Oxfordshire and Berkshire too. Such high positions led him to become embroiled in the movements of the War of the Roses and, on 21st December 1459, he was ordered (with others) "to resist the rebellion of Richard, Duke of York ... 

.. it seems that Thomas could not let go of his Lancastrian loyalties. As early as July 1469, the Patent rolls refer to him as "late of Aldermaston, co. Berks, esquire" suggesting that he had already been turfed out of Aldermaston house for joining the Earl of Warwick's revolution to re-instate Henry VI.  ...  In April 1471 ... King Edward IV returned from exile, Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet and, a month later, Henry VI was also dead. By February 1472, Thomas de la Mare required a second pardon from the King.

Thomas seems to have now become reconciled to the new Yorkist regime ... By 1475, Thomas had been knighted and he took up the post of Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire again (and once more in 1480) ...

However, like his relative, Sir William Norreys of Yattendon Castle - with whom he he was often associated in his commissions - Sir Thomas seems to have become disaffected with the new monarch. Perhaps through such ties of kinship, fears for his livelihood, personal hostility to members of Richard II's inner circle or even commercial considerations, he reverted to his Lancastrian sympathies by joining the Duke of Buckingham's Rebellion in a failed attempt to overthrow the King. On 18th October [1483] while the Duke assembled his forces at Brecon, Sir Thomas and Sir William, along with other leading men of the day, gathered further rebels at Newbury and declared the Earl of Richmond - the last Lancastrian heir - as King. Unfortunately, support for the rising quickly fell away and Buckingham was captured and executed. 

Sir Thomas was attainted by the 1484 Parliament as one of the "false traitors and rebels" gathered at Newbury, but he escaped further degradation by fleeing to the sanctuary of Sion Abbey (Middlesex), where he appears to have taken up his abode. He was, however, pardoned in the April of that year, although he may not have been allowed to leave the monastic enclave for, in February 1485, it is recorded that his friends were allowed to supply him with food without fear of incurring the Royal displeasure. He appears to have resumed his life in the outside World after Richmond took the Throne as King Henry VII in 1485 and, the following year, was commissioned to round up a number of outlaws and felons. 

Despite this re-emergence, Sir Thomas’ will, dated 1490, refers to his "great sorrows and losses" and also as to the possibility of being unable to pay his debtors in full. This he deplored and so begged that he would be leniently dealt with. He directed his body to be buried in the church at Sion, before the Crucifix, or where it may please the Abbess and Master Confessor. 

Family

Married

1. 1449 to Elizabeth, the daughter of William Fynderne of Childrey.

Children

1. John was born 1449 and died 1489. Married the daughter of Thomas D'Abridgecourt of Stratfield Saye.
2. Alice was born 1451. Married Thomas D'Abridgecourt, Esquire.
3. Anne was born 1453 in Aldermaston, Berkshire, England.
4. George was born 1455 in Aldermaston, Berkshire, England.  Died 1499.  Married Joan.  
5. Margaret was born 1457 and died 1498. Married Sir Thomas Wood, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

Family notes

father:

• Thomas was the son of Thomas Senior, a younger son of Sir Robert de la Mare of Aldermaston House in Berkshire.  (Berkshire History, based on Kenneth Hillier, 1979)
• son of Richard and Alice A Rebel of 1483: Sir Thomas de la Mare, by Kenneth Hillier
• "Robert De la Mare died on 19 July 1431. His son William and the latter’s wife, on whom he had earlier settled Lower Heyford, had both predeceased him, leaving as his heir their son, Thomas de la Mare†, whose marriage was sold by the Crown for 100 marks shortly afterwards." MARE, Robert de la (c.1379-1431), of Aldermaston, Berks

Nothing is known of his mother, but his paternal grandmother was Katherine, the eldest daughter of Sir Bernard Brocas Junior of Clewer and Beaurepaire (Sherborne St. John) who was executed for his role in the Earl's Revolt against King Henry IV. The Berkshire De la Mares were probably a branch of the same family from Steeple Lavington in Wiltshire.

Thomas' father died when he was still a youngster and he and his two sisters were brought up in his grandfather's household (a third sister died young). Sir Robert himself died in 1431 and, his eldest son, Richard, also having predeceased him,  the De la Mare estates of Aldermaston, Sparsholt, Colthrop and West Court (Finchampstead) were all inherited by the eleven-year-old Thomas. His wardship and marriage rights were granted to a certain Richard Melbourne and he did not take full possession of his manors until his marriage to Elizabeth, the daughter of William Fynderne of Childrey in 1449.

Sir Thomas died on 2nd September 1492.  John, his son, had died before his father, so his estates were inherited by his fourteen-year-old grandson, also named Thomas, who died in 1493.  John's daughter Elizabeth inherited the estate of Alderston.  She married Sir George Forster of Aldermaston, Berkshire, eldest son and heir to Humphrey Forster (d 1500) of Harpenden [qv], and by him had issue.

Sources

1.  A Rebel of 1483: Sir Thomas de la Mare by Kenneth Hillier. The Ricardian Vol V No 67 December 1979. © Richard III Society. document attached.
2.  Type: Web Site.  Berkshire History. © Nash Ford Publishing 2005. All Rights Reserved.URL: http://www.berkshirehistory.com.  Webpage attached.

Links 

•  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ancestors...