ALDRED (ALDRICHE, ALURED), Thomas (by 1515-62), of Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1515, s. of Roger Aldred of Tannington, Suff. by Cecily, da. of William Latimer of Freston, Suff. m. Eleanor, da. and coh. of Ralph Constable of St. Sepulchre’s in Holderness, Yorks., at least 2s. inc. John 1da.1

Offices Held

Paymaster of works, Kingston-upon-Hull in 1541; chief constable, Hull castle 1542; collector of customs, Hull 1544, mayor 1561-2; j.p. Yorks. (E. Riding) 1547, 1558/59-d.; commr. musters, Hull 1548, relief, Yorks. (E. Riding) 1550.2

Biography

According to the Yorkshire visitation of 1584/85 Thomas Aldred’s father was a Suffolk gentleman ‘of good antiquity’, whereas in the pedigree of Latimer of Freston he is described as of Lopham in Norfolk. He may have sprung from the Aldrich family of Yarmouth, Norwich and elsewhere, and was perhaps also related to Richard Alred of Boreham, Essex, a mid 15th century official of the duchy of Lancaster and clerk of the King’s works. The Thomas Aldred who for nearly 30 years served Thomas Culpeper, the supposed lover of Queen Catherine Howard, was presumably a namesake.3

In 1541 Aldred was paymaster of the works at Hull and in the following year he was appointed chief constable of the castle. Almost immediately the garrison was ordered to be discharged, whereupon the lieutenant of Hull, Michael Stanhope, asked whether Aldred should continue to have his fee as constable; it was, wrote Stanhope, Aldred’s chief living, his wages as paymaster being only 6d. a day, and he was a very honest and fit person. Two years later Aldred was appointed customer of Hull, an appointment which was renewed in December 1547, and he was to pass the rest of his life there. In 1556 he was called upon to furnish 1,000 quarters of wheat and 1,000 quarters of malt for the fleet. He appears on the pardon roll of 1559 as ‘Thomas Aldrede alias Aldryche’ of Kingston-upon-Hull.4

Aldred acquired several properties in the district. In 1536, with Roger Raisin and William Aldred, perhaps a brother, he had a grant of lands in Marfleet formerly belonging to the priory of North Ferriby. On 24 Oct. 1545 he leased Drypool Grange or Swine Lathes, formerly owned by Swine priory, and when in July 1554 this was granted to John Green of Cobham, ‘Essex’, and William Jennings of Westminster they immediately conveyed it to him. In November 1547 he took a 21-year lease of the demesne lands of the manor of Patrington in Holderness and in February 1552 he leased five closes in the manor of Sculcoates; the Patrington lease he renewed for a further 21 years in February 1561 at a yearly rent of £26. In May 1550 he obtained an interest in the north park of Burstwick and four years later he was associated with Christopher Estofte and Hugh Hungate in acquiring rights in the Drypool manor of Southcoates. When in March 1552 the site of the former Charterhouse at Hull was granted to Lord Clinton it was described as being tenanted by Aldred and Ralph Constable, to whose daughter Eleanor he was presumably already married. The Charterhouse was to become the seat of the Aldred family.5

Aldred made his will on 12 May 1562, the day before he died. He entrusted to his brother-in-law John Thornton the upbringing of his elder son John, a minor, and to Ralph Constable the care of his daughter Anne. His wife and the elder son were the executors and ‘Mr. Eastoftes’ (presumably Christopher Estofte) and ‘Mr. Welbie’ the supervisors. Aldred was buried in Trinity Church, Hull. When in February 1563 the wardship of his heir was granted to his widow the inheritance was valued at £14 17s.4d. a year. The younger son, Thomas, was customer of Hull by 1595.6

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Glover’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 144. Aldred’s will mentions the ‘child my wife is withall’.
  • 2. LP Hen. VIII, xvii, xix; T. Gent, Kingston-upon-Hull (1735), 113, 121; J. Tickell, Kingston-upon-Hull (1798), 676; CPR, 1547-8, p. 92; 1553, pp. 314, 353; 1560-3, p. 436; CSP Dom. 1601-3, Add. 1547-65, p. 362. He was also placed in error on the commission of the peace for 1564, CPR, 1563-6, p. 21.
  • 3. Vis. Suff. ed. Metcalfe, 50; Vis. Norf. (Harl. Soc. xxxii), 2-3; Somerville, Duchy, i. 398-9; LP Hen. VIII, i, xvi.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, xvii; CPR, 1553, p. 314; 1555-7, p. 554; 1558-60, p. 156.
  • 5. VCH Yorks. (E. Riding), i. 461-2, 466, 468, 472; LP Hen. VIII, xxi; CPR, 1550-3, p. 372; 1553-4, p. 505, 1554-5, pp. 208-9; 1557-8, pp. 38, 289; 1560-3, p. 183; Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. ii. 174, 200; E. M. Thompson, Carthusian Order in Eng. 202, 207.
  • 6. York wills 17, f. 142; C142/133/124; CPR, 1560-3, p. 468; HMC Hatfield, v. 393.