Pr?is and commentary of the Will of

Sir Thomas CROMPTON

of Hounslow, Middlesex
Dated 13 February 1607

Overview

• With one exception the will uses the surname Crampton; the exception being Sir Thomas? signature.
• The overall impression is of a non-specific will: disposal of manors and assets are at the discretion of unnamed executors, dates are omitted and sections are crossed out.
• It appears to be a defensive will to protect certain assets from his father?s creditors. The terms ?theft? and embezzled? are used.
• At the same time, efforts were to be made to pay his father?s considerable debts, perhaps arising from Sir Thomas? affiliation to Earl of Essex.
  [See 1600info2]
• Sir Thomas does not appear to be a wealthy person, apart from various manors.
• The wording implies a strange relationship with his brother John; a doubtful trust reinforced by the worded will.
• In the matter of his tomb, his three friends appear to be able to over rule his brothers and sisters and his executors.

Pr?is

• After the usual formalities of commending his soul to God, Sir Thomas Crompton implores his as yet unnamed exactors to use their best discretion when choosing the place and form of his burial. His preference is stated but cannot be transcribed at this time.
• Item: All previous wills are revoked.
• Item: His only daughter, Katherine, was to receive all his [silver and pewter] plate and his household stuff. There follows items that cannot be transcribed, before listing all his horses, geldings and mares together with all the leases and chattels that he owns on his death.
• Item: Katherine also inherits the manors of Gridby(?) and Ruston that appear to have come to Sir Thomas at the time of his marriage to Meriall (Murial) Carey
• The will mentions properties in London, Hounslow and Yorkshire; specifically [North] Frodingham, Walrington, Gridby(?), Ruston and Bishop Burton, together with the lands inherited from his father. Of the manors mentioned only Ruston and Bishop Burton can be identified.
• Item: John Crompton was to receive Thomas ?Auditor? Crompton?s gold seal ring (see imprint 1600info1), but Sir Thomas makes the point that his brother John has no right in law to this ring. John also receives all lands entitled to Sir Thomas at the time of his marriage. However, instead of the manor at Bishop Burton, John receives the much improved manor at Hodinghham (A possible link is Honington in Norfolk and to Ailwyn Hall)
• Sir Thomas expresses his ?hope? that his brother will follow his ?entreats? to perform/complete their late father, ?Auditor? Crompton?s will, dated 24 October 160, in respect of ?Auditor? Crompton?s children. Sir Thomas must have had doubts as he explicitly wrote that if he thought his ?brother would not perform my desire [he] would not have left him a foot of land?.
• Item: Brothers Robert and Edward were to ?enjoy? the land bequeathed to them by their father. It is implied that these lands were safe from their brother John and any of his father?s creditor. It is suggested that, on 28 May 1601 certain lands were appropriated by theft to the balance of 3340 (assumed pounds) (Equivalent to ?478,038 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010)
• Reference is made to a second deed of an unknown day in March 1603 to Messers Bruster, Partsons and Braice on the manor at Hounslow and other lands at unknown locations. Sir Thomas? money was to be used to pay off his father?s creditors, presumably the aforesaid mentioned, with the same intent as his father?s will. Auditor Crompton?s debts, at this time were ?5000 (Equivalent to ?715,626.96 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010)
• The daughters of Sir Thomas? brothers and ?all [his] other friends? were to ?enjoy quietly? monies leftover.
• Item: Sir Thomas names five living sisters ? Magdalene, Alyce, Margarite, Susan, Sarah, and Frances ? who received ?20 (Equivalent to ?2,862.51 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010) from his, at this time, unnamed Trustees from the income of a particular tenement. Should the sister die or marry the annuity passed to brother John.
• Item: Henry Stanley, perhaps a servant, was to receive a particular gift and ?2 (Equivalent to ?286.25 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010).
• Item: A Mr Bell, perhaps a servant, was to receive ?5 (Equivalent to ?715.63 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010).

1600will1607pr?is, sheet 2

• Katherine was expect to pay the servants out of the ?200 (Equivalent to ?28,625.08 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010) intended for this use. Sir Thomas apologies that the state of his personal finances would not permit more.
• Item: His ?well beloved? brother-in-law Mr, later Sir, William Gee and ?kind friend? Mr Francis Swift were to receive ?20 a year (Equivalent to ?2,862.51 at Bank of England retail price index value for 2010)
• Item: Sir Henry Darcy ¹ and Sir Henry Lindley ² are named as executors who received the lease of the manor and lands of Walrington to cover claims on the administration of the will. Each received a bowl of pewter turin(?) They were charged to use the surplus money to create a tomb for Sir Thomas and his father in Hounslow church.
• Item: If the tomb, to be constructed in Hounslow church, was to be controversial then his ?lovinge, kind friends? Thomas Pagett, Andrew Blunden and John Butler were asked to ?appease?. It seems that, in this matter, the decisions of Messers Pagett, Blunden and Butler over ruled the decisions of his brothers, sisters and executors in writing.
• The will was signed and dated 18 October 1603 but the date was crossed through and no other date was inserted.
• There were no witnesses recorded.
• The will was proven 13 February 1607.

Sir Henry Darcy Sir Henry Darcy was of a Yorkshire family. He was, with his father, constable of Conisborough castle, Yorkshire in1556; sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire between 1562-3 and 1583-4, superintendent of Kimbolton castle, Huntingdonshire . Darcy settled on his first wife?s estate of Leighton Bromswold, achieving knight of the shire status in Huntingdonshire in 1571, for which he was MP in 1592. Source: History of Parliament

Sir Henry Lindley - will 1609 Sir Henry Lindley was MP for Newcastle in 1597. He was servant of 2nd Earl of Essex in the 1590s where he probably met Sir Thomas. In the summer of 1599 he accompanied Essex to Ireland, being knighted on the battlefield at Ofally, Ireland, 30th July 1599 at the rising of the camp immediately after the battle. On the crucial day, 7 February 1601, he was one of those ?that were the whole time in the [Essex] house and followed not the Earl in the street?, and he escaped with a fine and a brief spell in the Gatehouse (the prison in the gatehouse of Westminster Abbey). Source: History of Parliament

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This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass	Version A3 Updated 21 July 2019