Sir Thomas Walmsley (also Walmesley and Walmisley) (1537–1612) was an English judge and politician.

Life

He was the eldest son of Thomas Walmsley of Showley in the township of Clayton-le-dale and of Cunliffe in the township of

Rishton Rishton is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, about west of Clayton-le-Moors and north east of Blackburn. It was an urban district from about 1894 to 1974. The population at the census of 2011 was 6,625. History It ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, by his wife Margaret (born Livesey). He was admitted on 9 May 1559 student at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

, where he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 15 June 1567, and elected bencher in 1574, autumn reader in 1576, Lent reader in 1577, and autumn reader again in 1580, in anticipation of his call to the degree of the coif, which, despite suspicions that he was a Catholic, took place about Michaelmas. In 1583 Walmsley made before the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

an attempt to sustain the validity of

papal dispensation In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of the law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often caused by rigor ...

s and other faculties issued during the reign of

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

. He represented

in the parliament of 1588–9, and served on several committees. On 10 May 1589 he was created

justice of the common pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas (England), Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court o ...

. Walmsley early showed his independence by allowing bail in a murder case, contrary to the express injunctions of the Queen conveyed through the lord chancellor; his temerity provoked a reprimand.

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

voted him its freedom on 6 February 1595. In 1597 he was assistant to the House of Lords in committee; he was placed on the ecclesiastical commission for

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

on 31 January 1598. He was also a member of the special commission before which

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during th ...

was arraigned at York House on 5 June 1600, and assisted the peers on his trial in

Westminster Hall Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was erected in 1097 for William II (William Rufus), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. The building has had various functio ...

, 19–25 February 1601. Continued in office on the accession of James I, Walmsley was knighted at

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, ...

on 23 July 1603. He was a member of the special commission that tried on 15 November following the

Bye Plot The Bye Plot of 1603 was a conspiracy, by Priesthood (Catholic Church), Roman Catholic priests and Puritans aiming at toleration, tolerance for their respective denominations, to kidnap the new English king, James I of England. It is referred to ...

conspirators. In ''

Calvin's case ''Calvin's Case'' (1608), 77 ER 377, (1608) Co Rep 1a, also known as the ''Case of the Postnati'', was a 1608 English legal decision establishing that a child born in Scotland, after the Union of the Crowns under King James VI and I in 1603, wa ...

'' Walmsley again showed independence: the matter was discussed by a committee of the House of Lords, with the help of the common-law bench,

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

, and other eminent counsel, in the painted chamber on 23 February 1607, and on the following day was decided in the affirmative by ten out of the twelve judges. Of the other two, one ( Sir David Williams) was absent; Walmsley alone dissented. He adhered to his opinion on the subsequent argument in the exchequer chamber (Hilary term, 1608), and induced Sir Thomas Foster to concur in it. During his judicial career Walmsley rode every circuit in England, except that of Norfolk and Suffolk. He amassed a large fortune, which he invested in broad acres in his native county. His principal seat was at Dunkenhalgh, near

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, to which he retired on a pension towards the end of 1611. He died on 26 November 1612.

Legacy

Walmsley's remains were interred in the chantry of our Lady, appendant to Dunkenhalgh manor, in the south aisle of Blackburn parish church. His monument, which was copied from that of

Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Stanhope; before 1512 – 16 April 1587) was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1500–1552), who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of their n ...

in St. Nicholas's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, was demolished by the insurgents at the outbreak of the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

. Another monument was erected in 1862. A full-length portrait of the judge and his lady was preserved in Dunkenhalgh House.

Family

In right of his wife Anne (died 19 April 1635), daughter and heiress of Robert Shuttleworth of Hacking, Lancashire, Walmsley held the Hacking estates, which, with his own, passed to his only son, Thomas, who thus became one of the magnates of Lancashire. He was brought up in the Roman Catholic church. He subscribed at Oxford, 1 July 1613, but did not graduate. He was entered student at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

on 11 November 1614, and was knighted on 11 August 1617. He died at Dunkenhalgh on 12 March 1642, having married twice and leaving issue by both wives. His posterity died out in the male line in 1711; but through the marriage of the last male descendant's youngest sister,

Catherine Walmesley Catherine Stourton, Baroness Stourton (previously Catherine Petre, Baroness Petre, née Walmesley; 6 January 1697 – 31 January 1785), was a rich Lancastrian heiress. Baroness Petre Born into a long-established Lancashire family of Catholic l ...

, with Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre, her first husband, the female line represented the peerage; by her second husband,

Charles Stourton, 15th Baron Stourton Charles Stourton, 15th Baron Stourton (2 March 1702 – 11 March 1753) was the son of Charles Stourton (1669–1739), himself the third son of William Stourton, 12th Baron Stourton. Charles' mother was Katherine Frompton (died 1736). Charles was t ...

, she had no issue.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Walmsley, Thomas 1537 births 1612 deaths English MPs 1589 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Lancashire 17th-century English judges 16th-century English judges People associated with the Gunpowder Plot Serjeants-at-law (England)