Thomasine Wriothesley

• 'Collections for a history of Staffordshire, Volume 1 By Staffordshire Record Society, William Salt Archaeological Society
• http://books.google.com/books?id=iSfQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=T...
• Pg. 54
  • Sir John Gresley, Kt.
  • (occ. 1410: d.1449.)
• Sir John only survived his father for about five years, and so we naturally do not find much recorded of him. He probably married in 1409 or 1410, or in II Hen. 4 some trustees grant to him and 'Elizabeth Clarell' (see below) a rent at Colton. In 1415 he shared in the French wars with his father (see p. 52), and was a Knight as early as 1413, . . . .
• Pg. 55
• . . John died on Jan. 17, 1448/9, according to an Inquisition post mortem which states he held no lands of the King in Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire.
• Sir John's wife was Elizabeth (not Margaret) daughter of Sir Thomas Clarell of Aldwark, Yorkshirew, by Matilda daughter of Sir Nicholas Montgomery. Her Christian name cannot be doubted in view of Gresely Charter 387, which appears to be a marriage settlement of the two, though Elizabeth is not expressly called the wife of John: the date is 1409-10. Elizabeth's name is also given in pedigrees in Brit. Mus. MSS. Harl. 4630 (p.94) and Add. 5530 (pp.xxvii, cii), and she had a sister Margaret.
• But confusion has arisen in the pedigrees and Visitations from it not having been seen that Sir John married a second wife whose name was Margaret. There can be little doubt that she was a daughter of John Norwood a merchant of Coventry and was three times married, 1. to Thomas Massey, son of Sir John Massey of Tatton in Cheshire by (Alice Worselay): this first husband died without issue Aug. 24, 1420: 2. to John de Delves (son of John), who had first married Philippa who died in 1420: John died in April 1429: 3. to Sir John Gresley in 1440-1. She survived her third husband, and occurs at least as late as March 1, 1448/9.
• Of Sir John's children it may be assumed that all were by his first wife, from considerations of date. Their names were:--
  • 1. John (born 1418), see p. 57.
  • 2. Nicholas, who occurs in 1450 as a witness (Nicholaus Gresley senior), and one more in 1455 in connexion with some riotous proceedings which will be noticed in the account of his brother Sir John.
  • 3. Katherine, who is only mentioned as having married Sir William Peto (occ. 1430, d. 1464-5) who was a son of William de Peto (d. 1406-7) by Joan daughter of Sir John Thornbury and subsequently wife of Sir Robert Corbet. William and Katherine had a son John, jborn in about 1434 (d.1487-8), who in 1453-4 married Eleanor Mantfield.
  • It is possible that this Katherine had previously married John Cawarden, of Mavesyn Ridware, before 1426, and had a son John and several other children by him: but as her husband survived her and married secondly Margaret Boteler and did not die till July 8, 1475, there is some unexplained mystery. Possibly there were two sisters Katherine, or conceivably a divorce.
  • ' 4. Thomasine ? This lady is very difficult to place with certainty. She was certainly married to Hugh Wrottesley, who was born on Sept. 14, 1400: and the marriage was before 1421, for in that year she occurs in Katherine Walsh's Will as 'Thomasine Wrottesley.' Hugh died in 1464 and Thomasine on Dec. 25, 1480. Thomasine is definitely affirmed to be the daughter of Sir John Gresley, but was she daughter of this Sir John or of his great-grandfather whose second wife died in 1393?
  • ' If she is daughter of the present Sir John, the difficutly is that we have seen above that he was probably married in 1409 (not before Sept. 30) or 1410, so that Thomasine could not have been born before 1410 and would have married before the age of twelve. Also it is odd that Katherine Walsh should have singled out this one great-grandchild and child-wife for remembrance in her will, the only other Gresley mentioned being her daughter.
  • ' If she is daughter of the elder Sir John, there are no less difficulties. He was married before 1347 and seems to be holding property in 1328 and so was probably born not later than the latter year: if so Thomasine who died in 1480 would be a child of his old age. But we know of no issue of Sir John's second wife Joan, and if there was we must suppose Joan to have had two daughters by different husbands each named Thomasine. And how can we account for Joan making to mention of this Thomasine in her will?
  • ' On the whole I believe that Thomasine was daughter of the second Sir John and married when very young, as is not unparalleled. If the authorities had shown any varition of her father's name, one might have inclined to believe her the daughter of Sir Nicholas or Sir Thomas.
  • ' For Thomasin's children see the Wrottesley Pedigree, which is given at greater length than usual on account of its long unbroken male line and also of its certitude, the latter quality being the result of the researches of Major-General the Hon. George Wrottesley.
• ____________________
• 'Gresley 1: Gresley of Drakelow, Gresley of Gresley, Gresley of Lullington
• http://www.multiwords.de/genealogy/gresley01.htm#dau1
• Gr18 Sir Thomas Gresley of Gresley b c1365, d c1445
• m Margaret Walsh dau of Thomas Walsh of Wanlip
  • Gr17-1 Sir John Gresley of Gresley d 17.01.1448/9
  • Sometime around this time, the family moved from Gresley to Drakelow.
  • m1 c1410 Elizabeth Clarell dau of Sir Thomas Clarell of Aldwark
    • ' d Thomasine Gresley d 25.12.1480
    • ' m Hugh Wrottesley b 14.09.1400, d 1464
  • m2 c1440, sp Margaret Norwood dau of John Norwood of Coventry
• 'Wrottesley 1: Wrottesley of Wrottesley
• http://www.multiwords.de/genealogy/wrottesley1.htm
• (b) John de Wrottesley of Wrottesley (b 29.09.1379, d 07.09.1402)
• m. Elizabeth Standish (dau of Sir Robert de Standish)
  • ' ((1)) Hugh Wrottesley of Wrottesley (b 14.09.1400, d 1464)
  • ' m. Thomasine Gresley (d 25.12.1480, dau of Sir John Gresley of Drakelowe)
    • ((A)) Sir Walter Wrottesley of Wrottesley (d 1473)
    • m. Jane Baron (dau of William Baron of Reading)
    • ((B)) Isabel Wrottesley or Wriothesley (a 1467)
    • m1. (before 1437-8) Sir William Armine of Osgodby (d 1447-8)
    • m2. Thomas Meeres the younger
    • ((C)) Elizabeth Wrottesley probably of this generation
    • m. William Stafford of Bishop's Frome (d before 1487)
• ______________________

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References

1. George Wrottesley. (1903) History of the family of Wrottesley of Wrottesley, co. Stafford. Page 207. < Archive.Org > Besides these children, an old paichment pedigree, formerly at Wrottesley, in the handwriting of the Tudor period, named a daughter Elizabeth, married to Sir William Stafford, and some county histories and Heralds Visitations name another daughter Isabella, married to Sir William Airmyn, of Osgodby, co. Lincoln.
2. https://archive.org/details/visitationcount01mundgoog/page/n169/mod...
3. https://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p4878.htm... cites:
   1. [S40] RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project.
   2. [S6] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 272.
   3. [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. I, p. 370.