Sir Thomas Parry by Hans Holbein the Younger

Sir Thomas Parry (c. 1515 – 15 December 1560) was a Comptroller of the Household to the English

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed by Elizabeth at her accession in 1558, and held the offices of royal steward, Cofferer,

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

, Comptroller of the Household (appointed November 1558), Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries (appointed 26 April 1559),

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Wallingford (elected 1547, 1552, 1555), Hertfordshire (elected 5 January 1558–9), and

Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire. Since 1689, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Berkshire. Lord-Lieutenants of Berkshire *Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk 1545–22 August 1545 *E ...

(appointed 1559).

Career

Parry's father was Henry Vaughan of Tretower Court, Breconshire, Wales whose father, Sir Thomas Vaughan, had been knighted and later beheaded by

King Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Batt ...

. He was a friend and kinsman of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, which may have afforded him his introduction to the court of

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

. Parry was initially known as Thomas ap Harry (Thomas, son of Harry), later modified to Thomas Parry. He is first noticed attending

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

in 1536, having been employed with various tasks and responsibilities attached to the dissolution of monastic properties. Further on he was one of the Protestants that were allowed to attend Princess Elizabeth when

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

confined her to

Hatfield House Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cec ...

. Elizabeth was quick to acknowledge his service and loyalty and conferred a knighthood to him upon her accession in 1558 and he was also made a

privy counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

. The following year, he acquired lands in Berkshire, centred on Hamstead Marshall. Although Elizabeth was fond of his services, he was not particularly popular at court and is noted to have "died on 15 December 1560, of 'mere ill-humour' according to popular report (ib. vii. 313; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598–1601, p. 204), and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

(Registers, ed. Chester, p. 113)."

Family

He married Anne, daughter of Sir William Reade of Boarstall in Buckinghamshire, and widow, first, of Sir Giles Greville, and, secondly, of Sir Adrian Fortescue, with whom he had two sons and two daughters; one of whom married Thomas Knyvett, 4th Baron Berners (c. 1539–1618) and had issue, one daughter who married Edmund, the heir of Sir Robert Bell. Parry's eldest son was Sir Thomas Parry, ambassador to Paris, Sheriff and MP for Berkshire 1586-1614 and MP for St Albans 1610. Lady Parry, who was one of the ladies of the

privy chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

, was granted, about 1566, an annuity of £50 for thirty-three years (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1566–1579, p. 25). She retired to

Welford Park Welford may refer to: Places ;Australia * Welford National Park ;England *Welford, Berkshire **RAF Welford ** Welford Park *Welford, Northamptonshire **Welford Reservoir **Welford Road Stadium Welford Road (currently known as Mattioli Woods ...

and is buried beneath a fine

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

in the adjoining church.

References

*David Nash Ford,
Sir Thomas Parry Senior
in ''Royal Berkshire History'', Nash Ford Publishing 2001 *Gordon Goodwin, ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press 1895 *Jonathan Hughes, 'Parry, Sir Thomas (b. in or before 1515, d. 1560)' in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, October 200
accessed 11 May 2006

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Thomas Knights Bachelor Lord-Lieutenants of Berkshire People from Brecknockshire People from Hamstead Marshall Members of the Parliament of England for Hertfordshire 1515 births 1560 deaths 16th-century Welsh politicians Members of the Privy Council of England Thomas English MPs 1547–1552 English MPs 1553 (Edward VI) English MPs 1555 English MPs 1559