Disclaimer & Bowles DNA Project |
After a long search and much speculation, I think I have identified Sir John
Bolle’s brother-in-law and lieutenant, Mr Farmer.
While serving in the Nine Years War in Ireland,
Sir John Bolle of Haugh
wrote to Queen Elizabeth’s Secretary of State, Sir Robert Cecil, in 1601
that he wished to be relieved of further duty in Ireland and requested that
his Lieutenant Farmer be given command of his regiment.
Farmer is stated to be ‘young and sufficient’ and ‘he is my
brother-in-law’. In March 1602
the Army List shows that Bolle’s regiment was commanded by a Captain Farmer
and December of that year he appears as Captain Thomas Farmer in a list of
discharged officers. I cannot
find any further military records for him although a Thomas Farmer is found
in county Cork in 1623 working for the Earl of Cork.
However, William Henry Bowles writes in his Records of the Bowles Family (p.
155)
https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE109359&from=fhd
that Sir John Bolles and a Sir Thomas Farmer were brothers-in-law
“who are often mentioned together in Lord Russell’s Journal and in the Carew
Manuscripts at Lambeth Library”.
Lord Russell was Lord Deputy in Ireland from 1594-97 after which he
returned to England where he was a leading military figure in Queen
Elizabeth’s court. His
journal only covers a period from June 24, 1594 to May 26, 1597 so Sir John
and Sir Thomas were connected before 1601.
Carew was on the expedition to Cadiz with Sir John and later landed
in Tyrone in 1600 on the same expedition as Sir John.
He requested a return to England in 1601 and was appointed
receiver-general and vice-chamberlain to the queen in 1603.
Russell's and Carew's writings are original and credible sources. They knew
the people they were referring to and they would be expected to be reliable.
So, although it hasn’t been possible for me to check those sources
yet, John Bolles' brother-in-law was, almost certainly, a Thomas Farmer.
As it turns out Sir John Bolles did have a Sir Thomas Farmer as a
brother-in-law (as shown below).
However, it’s very unlikely that one peer of the realm would serve as a
Lieutenant to another knight and this Sir Thomas Farmer would not be
described as ‘young’. So it
works better if there was also a younger Thomas Farmer who was also his
brother-in-law. They wouldn’t
be brothers if both were named Thomas but one thing would work.
If Sir John’s brother-in-law Sir Thomas Farmer's had a son and heir
Thomas then Thomas Jr. would legally be Sir John's brother-in-law as well.
The generation didn't affect the
legal obligation of the connection by marriage implied by the title
brother-in-law. There were
familial legal implications through marriage then which don't apply today.
Although it took quite a search, Sir Thomas Fermor of East Barsham, Norfolk
and his son Thomas fit that role exactly.
Sir Thomas Fermor of East Barsham's brother Nicholas Fermor was married to
Elizabeth Waters, daughter of Edward Waters of Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
So Sir Thomas was Elizabeth's brother-in-law.
Then shortly after their marriage Nicholas drowned and Elizabeth
married Sir John Bolle (after she had two other short marriages).
That made Sir John Bolle and Sir Thomas Fermor brothers-in-law.
Nicholas' holdings while in Elizabeth's hands were still Fermor
holdings as women could not legally hold land in their own right.
When John Bolle married Elizabeth her holdings legally became his so
John and Thomas had shared legal obligations.
By law they had the legal role of brothers.
Sir Thomas also had an eldest son Thomas who died young.
Thomas Jr. would also have been Sir John's brother by law so he fits
as the young Lieutenant. Since
he died young though he could not be the Thomas Farmer who worked for
Richard Boyle in Cork. This
leaves him still a mystery.
William Fermor, Vicar of East Barsham in 1390 was the ancestor of:
Sir Henry Fermor of East Barsham, Esq.
(Knighted and High Sheriff of Norfolk 24 Henry VIII (1533))
m.(1) Margaret widow of John
Wode of Wolterton & Waldegrave
m. (2) Winifred Dynne of Heydon
1.
Sir William Fermor (High Sheriff in
32 Henry VIII (1541)) (of Wolterton Manor, he built East Barsham Manor about
1538 which still stands today; acquired Hempton Manor in 37 Henry VIII
(1546); Pinkeney Manor, Tatersete and Taterford in 3 Edw VI (1549))
m. Catherine Knevet (Sir Thomas) 1526
William d. 1557/58 (Will dated Aug. 4, 1557; proved Jan. 12, 1557/58)
(left bequests to East Barsham and Pudding Norton poor people and churches)
Catherine m.(2) Nicholas Mynne of East Barsham, Esq.
No children
Sir William d. 1557 (Will dated Aug. 4, 1557; proved Jan. 12, 1557/58)
2.
Sir Thomas Fermor, Esq.
m. Anne Coote (Christopher Coote of Blownorton)
2.1 Sir Thomas Fermor, Esq. b.
ca. 1546 (heir to his Uncle William) (held his first court at Wolterton 1
Elizabeth I (1559); sold Hampton Manor 6 Edw VI (1552) and Pinkeney manor in
16 Eliz I (1574); acquired Thorpeland Hall in 1590; living in 6 James
(1609); MP for Norfolk 1586; accused of recusancy in 1595 and removed from
his commissions) (this is certainly Sir John Bolle’s brother-in-law Sir
Thomas Fermor as referenced in ‘Records of the Bowles Family’)
m. Mary Fromond (Bartholomew of Cheame, Surrey)
2.1.1 Thomas Fermor died a
young man (this could be Sir John Bolle’s ‘brother-in-law’, young Lieutenant
Farmer)
2.1.2 William Fermor (held his
first court 17 James I (1620))
m. Anne Brook (Robert, Alderman of London)
2.1.2.1 Mary Fermor b. ca. 1612
m. James Calthorpe (marriage articles Jan 17, 3 Charles I (1628)) (brought
the Farmer estate to Calthorpe)
Mary d. May 12, 1640 aged 28 bur. St. Marys, East Barsham
William d. Nov. 24, 1625 St. Marys, East Barsham
2.1.3
Mary Fermor m. Francis Barney (Martin, J.P. of Norfolk) against her father’s
wishes
2.1.3.1 male heir, a minor at
his father’s death
Francis d. soon after
2.1.4 Elizabeth Fermor m.
Thomas Baxster of Stannow, co. Norfolk (widowed by 1622)
Sir Thomas d. Dec. 9, 1621 (Will proved Feb. 19, 1621/22)
2.2 Nicholas Fermor of Blow
Norton, Norfolk, Gent. (in Nov. 1576) (attainted for treasonable practices
in coining in 1577) (heir to Aunt Catherine Fermor, sold Taterford 12 Eliz.
I (1570) to elder brother Thomas)
m. Elizabeth Waters ca. 1577 Ref1
Nicholas d. 1577 very soon after his marriage, while fleeing serjeants after
his attainment and was drowned in the Thames (will proven in 1582
Ref3 below)
Elizabeth m.(2) Nicholas Killingtree
Elizabeth m.(3) Edward Bacon
Elizabeth m.(4) John Bolle of Hague, Lincolnshire
Ref2 below See
The Bolle of Haugh’s Family
Tree
Sir Thomas killed at Rising Chace in Norfolk rebellion 1549 (2 Edw VI)
Henry d. ca. 1534
Nicholas is described as ‘one of my Lord of Leicester’s gentlemen’ by Lady
Stafford at the Court of Hampton on Oct. 31, 1576
Ref4
Nicholas was of Blow Norton when he wrote to Bassingbourn Gawdy regarding
the post of under-sheriff on Nov. 6, 1576
Ref4
Nicholas married Elizabeth Waters in the 19th of Elizabeth (betw.
Nov. 17, 1576 and Nov. 16, 1577)
Ref1
Nicholas arrested by Sir William Heydon on a charge of counterfeiting
coinagein also the 19th of Elizabeth (soon after his marriage),
said to have drowned in the Thames when trying to avoid Sergeants sent to
arrest him, received royal pardon for any offence committed.
This was the start of a rivalry and feud between Sir Thomas Fermor
and Heydon for years after which cost both of them their positions at court.
His Will received probate only in 1582
Ref3
The Will of Edward Waters of Kings Lynn in 1572 mentions his two daughters
Elizabeth and Dorothy Waters who were both minors.
From: An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk:
Volume 7. Originally published by W Miller, London, 1807
Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: East-Barsham
Pages 53-65
"Thomas Fermor, Esq. son of Thomas, held his first court about Michaelmas,
in the 1st of Elizabeth, with the lete; he was living in the 6th of James,
and had by Mary his wife, daughter of — Fromond, of Cheame, in Surrey, Esq.
a son and heir, William. Nicholas Fermor, Esq. brother of this Thomas, was
attainted for treasonable practices in coining in the 19th of Elizabeth he
married Elizabeth Waters, (but died without issue,) and was (as is said)
soon after drowned in the Thames."
p. 140 of History
and Fate of the Sacrilege, Henry Spelman, 1698
Index to Arts of Administration in the Prerogative Con Canterbury 1581-1595
(Acts of Administration)
Fermor, Nicholas, gent., Kings Lynn, Norf. 1582
(this is the probate for Nicholas Fermor of Kings Lynn in 1582 but I have
not looked up the original Will)
Sir Thomas Farmer of Norfolk
FARMER, Thomas (c.1546-1621), of East Barsham, Norf.
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed.
P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/farmer-thomas-1546-1621
ConstituencyDates
NORFOLK
1586
Family and Education
b. c.1546, 1st s. of Thomas Farmer of East Barsham by his 1st w. Anne, da.
of Christopher Coote of Blo’ Norton. educ. St.John’s, Camb. BA 1576. m.
Mary, da. of Bartholomew Fromond of Cheam, Surr., 1s. 2da. suc. fa. 1549,
uncle Sir William Farmer 1558.
Offices Held
J.p. Norf. 1579, rem. 1586, rest. 1587, rem. 1595.
Biography
Farmer inherited little from his father, who was killed by the Norfolk
rebels in 1549. However, he was fortunate in being made heir to his uncle,
who, as a courtier during the reign of Henry VIII, had accumulated land in
Norfolk. Farmer succeeded him in 1558, and soon ‘wasted in a great degree
his estate’. Among the 15 or 16 manors which he sold were Tattersett,
Hampton, Sculthorpe, Tatterford and Pinkey. He acquired Thorpeland Hall,
held in fee farm of the Queen as part of the duchy of Lancaster, and Lose
Hall, Hempsteade, from Sir William Heydon in 1590, as payment of a debt.
Already by 1585 there was ‘deadly hatred’ between the two men, arising from
Heydon’s having arrested Farmer’s younger brother Nicholas on a charge of
counterfeiting coinage. When Heydon became a deputy lieutenant he was able
so to discredit Farmer in the eyes of the Privy Council that in August 1586
he was put out of the commission of the peace, as ‘one against whom many
exceptions are made’. In these circumstances it was an achievement on
Farmer’s part to survive two contested elections against Heydon’s son to
emerge in 1586 as senior knight of the shire for Norfolk. As such he could
have attended the subsidy committee appointed 22 Feb. 1587, and he was named
to a committee on a religious subject 8 Mar.
Farmer was restored to the commission in 1587, but was soon involved in a
fierce quarrel with another Norfolk justice, Martin Barney. Farmer’s
daughter Mary had married Barney’s son Francis, and the clash between the
respective fathers occurred after the early death of Francis, whose heir was
a minor. Apparently Farmer, who had not given his daughter a dowry, sought
the wardship and this was opposed by Barney. Barney circulated defamatory
verses about his enemy, and, when he made his will in 1594, he did so as a
safeguard of his inheritance, so that it might not be spent and consumed by
Mr. Farmer or any of his brood, as he in his life sought and purposed to do
in my life, having already, as the whole world knoweth, consumed his own.
Farmer ‘blinded with his old malice’ accused Barney of recusancy, and in
1595 they were both removed from the commission of the peace. Although he
lived for another 26 years, Farmer was never restored. Not surprisingly,
Farmer acquired a strong prejudice against lawyers: when he heard that Sir
Arthur Heveningham had wounded Edward Flowerdew, he remarked that he was not
sorry and hoped that many more of the profession would meet the same fate.
In religion Farmer was classified by the bishop of Norwich as ‘an observer
of law and sufficient’. He died on 9 Dec. 1621, leaving only the manor and
rectory of East Barsham, the manors of Sculthorp and West Barsham, a mill at
Waterden and some pieces of land in Norfolk. His brief will, proved 19 Feb.
1622, requested burial in East Barsham church, and appointed executrix and
residuary legatee his ‘well beloved daughter’ Elizabeth Baxter, widow, ‘in
consideration of her great care and pains with me in this my sickness’.
Vis. Norf. (Norf. and Norwich Arch. Soc.) i. 85; Blomefield, Norf. ix. 56-7,
250, 393; vii. 6, 86, 98, 100, 117, 176, 191; A. H. Smith thesis 150, 161,
198-201; St. Ch. 5/F3/17, 23, 27; 5/F8/32; APC, xiv. 196; Egerton 2713, f.
190; D’Ewes, 396-7, 399, 409, 413; W. Rye, Norf. Fams. 201; C142/395/128;
PCC 50 Hayes, 106 Swann.
Ref Volumes: 1558-1603
Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: East-Barsham
Pages 53-65
Wolterton’s Manor
By an indenture dated November 20, in the 18th of Henry VIII (1526) between
Thomas Duke of Norfolk, treasurer, of the one part, and Henry Fermor, of
East Barsham, Esq. of the other part, it was agreed that William Fermor, son
and heir apparent of Henry, shall, before the feast of All Saints following,
marry Catherine Knevet, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Knevet, deceased;
her portion of 200l. to be paid to Henry Fermour, on a settlement made by
him. This William was high sheriff in the 32d of Henry VIII. and a knight;
by his will dated August 4th, 1557, and proved January 12, 1558, he gives
his body to be buried where it shall please God to call him; to the repair
of East Barsham church 10l. to that of Pudding Norton 20s. to every house of
East Barsham, and Pudding Norton 11d. to the pore men's boxe, of every town,
where I have a flock of shepe going, 10s. Sir William dying without issue,
Thomas, his nephew, was found to be his heir, son of Thomas Fermor, Esq. his
brother, (fn. 5) and Ann his wife, daughter of Christopher Coote of
Blownorton. Catherine, relict of Sir William, was remarried to Nicholas
Mynne of East Barsham, Esq.
"Thomas Fermor, Esq. son of Thomas, held his first court about Michaelmas,
in the 1st of Elizabeth, with the lete; he was living in the 6th of James,
and had by Mary his wife, daughter of — Fromond, of Cheame, in Surrey, Esq.
a son and heir, William. Nicholas Fermor, Esq. brother of this Thomas, was
attainted for treasonable practices in coining in the 19th of Elizabeth he
married Elizabeth Waters, (but died without issue,) and was (as is said)
soon after drowned in the Thames."
Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: East-Barsham
Pages 53-65
Wolterton’s Manor
By an indenture dated November 20, in the 18th of Henry VIII (1526) between
Thomas Duke of Norfolk, treasurer, of the one part, and Henry Fermor, of
East Barsham, Esq. of the other part, it was agreed that William Fermor, son
and heir apparent of Henry, shall, before the feast of All Saints following,
marry Catherine Knevet, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Knevet, deceased;
her portion of 200l. to be paid to Henry Fermour, on a settlement made by
him. This William was high sheriff in the 32d of Henry VIII. and a knight;
by his will dated August 4th, 1557, and proved January 12, 1558, he gives
his body to be buried where it shall please God to call him; to the repair
of East Barsham church 10l. to that of Pudding Norton 20s. to every house of
East Barsham, and Pudding Norton 11d. to the pore men's boxe, of every town,
where I have a flock of shepe going, 10s. Sir William dying without issue,
Thomas, his nephew, was found to be his heir, son of Thomas Fermor, Esq. his
brother, (fn. 5) and Ann his wife, daughter of Christopher Coote of
Blownorton. Catherine, relict of Sir William, was remarried to Nicholas
Mynne of East Barsham, Esq.
"Thomas Fermor, Esq. son of Thomas, held his first court about Michaelmas,
in the 1st of Elizabeth, with the lete; he was living in the 6th of James,
and had by Mary his wife, daughter of — Fromond, of Cheame, in Surrey, Esq.
a son and heir, William. Nicholas Fermor, Esq. brother of this Thomas, was
attainted for treasonable practices in coining in the 19th of Elizabeth he
married Elizabeth Waters, (but died without issue,) and was (as is said)
soon after drowned in the Thames."
Thomas Fermor, Esq. wasted in a great degree his estate, and sold many
lordships.
William Fermor, Esq. son and heir of Thomas, held his first court in the
17th of James I. on March 25, and married Anne, daughter of Robert Brook,
alderman of London, and sister of Sir Robert Brook of Blyburgh, in Suffolk,
by whom he had a daughter and heiress, Mary, who by marriage, brought the
manors above mentioned to James Calthorp, Esq.; about the 3d of King Charles
I. by the marriage articles dated then, January 17, it was entailed on the
said James and Mary, and their heirs, and for default, on the heirs of James
Calthorp.
Sir William Farmor built on this manor of Wolterton, (as I take it,) a very
large and stately manor-house, or hall, of brick, in the reign of King Henry
VIII. now very much decayed, and ruinous; some years past, I found these
remains of antiquity: over the great gate-house, leading into the
court-yard, on the outside, are the King's arms of France and England,
quarterly, supported by a lion and a griffin; (fn. 6) on the right side of
it, the arms of Fermor;—argent, on a saltire sable, between four lions heads
erased, gules, a martlet of the first between four bezants, on a chief
azure, an anchor between two pallets, or, impaling argent, three pallets
gules— and on the left, Farmer impaling, argent, a lion rampant, sable,
Stapleton.
East Barsham Manor
The Fermor family apparently came to this parish around 1390, when William
Fermor was vicar. Sir Henry Fermor, “a man of great worth and dignity”,
first married Margaret, the widow of John Wode who held the manors of
Wolterton and Waldegrave and these manors in Norfolk were settled upon him
on payment of £35 each to Elizabeth Wode and her husband Sir James Boleyn,
to Alice, a second daughter, and her husband Michael Mackerel, of London,
and to Dorothy, a third daughter, and her husband William Whayte of
Tittleshall. The manor of Wolterton included what we now know as East
Barsham; St Martin’s, or East Hall, manor had been merged with Wolterton’s
manor when it passed from Sir John Tuddenham and John Heydon’s hands to the
Wode family in about 1352; Rochford’s manor was joined to Wolterton manor
later, in 1571.
Henry married secondly Winifred Dynne of Heydon.
Henry was knighted, and became High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1533; and later
that year made his will, leaving his wife her furnished lodging in the east
wing of the manor during her widowhood, with two maids and a man to look
after her, and “meat and drink” with “a bason and ewer of silver, a nest of
gilt goblets, a dozen of silver spoons, two goblets, two salts, and a pleane
piece” (? a plate) for life, along with sundry pewter pots pans and
candlesticks, etc. He probably
died in 1534.
Pedigree for the Fermors of East Barsham, Norfolk taken in 1552 and updated
in 1613
Fermors of East Barsham—argent, on a saltire sable, between four lions heads
erased, gules, a martlet of the first between four bezants, on a chief
azure, an anchor between two pallets, or, impaling argent, three pallets
gules
Then when the manor went to the Calthorpe Family:
Calthorpe/Fermor
This family’s coat-of-arms does not seem to have any elements in common with
the other two prominent Fermor families in England:
Fermor of East Neston (Earl Pomfret)
Fermor of Sussex