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Lieutenant Farmer Found? 

Back to Sir John Bolle's Young Lieutenant Farmer
 
 

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.

The Fermors of East Barsham’s Family Tree

 

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 below

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

 

Further notes:

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 below

Nicholas was of Blow Norton when he wrote to Bassingbourn Gawdy regarding the post of under-sheriff on Nov. 6, 1576 Ref4 below

Nicholas married Elizabeth Waters in the 19th of Elizabeth (betw. Nov. 17, 1576 and Nov. 16, 1577) Ref1 below

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 below

 

The Will of Edward Waters of Kings Lynn in 1572 mentions his two daughters Elizabeth and Dorothy Waters who were both minors.

 

REFERENCES IN THE ABOVE

 

REF1

 

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."

 

REF2

p. 140 of History and Fate of the Sacrilege, Henry Spelman, 1698

 
 
 

REF 3

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)

 

Ref 4

 

Further Information on Sir Thomas Farmer

 From: The History of Parliament Online

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.

My Further References

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

 

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

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."

 

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

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.

 

From: Heraldry in Norfolk

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.

 

 

The Herald’s Visitation of Norfolk

Pedigree for the Fermors of East Barsham, Norfolk taken in 1552 and updated in 1613

 
 

The Fermors of East Barsham Coat of Arms

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

Wolterton Manor, the Home of the Fermors of East Barsham

 

 

This site was last updated 02/01/21