Sir Thomas Parr (1407 – November 1461Linda Porter. ''Katherine, the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII'', Macmillan, 23 Nov 2010. or 24 November 1464Douglas Richardson. ''Plantagenet Ancestry'', Genealogical Publishing, 2005. pg 565
''Google eBook''
/ref>) was an English landowner and elected

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 of ...

six times between 1435 and 1459. He was great-grandfather of Queen

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

, the sixth wife of King

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 ...

Ancestry

The Parr family originally came from Parr, Lancashire. Sir Thomas's grandfather, Sir William de Parre (died 1405), son of Sir John de Parre, lord of Parr; married, in 1383, Elizabeth, daughter of John de Ros, and granddaughter and heiress of Sir Thomas de Ros, Baron of Kendal.

Biography

Sir Thomas was the son of Sir John Parr of Kendal and Agnes Crophull (or Crophill) (c.1371/72-3 February 1436)Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011
Google eBook
/ref> By his mother's previous marriage to Sir Walter Devereux of Weobley, he was the maternal half-brother of Elizabeth and Walter Devereux, Esq., the great-grandfather of Anne Devereux who married

William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1468 creation) William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke KG (c. 142327 July 1469), known as "Black William", was a Welsh nobleman, soldier, politician, and courtier. Life He was the son of William ap Thomas, founder of Raglan Castle, and Gwladys ferch Dafydd Ga ...

. His father died before 6 October 1407 and when his mother remarried to John Merbury, Esq. he was made the ward of Sir Thomas Tunstall of

Thurland Castle Thurland Castle is a country house in Lancashire, England which has been converted into apartments. Surrounded by a moat, and located in parkland, it was originally a defensive structure, one of a number of castles in the Lune Valley. It is reco ...

, Lancashire. About 1413 Susan James, 1991 ''Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society'', Vol. LXXXI, pp. 16-17 he married Alice Tunstall, the daughter of Sir Thomas. Within a year of his coming of age Thomas was escheator of Cumberland and Westmorland, and was knighted about the same time. He was elected

for

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

five times (in 1435, 1449, 1450, 1455 and 1459) and once for

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

(1445). He was actively involved in local administration and law enforcement, and became very influential. In 1435, he acted as the Under-sheriff for Thomas, 8th Baron Clifford, the hereditary

sheriff of Westmorland Westmorland (sometimes spelled Westmoreland) in North West England was abolished in 1974 following Ted Heath's Local Government Act 1972. Westmorland became a part of Cumbria along with Cumberland, parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire, including the ...

. He became involved in a long-running feud with Sir Henry Bellingham, another local landowner, which came to a head in 1445 when he was attacked in London by Bellingham's men when attending Parliament, which caused a Parliamentary outcry. By the time of the War of the Roses, Parr had formed close links with leading Yorkist

Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400 – 31 December 1460) was an English nobleman and magnate based in northern England who became a key supporter of the House of York during the early years of the Wars of the Roses. He was the ...

and when hostilities began joined him at the

Battle of Ludford Bridge The Rout of Ludford Bridge was a largely bloodless confrontation fought in the early years of the Wars of the Roses. It took place on 12 October 1459, and resulted in a setback for the Yorkists. Although this seemed to be a triumph for the riva ...

near Ludlow in 1459. After the Yorkists were defeated, he was forced to flee to Calais with Salisbury and was attainted in Parliament, but returned to fight at the

Battle of Wakefield The Battle of Wakefield took place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were an army led by nobles loyal to the captive King Henry VI of ...

in 1460. He died in 1461.

Descendants

By Alice Tunstall, he left three sons and six daughters. His eldest son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

married a granddaughter of the

Earl of Salisbury Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury. Background The title was first created for Patrick de S ...

Elizabeth FitzHugh Elizabeth FitzHugh (1455/65 – before 10 July 1507) was an English noblewoman. She is best known for being the grandmother of Katherine Parr, sixth queen consort to Henry VIII, and her siblings Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and William Parr ...

, and by her was grandfather of Queen

, wife of Henry VIII; his second son, Sir John Parr was made sheriff of Westmorland for life in 1462. His third son, Thomas, was killed at the

Battle of Barnet The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On Sunday 14 April ...

in 1471. His daughters all married members of prominent northern families. Mabel married

Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of Gilsland ( 1424 – 30 May 1485), was an Kingdom of England, English soldier, Cumberland landed gentry, landowner and Peerage of England, peer. He remained loyal to the House of Lancaster when Henry VI of England ...

; thus becoming the first female Parr to marry into the peerage and be given a title. The accession of the Yorkist King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

in 1461 had saved most of Sir Thomas's estates from confiscation.

Legacy

Through his son William, the family continued in favour with the culmination of his granddaughter,

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

, becoming Queen consort of England and Ireland to King

in 1543. His other grandchildren and the siblings of Queen Catherine would be raised by being created

Marquess of Northampton A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

and

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

; while a granddaughter,

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

, would become Countess of Pembroke as the wife of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke of the 1551 creation. Anne's descendants to this day hold the title of

Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...

among other prominent titles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parr, Thomas (d. 1461) 1407 births 1460s deaths People from Cumberland Year of death uncertain English knights English landowners People from Westmorland English MPs 1435

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

English MPs November 1449 English MPs 1450 English MPs 1455 English MPs 1459 English MPs 1445