Sir Thomas Kitson, Kt.

Thomas Kitson

Sir Thomas Kitson (1485 – 11 September 1540) was a wealthy English merchant, Sheriff of London, and builder of Hengrave Hall in Suffolk.

Thomas Kitson was the son of Robert Kitson of Warton, Lancashire. His mother's name is unknown. His sister, Margaret Kitson, married John Washington, ancestor of George Washington.[1]

Kitson came to London as a youth, and was apprenticed to the London mercer and Merchant Adventurer, Richard Glasyer. He was admitted a freeman of the Mercers' Company in 1507, and served as Warden in 1525-6 and 1533-4 and as Master in 1534-5.[2] He served as Sheriff of London in 1533-4,[2] and was knighted on 30 May of that year, an honour not conferred on his co-sheriff, William Forman. In May 1534 he was associated with Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, in taking oaths of fealty from priests and monks.

Kitson had financial dealings with the Crown on a large scale. By 1509 his mercantile transactions were already extensive, and by 1534-5 only ten other merchants exported cloth in larger quantities.[2] He was a member of the Company of Merchant Adventurers until his death,[2] and traded at the cloth fairs or staples held by the company at Antwerp, Middelburg, and elsewhere in Flanders.

Kitson had a house in London on Milk Street with a chapel, a garden on Coleman Street, and a house and chapel in Stoke Newington. Like other wealthy London merchants he had a house in Antwerp. He also purchased properties in the counties of Devon, Dorset and Somerset, and in 1521 acquired from Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, for £2340, the manors of Hengrave in Suffolk and Colston Bassett in Nottinghamshire.[2] On the Duke's attainder and execution in the following year, Kitson was for a time deprived of the estates, but they were restored to him, confirmed by an Act of Parliament of 1524. He obtained a license from Henry VIII to build an embattled manor house at Hengrave on a magnificent scale. The building was begun in 1525, and finished in 1538. A later inventory of the furniture and goods at Hengrave shows its extent and elegance. Kitson subsequently purchased several other manors in Suffolk from the crown. Besides Hengrave, he had houses at Westley and Risby in Suffolk.

Kitson died 11 September 1540, and was buried in Hengrave Church.[2] In the north-east angle of the chapel is an ornate monument to the memory of his widow, Margaret, Countess of Bath, and her three husbands.[3]

Kitson married twice:

Firstly to a lady of unknown name. By her he had a daughter:

• Elizabeth Kitson, the first wife of Edmund Croftes (d. 14 February 1558) of Westow Hall, Little Saxham, Suffolk, son and heir of Sir John Croftes (d. 28 January 1558), who was in the service of Mary Tudor. Elizabeth Kitson bore Edmund Croftes two sons:
  • Thomas Croftes
  • Henry Croftes
• After Elizabeth's death Edmund Croftes remarried to Eleanor Burgh, the daughter of Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh, by whom he had a son, John Croftes, and two daughters, Margaret and Alice[4]

Secondly, Thomas Kitson married Margaret Donnington (d. 12 January 1561), the only child and sole heiress of John Donnington (d.1544) of Stoke Newington, a member of the Worshipful Company of Salters,[6][7] by his wife Elizabeth Pye, by whom he had a son born posthumously and four daughters:[2]

• Sir Thomas Kitson (1540–1603), who married firstly Jane Paget, the daughter of William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, by whom he had no issue, and secondly Elizabeth Cornwallis, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Cornwallis (d.1604), by whom he had a son who died as an infant and two daughters, Margaret, who married Sir Charles Cavendish (November 1553 – 4 April 1617) (son of Sir William Cavendish by his wife Bess of Hardwick) by whom she had no issue,[8] and Mary, who married Thomas Darcy, 3rd Baron Darcy of Chiche.[9]
• Katherine Kitson, who married Sir John Spencer (1524 – 8 November 1586) of Althorpe, Northamptonshire, and Wormleighton, Warwickshire,[10] by whom she had four sons and six daughters including:
  • John Spencer, MP, ancestor of the Earls Spencer and the Dukes of Marlborough.
  • Thomas Spencer
  • William Spencer
  • Richard Spencer, and six daughters.[11]
  • Elizabeth Spencer, who in 1574 married George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth's cousin, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon
  • Anne Spencer, who in 1575 married William Stanley, 3rd Baron Monteagle (c.1529-1581), and in 1592 Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset
  • Alice Spencer, who in 1579 married Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby (c.1559-1594). The three Spencer sisters were 'Phyllis, Charillis, and sweet Amaryllis’ in the poet Edmund Spenser's Colin Clout’s Come Home Again (1595).[12]
• Dorothy Kitson (1531–1577), who married firstly Sir Thomas Pakington (died 2 June 1571) of Hampton Lovett, Worcestershire, by whom she had four sons, Sir John, Henry, Robert and Thomas, and three daughters, Margaret, Katherine and Mary,[11] and secondly Thomas Tasburgh (c.1554–c.1602) of Hawridge, Buckinghamshire, by whom she had no issue.[13][14]
• Frances Kitson, who married firstly on 11 December 1548[15] her step-brother John Bourchier, Lord FitzWarin (who predeceased his father), eldest son of John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath, by whom she had a son, William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath, and secondly she married William Barnaby of Great Saxham, Suffolk.[11] Her monument with recumbent effigy exists in the south chancel aisle built by her father-in-law and step-father[16][a] in Tawstock Church, Devon, next to the Bourchier seat of Tawstock Court, and is covered by the earliest six-columned canopy in Devon.[17]
• Anne Kitson, who married, as his first wife, Sir William Spring of Pakenham, Suffolk.[18]

Margaret Donnington married secondly, within a few months of Kitson's death, Sir Richard Long (d.1546) of Wiltshire, Great Saxham and Shingay, Cambridgeshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII, by whom she had a son, Henry Long, and three daughters, Jane, Katherine and Mary.[2] She married thirdly, in 1548, as his third wife, John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath (d.1560), by whom she had two daughters, Susan and Bridget.[19] Margaret Donnington was a strong-minded lady who insisted that at the same time as her marriage to Bourchier, his son and heir should marry her own daughter Frances Kitson. The double marriage took place at Hengrave on 11 December 1548.[15] Thus the 2nd Earl's eldest son from his 2nd marriage to Eleanor Manners,[20] John Bourchier, Lord FitzWarin (who predeceased his father), married his own step-sister, Francesca Kitson, and was by her the father of William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath. Margaret Donnington and Bourchier made Hengrave their home[21] and Bourchier was buried at Hengrave.[22] Stained glass in the cloister of Hengrave Hall survives memorialising the Bourchier residency, showing ten quarterings of Bourchier (Bourchier, Louvaine, FitzWarin, Audley, Cogan, Hankford, Brewer,[23] Martin, Dinham, Arches) impaling Donnington (Argent, three pallets azure on a chief gules three bezants)[5]

• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kitson
• __________________
• Sir Thomas Kitson1
• M, #21614, b. circa 1485, d. 11 September 1540
• Father Robert Kitson2 b. 26 Oct 1454, d. 23 Feb 1548
• Sir Thomas Kitson Ann was the 4th daughter of Sir Thomas. He was born circa 1485 at of Hengrave, Suffolk, England.2 He married Margaret Donington, daughter of John Donnington, Esq. and Elizabeth Pye, circa 1520.2 Sir Thomas Kitson died on 11 September 1540 at Hengrave, Suffolk, England.2
• Family Margaret Donington b. 1499, d. 20 Dec 1560
• Children
  • Frances Kitson3
  • Katherine Kitson+2,4 b. c 1525, d. b 8 Nov 1586
  • Ann Kitson+ b. c 1530
  • Sir Thomas Kitson+5 b. bt 11 Sep 1540 - 31 Dec 1540, d. 1603
• Citations
• 1.[S3531] Unknown author, Burke's Dormant and Extinct Baronetcies, p. 501.
• 2.[S61] Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, Family History Archives, SLC.
• 3.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. II, p. 16-17.
• 4.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. III, p. 390-1.
• 5.[S11568] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. IV, p. 79.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p720.htm#i...
• _________________________________
• Sir Thomas Kitson1
• M, #105961, d. 11 September 1540
• Last Edited=4 Dec 2008
• Sir Thomas Kitson was the son of Robert Kytson.2 He married Margaret Donington, daughter of John Donington and Elizabeth Pye, before 1540.1 He died on 11 September 1540.1
• He lived at Hengrave, Suffolk, England.1
• Child of Sir Thomas Kitson and Margaret Donington
  • 1.Frances Kitson+1 d. c Mar 1586
• Child of Sir Thomas Kitson
  • 1.Katherine Kitson+3
• Citations
• 1.[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 17. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• 2.[S60] Charles and Hugh Brogan Mosley, editor, American Presidential Families (London, U.K.: Alan Sutton and Morris Genealogical Books, 1994), page 48. Hereinafter cited as American Presidential Families.
• 3.[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume VI, page 629.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10597.htm#i105961
• ____________________________
• Thomas KYTSON (Sir Knight)
• Born: ABT 1485/1495, Hengrave, Suffolk, England
• Died: 11 Sep 1540, Hengrave, Suffolk, England
• Notes: See his Biography. - http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasKytson(SirKnight).htm
• Father: Robert KYTSON
• Mother: ¿?
• Married 1: ¿?
• Children:
  • 1. Elizabeth KYTSON
• Married 2: Margaret DONNINGTON (C. Bath) (b. ABT 1509, Stoke Newington, London, England - d. 12 Jan 1561 - bur. Hengrave Church) (dau. of John Donnington of and Elizabeth Pye) (m.2 of Sir Richard Long - m. 3 John Bourchier, 2º E. Bath) ABT 1535
• Children:
  • 2. Catherine KYTSON
  • 3. Frances KYTSON
  • 4. Anne KYTSON
  • 5. Dorothy KYTSON
  • 6. Thomas KYTSON (Sir)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/KYTSON.htm#Thomas KYTSON (Sir Knight)1
• __________________
• LONG, Sir Richard (by 1494-1546), of Southwark, Surr. and Shingay, Cambs.
• b. by 1494, 3rd s. of Sir Thomas Long of Draycot Cerne, and bro. of Sir Henry. m. settlement 10 Nov. 1541, Margaret, da. of John Donington of Stoke Newington, Mdx., wid. of Sir Thomas Kitson (d. 11 Sept. 1540) of London and Hengrave, Suff., 1s. 3da. Kntd. 18 Oct. 1537.2
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/lo...
• _____________________
• Sir Richard Long (ca. 1494 – 1546) was an English politician and courtier, for many years a member of the privy chamber of Henry VIII.
• Long was the third son of Sir Thomas Long of Draycot (ca. 1449–1508), Wiltshire landowner, and his wife, Margery (d. in or after 1508), daughter of Sir George Darrell of Littlecote House in Wiltshire.
• Long was among the retinue of Sir Gilbert Talbot in 1512, who .... etc.
• On 10 November 1541 he obtained the marriage settlement of Margaret Donnington, only daughter of John Donnington of Stoke Newington in Middlesex, and widow of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk. They had one son, Henry,[3] to whom the King stood as godfather in 1544,[citation needed] and three daughters, Jane, Katherine and Mary.[4] His granddaughter Elizabeth married William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh. .... etc.
• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Long_(c.1494-1546)
• _______________________
• The history and antiquities of the county of Buckingham (1847)
• https://archive.org/details/historyantiquiti02lips
• https://archive.org/stream/historyantiquiti02lips#page/8/mode/1up
• Pg.8
• Thomas Pakington, infant son of Robert, by Katharine Baldwyn, was in ward of the keeper of the privy seal in 1545, when his mother, then 23 years of age, was found by an inquisition to be one of the co-heirs of Sir John Baldwyn, Knt. and in 1551, having come into possession of this estate, he conveyed, inter alia, to John Burlace, Esq. of Little-Marlow, the Manor of Aylesbury and Berton with lands, &c. in Aylesbury.(7) Thomas Pakington was knighted by Queen Mary. He married Dorothy,(8) second daughter of Sir Thomas Kitson, Knt. of Hawridge, and of Hengrave, Co. Suffolk, by Margaret, only child of John Donington of Blaktoft, Co. York, and Stoke Newington, Co. Middlesex, by Elizabeth, heiress of the Pyes ;(9) and died in London, but was buried here with great pomp, the officers of the College of Arms attending.(10) His son, .... etc.
• __________________________________
• Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spencer_(died_1586)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Tasburgh
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Spring_of_Lavenham
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/BOURCHIER1.htm#John BOURCHIER (2° E. Bath)
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/RichardLong.htm
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