John Williams, 1st Baron Williams of Thame (c. 1500 – 14 October 1559) was Master of the Jewels and Lord President of the Council of the Welsh Marches. He was summoned to parliament as Lord Williams of Thame on 17 February 1554.

Life

Williams was the son of Sir John Williams of

Burghfield Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas a ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, and his wife, Elizabeth, the daughter and eventual heiress of Richard Moore also of Burghfield and of

Preston Candover Preston Candover is a village and large civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has two churches, only one of which is still in use. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, approximately away. It has an acreage of , which lies on comparatively low grou ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. Williams, who was of Welsh descent, was a kinsman of

Sir Richard Williams Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, (3 August 1890 – 7 February 1980), is widely regarded as the "father" of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was the first military pilot trained in Australia, and went on to command Australian and Br ...

(alias Cromwell) whose father, Morgan Williams, married

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 charge ...

's sister, Katherine. He is an alleged, but unproven great-grandson of

Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford (November 143121/26 December 1495), was the uncle of King Henry VII of England and a leading architect of his nephew's successful accession to the throne in 1485. He was from the noble Tudor family of Penmynydd i ...

, making him third cousin to the English monarchs

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 ...

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

and

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 became receiver of

Thame Abbey Thame Abbey was a Cistercian abbey at Thame in the English county of Oxfordshire. Thame Abbey was founded in 1137 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. It was dissolved in 1539. Most of the building stone was removed from the site, but the Abbot's Hou ...

in 1535. The Abbot of Thame, Robert King, was a relation by marriage. In the same year he was appointed Treasurer of the King's Jewels jointly with

. He was heavily involved in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and obtained Thame Abbey and its lands, and the Priory of Elsing Spittle in

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into tw ...

, London. He also had a palace at

Rycote Rycote is a hamlet southwest of Thame in Oxfordshire. The Oxfordshire Way long-distance path passes through. Saint Michael's chapel Richard and Sybil Quartermayne, lord and lady of the manor of Rycote, founded Saint Michael's chapel as a cha ...

which

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

and

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the s ...

visited on their honeymoon. In 1541 there was a fire at the Priory of Elsing Spittle while Williams was in residence. The fire started in the long gallery and some of king's jewels were damaged. Rebels targeted him in 1549 and killed the deer in his park. Under

his accounts as Master of the Jewel House and as Treasurer of the

Court of Augmentations Thomas Cromwell established the Court of Augmentations, also called Augmentation Court or simply The Augmentation in 1536, during the reign of King Henry VIII of England. It operated alongside three lesser courts (those of General Surveyors (1540 ...

were audited and he was censured and imprisoned. Later, he rose in favour with

Queen Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

for having declared for her party so early. Her sister,

, liked him because he had been kind to her during her imprisonment. He served as

High Sheriff of Berkshire The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

and

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

for 1538. Williams died at

Ludlow Castle Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire, standing on a promontory overlooking the River Teme. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy after the Norman conque ...

on 14 October 1559 and his body was brought back to Rycote to lie in state in the great chamber of his mansion, then taken to Thame for burial. Only a fragment of the stable of his house at Rycote survives, but there are engravings of the house by

Henry Winstanley Henry Winstanley (31 March 1644 – 27 November 1703) was an English painter, engineer and merchant, who constructed the first Eddystone lighthouse after losing two of his ships on the Eddystone rocks. He died while working on the project duri ...

and

Jan Kip Johannes "Jan" Kip (1652/53, Amsterdam – 1722, Westminster) was a Dutch draftsman, engraver and print dealer. Together with Leonard Knyff, he made a speciality of engraved views of English country houses. Life Kip was a pupil of Bastiaen St ...

. Williams gave his name to the school he founded, Thame School,

Thame, Oxfordshire Thame is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms p ...

, also known as Lord Williams's School, Thame. He bequeathed a sum of money to create an establishment of learning for all comers. The school was founded in 1559. The school has been a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

and is now a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

. The boarding element to the school closed in 1990.

Marriages and issue

Williams married firstly, by July 1524, Elizabeth (c. 1504 – 25 October 1556), daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Bledlow of

Bledlow Bledlow is a village in the civil parish of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about WSW of Princes Risborough, and is on the county boundary with Oxfordshire. The toponym "Bledlow" is derived from Old English and m ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, a grandson of Thomas Bledlow and Elizabeth Starky (daughter of Sir Humphrey Starkey,

Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...

). Elizabeth Bledlow was the widow of Andrew Edmondes (d. 23 June 1523) of Cressing, Essex, by whom she had a son, Sir Christopher Edmondes (d. 1596), and two daughters, Ursula Edmondes and Frances Edmondes, who married John D'Oylie of Greenlands,

Hambleden Hambleden is a small village and civil parish in south-west Buckinghamshire, England. The village is around west of Marlow, and around north-east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and ...

. By Elizabeth Bledlow, Williams had three sons, John, Henry and Francis, and two daughters, Isabel, who married Sir Richard Wenman, and Margery, who married Henry Norreys, 1st Baron Norris of Rycote. Williams married secondly, on 19 April 1557, Margery Wentworth (d. 1587), the daughter of

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth and ''de jure'' 6th Baron le Despencer, PC (15013 March 1551) was an English peer and courtier during the Tudor dynasty. The Wentworths were originally from Yorkshire but a branch of the family had settle ...

Nettlestead, Suffolk Nettlestead is a dispersed village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England.The surrounding villages of Nettlestead include Somersham (the closest), Little Blakenham, Baylham, Barking, Willisham and Offton. In ...

and Margaret Fortescue. She survived him, and later married

Sir William Drury Sir William Drury (2 October 152713 October 1579) was an English statesman and soldier. Family William Drury, born at Hawstead in Suffolk on 2 October 1527, was the third son of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503–1577) of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshi ...

, and James Croft of Weston,

. Williams's three sons predeceased him, and the barony became extinct at his death on 14 October 1559, although Lee gives this date and also says his eldest son survived him for four months, dying unmarried and without issue in February 1559. His elder daughter, Isabel, inherited Thame and married Richard Wenman and was the mother of Thomas Wenman, while his younger daughter, Margery, inherited Rycote.

Notes

References

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External links

* Ford, David Nash
''John Williams (1500-1559)''
at berkshirehistory.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams Of Thame, John Williams, 1st Baron 1500 births 1559 deaths People from Thame People from Burghfield 16th-century English nobility Barons in the Peerage of England Peers of England created by Mary I People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries High Sheriffs of Berkshire High Sheriffs of Oxfordshire Masters of the Jewel Office Court of Mary I of England