Maven just curious ...are you saying that this person is fictitious
Sir Thomas Dale
Dale
by
Peter ten Arve
Vaughn Baker
Elizabeth Throckmorton
Lady Dale, Elizabeth Throckmorton, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton and Elizabeth Berkeley. Thomas Throckmorton was the High Sheriff of Gloucester, as had been his father, grandfather, and great grandfather Throckmorton. These Throckmortons had descended from a cadet branch of the much older Throckmortons of Coughton Court. John Throckmorton (1412-1436) had settled in Bristol and purchased a ship to trade with Iceland. In his short life, he managed to establish great wealth, but also married quite well into the wealthy merchant family Brugge (also Brydges). Coincidentally, we believe that Thomas Gates descended from this family.
The great grandfather of Lady Dale also married well and this marriage brought the Manor of Tortworth into the Throckmorton family. Tortworth was just several villages south of the ancient fortress, Berkeley Castle.
Lady DaleÂ’s mother was the daughter of Sir Richard Berkeley of Stoke-Gifford (on the northern outskirts of Bristol). These were the Berkeleys who settled Berkeley Plantation on the James River. The Berkeleys were a very old family with ties to the Royal family. Most recently, the Third Baron Berkeley (1505-1581) had been King Henry VIIIÂ’s standard bearer. It was probably Grandfather Sir Richard Berkeley, who was Lieutenant of the Tower of London in 1597. Sir Richard had married the daughter of William Read of Rendcombe in Gloucester. We believe it was the same Sir William Read who we found listed in the year 1588 in Middlesex as the Sergeant Major for the protection of the Queen as England established defenses against the Spanish invasion.
One of the most famous military families of that time was that of Lord Chandos, the Brugge family, and they were inter-related with both the Throckmortons and Berkeleys. They were located at Sudeley castle less than ten miles north of Rendcombe, and only six miles from previously mentioned Tewkesbury. Sir Charles Brugge had refused to execute Queen Elizabeth when she was just a young princess, and Queen Elizabeth visited Sudeley to pay respect to the family. Sir John Brugge was a Captain in the Low Countries with Sir Thomas Dale in 1609.
Lady DaleÂ’s extended family was very involved in the wars abroad:
We believe it was Brother John Throckmorton who was in 1616 second in command of the Sidney Regiment in the Low Countries. He was married to the daughter of the Baron of the Exchequer of England, and we believe he was also the secretary to the 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
Brother-in-law Sir Thomas Baskerville was a distinguished soldier of the Low Countries, and was knighted as a result of his actions at Cadiz where he died. Her nieces and nephews by the Baskerville marriage were both politically connected.
Her uncle was Sir John Tracey of Toddington, also a veteran of the Low Countries. TraceyÂ’s daughter married Sir Horace Vere, Baron Vere of Tilbury, who was one of the most distinguished English leaders of the Low Countries. It was his brother Sir Francis Vere who had approved Thomas Dale to be a provisional captain in 1603. Of course, Horace VereÂ’s children were all married to major military or political figures of the period. Toddington was located near Sudeley Castle and slightly more than ten miles from Tewksbury.
Tilbury was the location in 1588 where the English army mustered in preparation for the Spanish invasion. Sir Ralph Lane of the Roanoke voyages was Muster Master, and had been quite involved for the previous year in preparing various English towns for possible Spanish attack.
Lady Dale had plenty of political horsepower on both sides of her immediate family:
Her Uncle William Berkeley of Stoke-Gifford was married to the daughter of Sir William Paulet, Lord Marquess of Winchester who was a member of ElizabethÂ’s Privy Council. The Marquis was the top military Lord for EnglandÂ’s defense against the Spanish, and responsible for Hampshire in the year 1588.
Her father had taken as his second wife, the daughter of another Privy Council member, Sir Edward Rogers. Rogers had been a member of WyattÂ’s Rebellion with Sir Thomas Wyatt whose grandson would also become a Virginia Governor.
Lady DaleÂ’s niece was married to the brother of George Talbot, the ninth Earl of Shrewsbury, whose ancestor was both Privy Council Member with Rogers and Paulet, as well as the Earl Marshall for England.
Lady DaleÂ’s family also reflected the Virginia experiment in North America:
Brother Baronet William Throckmorton was one of the four stockholders behind BERKELEY Plantation in Virginia. We have been intrigued by a 1609 disposition at Clearwell by a John Dale, son of Edward Dale. Clearwell at that time was William ThrockmortonÂ’s father-in-lawÂ’s home place.
Another Berkeley Plantation founder was second cousin George Thorpe, grandson of her aunt Margaret Throckmorton, as was first cousin Richard Berkeley of Stoke- Gifford. RichardÂ’s son Maurice had married the daughter of Sir Edward Coke, Chancellor of England.
Her brother John ThrockmortonÂ’s children were actually in Virginia. Her cousin and soldier Sir John Tracey was married to the daughter of famous Low Country soldier Sir Thomas Shirley, whose other daughter was married to DaleÂ’s friend, Virginia Governor Thomas West, Lord de la Warr. West named SHIRLEY plantation immediately north of BERKELEY after his wife Cecily SHIRLEY.
Two of Cousin Horace VereÂ’s daughters were married to major Virginia Company investors, and his son-in-law Lord Paulett inherited WESTOVER plantation that was adjacent to BERKELEY Plantation.
First cousin William Tracey purchased her brotherÂ’s share in BERKELEY, and TraceyÂ’s daughter married Captain Nathaniel Powell, a member of the original Virginia Company.
The Throckmorton family had collected other manors over their two hundred years tenure in Gloucester. In fact, at the time of his death in 1607, Sir Thomas passed along fourteen manors like Tortworth. At least two of his manors were located near manors of the Earl of Leicester. Leicester was one of most powerful men in England before his death in 1588, and we learned that Sir Thomas Throckmorton and Leicester shared a daily carriage to ElizabethÂ’s court when they were in London.
We donÂ’t know London history, but could not resist commenting on the intersection of Throgmorton (Throckmorton) Street and Throgmorton (Throckmorton) Avenue in the City of London. That is the location of the Drapers house, headquarters for the Drapers Guild, and the stock exchange. We mention the Drapers Guild because it appears that Thomas Dale did descend from a family that spent many generations in the haberdasher trade, and the stock exchange because Sir Thomas ThrockmortonÂ’s actions created the beginning that would end in the pauperÂ’s house for his great grandchildren.
Throgmorton Street is only four blocks from Milk Street where the Parish Church of Matthew Dale, haberdasher, was located. Milk Street was adjacent to St. PaulÂ’s Cathedral and in the same neighborhood as the home of Dr. Valentine Dale.
Lady DaleÂ’s father, Sir Thomas Throckmorton, had been a courtier to ElizabethÂ’s court. He was influential, he had been the High Sheriff, and he was a Justice of the Peace. But he was a plotter, a manipulator, and it was not above him to tamper with juries, bribe officials, and threaten the lives of those that got in his way. The Star Chamber, the high court of England, eventually fined him heavily and sentenced him to imprisonment. Throckmorton shared a daily carriage with the Earl of Leicester, a man who was thought to have poisoned the husband of his first wife, the 1st Earl of Essex, so he could marry his wife. Later he was thought to have poisoned Sir Nicholas Throckmorton who Leicester felt had hampered his chances to marry Queen Mary of Scotland. Can you just imagine the conversations of these two predators?
At the time of his death, Sir Thomas Throckmorton left a vast fortune, but each of his fourteen manors had litigation attached. Son Baronet William Throckmorton inherited the manors and made a valiant attempt to improve the financial situation. He pioneered the harvesting of oilseed for soapmaking, re-opened the medieval ironworks that had once been profitable on Tortworth Manor, and invested in BERKELEY plantation in Virginia. It wasnÂ’t enough and he sold Tortworth Manor, the main Throckmorton home, to his cousin by marriage, Sir Horace Vere. He continued to sell off the other thirteen manors, and the last one sold was Corse Court Manor in 1632. That same year, a judgement was served in Virginia against the BaronetÂ’s son, Nicholas Throckmorton, and Lady Dale. Nicholas Throckmorton, the keeper of Kingswood Forest in Gloucester, died in 1664, and left his wife and six children destitute.
Although Thomas Dale died in 1619, Lady Dale continued to live for two more decades until 1639. However, an administration against the estate of Thomas Dale in 1633 is much clearer. It stated that Thomas Dale, of parts beyond the seas, was to have his estate assigned to Thomas Burnett, principal creditor, and the relict was "unanswering". Obviously, DaleÂ’s estate had been attached because of the tremendous Throckmorton debt inherited some twenty-five years earlier. William Burdett, who had been at DALES GIFT in 1624 had become the caretaker of Lady Dale's estate in Virginia, and we are left with the question if the 1633 administration is not that of Burdett's son, Thomas Burdett, who we found living on a section of the original Dales estate a few years later.
Two men were named as the executors of her will and rightful heirs. The first was Richard Hanby whose neice was married to Lady Dale's nephew. We also found a record of a Thomas Dale (W1578) of Alford, and his wife Anne Hanby of Malley, thinking that there may be a connection. As of yet, we have not been able to link them further.
With the help of modern day Shrimptons, we were able to identify the William Shrimpton of White Church in Southampton mentioned by Ralph Whitelaw, as William Shrimpton (D1661), probable son of yeoman Francis Shrimpton (D1608) of Bassing in Hampshire, and husband of Margaret Deane. Lady Dale had referred to him as a deserving friend, however, we were unable to identify any other direct connections with the Dales. Shrimpton's parish, White Church in Hampshire is less than seven miles east of Andover, where we located the birthplace of Dales's friend, Baron de la Warr, as well as the Dale's of Fyfield. Shrimpton's children were babtized in that parish church from 1613 to 1617. Certainly this confirmation places additional weight on Thomas Dale being a descendant of the same branh of Dales as Dr. Valentine Dale.
orthampton County - misc court records (William and Mary College Quarterly)
William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol.
1, No. 3. (Jan., 1893), pp. 155-156.
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY.Page 156
Will of Dame Elizabeth Dale. Dat. 4 July, 1640, Rec.(1) 2
Dec. 1640. Debts to be paid out of her estate in East India Co.
and in Va.; "ueece Mrs Dorothy Throgmorton to have 500 acres
in Va."; Edward Hambye to have all her land in Charles Hunt-
dred in Va.; "her ould servant Hannah Pickering to have L100
lawful English money." Residue in two equal parts of which
one she gives to the children of Sir William Throgmorton,
Knight Baronet, and the other to Mr. Richard Hambye and Mr.
William Crimpton; gives her nephew, the Viscount Gondamore,
a Ring of tenn pds price: mentions "Richard Hambye, Mr.
Richard Hambye's sone." The mark of Dame Elizabeth Dale.
"Mr. Wm. Schrimpton of Whitechurch in the Co. of South:
Gent and Richard Hambye of the citty of Weston in the County
of Midd, Gent, exors of the will of Dame Elizabeth Dale, late
wife and sole exx of Sir Thomas Dale, knt. deced, etc." [their
deed to Samuel Chandler of London, merchant, "now bound for
Virginia," dated last of August, 1641.]
