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, ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, 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 gro ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Williams, who was of Welsh descent, was a kinsman of Sir Richard Williams (alias Cromwell) whose father, Morgan Williams, married

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

's sister, Katherine. He is an alleged, but unproven great-grandson of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, making him third cousin to the English monarchs

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. 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 H ...

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 city gate, gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England. The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate Wards of the City of London, ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gat ...

, London. He also had a palace at

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

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 known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

and

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...

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 the 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, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

for having declared for her party so early. Williams was appointed Chamberlain of the households of Mary and

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

in 1554. Williams, Ralph Chamberlain, and Henry Bedingfield escorted Mary's sister,

, from

Woodstock Palace Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodg ...

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

in April 1555. Elizabeth liked Williams 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 Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff#United King ...

and

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

for 1538. Williams died at

Ludlow Castle Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the Ludlow, 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 (died 1085), Wal ...

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 dur ...

and

Jan Kip Johannes "Jan" Kip (1652/53 in Amsterdam – 1722 in 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 ...

. Williams gave his name to the school he founded, Thame School, Thame, Oxfordshire, also known as

Lord Williams's School Lord Williams's School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status in Thame, Oxfordshire, England. The school takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18. The school has approximately 2,200 pupils. In September 2001 ...

, 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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

and is now a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 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 restricted on the basis ...

. The boarding element of 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 and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about west-southwest of Princes Risborough, and is on the county boundary with Oxfordshire. In 1931 the parish had a ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, 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 pres ...

). 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 southwest Buckinghamshire, England. The village is around west of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow, and around northeast of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The civil parish also includes the vi ...

. 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, Privy Council of England, PC (15013 March 1551) was an English Peerage, peer and courtier during the Tudor dynasty. The Wentworths were originally from Yorkshire but ...

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, Suffolk, Somersham (the closest), Little Blakenham, Baylham, Barking, Suffo ...

and Margaret Fortescue. She was listed as a lady at the court of

in 1559.John Nichols, ''Progresses of Elizabeth the First'', 1 (London, 1823), p. 37. She survived him, and later married Sir William Drury, 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 1500s 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