Thomas Mildmay of Moulsham

Thomas Mildmay+ d. b 29 Jan 1566/67. Son and heir. Married Avice Gonson.

https://highsheriffofessex.com/2019/08/01/top-ten-essex-families-ii/

Monument to Thomas Mildmay (died 1566) and his wife Avice (died 1557), erected in 1571, in Chelmsford Cathedral (formerly St Mary’s parish church).

Then we have two families with seven and eight sheriffs apiece, the Mildmays and the Goslings respectively. The Mildmay family can be traced back to the middle of the 15th century, and quickly rose to prominence in the 16th. Thomas Mildmay, who was sheriff in 1558–9, owned most of Moulsham and Chelmsford by the time of his death in 1566; in 1540 he had bought the important manor of Moulsham, which had belonged to Westminster Abbey, for £620. He was elected to parliament for various Cornish seats six times between 1547 and 1559. His son Sir Thomas was sheriff in 1572–3, his son, also Sir Thomas, in 1609–10 (elected MP for Maldon in 1593). This Thomas was created baronet in 1611, but the title died with him in 1626. A collateral descendant, William Mildmay, was sheriff in 1765–6, and created baronet in 1765, but he too had no one to inherit his title when he died in 1771. Other branches of the family provided sheriffs in the shape of Humphrey Mildmay of Danbury in 1593–4, Sir Humphrey of Danbury in 1635–6, and Sir Henry Mildmay of Graces, Little Baddow, in 1628–9.

Biography

MILDMAY, Thomas (by 1515-66), of Moulsham, Essex and London. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982 Available from Boydell and Brewer

Family and Education

b. by 1515, 1st s. of Thomas Mildmay of Chelmsford, Essex by Agnes Read; bro. of Walter. m. by 1540, Avis, da. of William Gonson of London, 8s. inc. Thomas† 7da. suc. fa. c.1547.2

Offices Held

Auditor, ct. augmentations, Cambs., Essex, Herts., Hunts., London, Mdx., Norf., Suff., 24 Apr. 1536-1 June 1545, jt. (with bro. Walter) 1545-54; jt. auditor, duchy of Cornw. by 1538-c.1556, sole c.1556-d.; j.p. Essex 1541-d., jt. (with bro. Walter) auditor ct. gen. surveyors of the King’s lands by 1545, commr. chantries, London, Mdx., Westminster 1545, relief Essex 1550, assessionable manors, duchy of Cornw. 1563; sheriff, Essex and Herts. 1558-9.3

Biography The distinguished medieval descent claimed by the Mildmays was probably a late 16th century fabrication: the real founder of the family appears to have been a merchant who from small beginnings manning his own stall in Chelmsford market prospered sufficiently to buy ‘Guy Harlings’, the principal house in the town from Richard Rich in 1527. Nothing has been discovered about Thomas Mildmay’s early life and education, but presumably he learnt the rudiments of accountancy at his father’s prompting and obtained his first post in augmentations through his father’s dealings with Rich, the court’s first chancellor. Throughout 1536 and 1537 Mildmay was engaged in the dissolution of the lesser religious houses in East Anglia and by his diligence he soon established himself as one of the court’s leading officials. He used his position to acquire land for himself and his family, and in September 1537 he made his first purchase (in partnership with his father) of some former monastic property in Chelmsford valued at nearly £80. Three years later he bought for over £620 the manor of Moulsham, to the south of Chelmsford, where he made his home, reconstructing the hall in such a grandiose style that it was ‘accounted the greatest esquire’s building within the county of Essex’. His fee on entering the court was £20 a year, but when the court was dissolved by Mary he received a pension of £200 to compensate him for the loss of his office.4

Through Rich and Cromwell, Mildmay met William Gonson, the treasurer for the navy under Henry VIII, and his marriage with Gonson’s daughter suggests the acceptance, if not the approval by his superiors of his early promise in the service of the crown. Mildmay’s reputation as an auditor grew steadily: he obtained the reversion with Robert Heneage of the auditorship of the duchy of Cornwall in 1537, and perhaps with the backing of his brother-in-law, Anthony Bourchier, that of the court of general surveyors. In 1544 he was exempted from military service in France on account of his work, but two years later he was sent to Boulogne to survey the captured town. He visited Calais in 1552 for similar reasons and Ireland after the accession of Elizabeth ‘to take order that the records, both of the crown and of the revenue be better kept’. During the last two decades of his life Mildmay was the most important auditor in the government, and his name figures prominently in its money matters.5

Mildmay’s knowledge would doubtless have been welcome in the Commons, and through his employment in the duchy of Cornwall he procured his return to Parliament on at least six occasions. (Under the aegis of Rich or another patron, maybe Sir Thomas Arundell, he could have gained some experience of the House earlier than 1547 since the returns for the last few Parliaments of Henry VIII are incomplete.) Under Edward VI and Mary he usually sat for Helston but in the autumn of 1553 he sat for Bodmin where his name was inserted over an erasure on the indenture. His absence from either Parliament of 1554 may have reflected official annoyance at his brother’s opposition to the reunion with Rome, but if that was the reason it had ceased to be an obstacle a year later. Both in 1555 and 1558 his name was added to the Helston indenture in a different hand.6

In 1564 Mildmay was described by the bishop of London as ‘indifferent in religion’, an estimate confirmed by his earlier career. He retained his offices during Mary’s reign and was active as a justice in prosecuting protestants in Essex. Still, he was on intimate terms with Sir Philip Hoby who, when inviting Sir William Cecil to spend the Christmas of 1557 with him at Bisham, used Mildmay’s intended presence as an inducement. During the disturbed months following Queen Elizabeth’s accession, Mildmay was one of those to whom the Privy Council entrusted the task of suppressing (and sometimes arresting) unlicensed preachers in Essex.5

In November 1565 Mildmay’s name was deleted from a commission for piracy in Essex, probably because of ill-health, for two months later he made his will and within a year he was dead. He made provision for the education and maintenance of his younger sons, but left the bulk of his lands in Essex and property in London to his eldest son Thomas. Among several charitable bequests was an annuity of twenty marks to Chelmsford school, of which he and his brother Sir Walter were governors, and property at Moulsham out of which the bishop of London was to maintain six poor people of the parish. Mildmay died 21 Sept. 1566, was buried at Chelmsford beside his wife, and the will was proved in January 1567 by the heir and his uncle Sir Walter Mildmay.6

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: Irene Cassidy Notes 1. Vis. Essex (Harl. Soc. xiii), 250-1. 2. LP Hen. VIII, xii(1), pp. 602-3; xiii(1), p. 573; xvi. p. 280; xx(2), p. 554; CPR, 1553, p. 353; 1553-4, p. 19; 1554-5, p. 107; Duchy Cornw. roll 123, m. 3d; 235, m. 5; 501, m. 1. 3. Trans. Essex Arch. Soc. n.s. xv. 7-9, 12; LP Hen. VIII, xi, pp. 114-15, 140, 253, 367; xii(1), pp. 113, 218, 239, 265; (2), p. 282; xiii(1), p. 573; xv. p. 478; xix(1), p. 637; CPR, 1560-3, pp. 563, 613-14. 4. Duchy Cornw. roll 123, m. 6v; 225, m. 13; LP Hen. VIII, xix(2), p. 271. 5. Cam. Misc. ix (3), p. 62; Strype, Eccles. Memorials, iii(1), p. 440; APC, v. 172; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 95; APC, vii. 87-8, 92. 6. HMC Hatfield, i. 266; APC, vii. 109, 285; PCC 3 Stonard; C142/147/142; T. Wright, Hist. Essex, i. 79.

References

• “Sir Walter Mildmay and Tudor Government.” Stanford E. Lehmberg. GoogleBooks
• ” The Little History of Essex.” By Judith Williams. GoogleBooks
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Reade-94
• Visitation of Essex 1612 Page 251: Mildmay Archive.Org
• https://moulshamhistory.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/thomas-and-walter-...
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/8118630@N08/6736914233 Mildmay monument. Chelmsford 16th century monument in Chelmsford cathedral to Thomas Mildmay ( died 1566), his wife Avice ( daughter of William Gonson of London) and their family of 15 children. Thomas , descended from merchant stock, rose to become an auditor in the Court of Augmentations and the family were patrons of the living of Chelmsford (originally a parish church, before being elevated to the status of cathedral in 1914) for three centuries.
• https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/mm4fz/mildmay1.php
• “Brief memoir of the Mildmay family”. by Mildmay, Herbert A. St. John. “Genealogy”. Page 238. Archive.Org