Thomas Wise (died 1630)
Sir Thomas Wise (c.1576-1630),[1] KB, of Sydenham in the parish of Marystow in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1612 and in 1621 served as a Member of Parliament for Bere Alston in Devon.[2]
Origins
Wise was the second son and eventual heir of Thomas Wise (1546-1593) of Sydenham, by his wife Mary Buller,[3] a daughter of Richard Buller (d.1556)[4] of Shillingham in Cornwall (ancestor of the prominent Buller family of Morval and of the Buller Baronets). The Wise family is earliest recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon in the person of John Wise (fl.1403) of Mount Wise (near Plymouth), and Sydenham, living in 1403.[5] The family can however be traced to Westcountry roots from the eleventh century.[6] They provided a Knight of the Shire (Member of Parliament for Devon) in three of the Parliaments of King Henry VI (1422-1461).[7]
Career
He was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King James I in 1603. In 1612 he served as Sheriff of Devon.[8][9] In 1621 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Bere Alston[10] in Devon, where he had gained influence following local land purchases.[11]
Wise built a new mansion house on his ancestral estate at Mount Wise in the parish of Stoke Damerel, on a headland jutting out into Plymouth Sound. He also re-built Sydenham House and added such height and such a great amount of stone to it that his contemporary Risdon (d.1640) described Sydenham as: "beautified with buildings of such height as the very foundation is ready to reel under the burthen".[12]
Marriage & progeny
In about 1600[13] Wise married Margery Stafford (born 1583), daughter and sole heiress of Robert Stafford (d.1604)[14] of Stafford (alias Stoford) in the parish of Dolton in Devon. The surname of the Stafford family had anciently been Kelloway. By his wife he had progeny as follows:[15]
- Thomas Wise (c.1605-1641),[16] only son and heir, Sheriff of Devon in 1638 and in 1625 a Member of Parliament for the Rolle pocket borough of Callington in Cornwall (nominated by Robert Rolle (d.1633) of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon, the father-in-law of his sister Margery Wise[17]) and for Bere Alston in the parliaments of King Charles of 1625, 1626 and 1628 to 1629, and for Devon twice in 1640.
- Margery Wise, who married Sir Samuel Rolle (d.1647),[9] (c. 1588-1647) of Heanton Satchville in the parish of Petrockstowe, Devon, Member of Parliament for Callington, Cornwall in 1640 and for Devon 1641-1647, a prominent Parliamentarian during the Civil War.
- Elizabeth Wise, unmarried at her father's death in 1630, to whom he bequeathed a generous £3,500 dowry.[18]
Death & burial
Wise died in 1630 and was was buried in Marystow Church, where survives his "splendid"[19] marble monument with eight Corinthian columns surrounded by other monuments to the Wise family.[20]
References
- ↑ Dates per: Venning & Hunneyball
- ↑ Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
- ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.791, pedigree of Wise
- ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of Cornwall: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1530, 1573 & 1620; with additions by J.L. Vivian, Exeter, 1887, p.56, pedigree of Buller
- ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.791, regnal date 5 Henry IV
- ↑ Venning & Hunneyball
- ↑ Tim Venning / Paul Hunneyball, biography of Wise (Wyes), Sir Thomas (c.1576-1630), of Sydenham, Marystow, Devon, published in History of Parliament, House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
- ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.791
- 1 2 John Burke A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain
- ↑ Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
- ↑ Venning & Hunneyball
- ↑ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.219
- ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.791
- ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.712, pedigree of Stafford
- ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.791
- ↑ http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/wise-thomas-1605-1641
- ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.791, 654
- ↑ Venning & Hunneyball
- ↑ Venning & Hunneyball
- ↑ The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 150
| Parliament of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas Crewe Sir Richard White |
Member of Parliament for Bere Alston 1621-1622 With: Thomas Keightley |
Succeeded by Wiliam Strode Thomas Keightley |