KEYVET (KNEVET), Thomas (by 1511-59), of Coventry, Warws.

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

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1511. m. by 1548, at least 1s.1

Offices Held

Chamberlain, Coventry 1532-3, sheriff 1542-3, mayor 1548-9.2

Biography

Thomas Keyvet was a shearman or clothier who prospered and became one of the wealthiest men in Coventry. He leased property from the corporation and acquired a small freehold estate in Finham, a few miles to the south, which descended to his son George. A member of the small body which wielded power in the city, he was employed in various special capacities: in 1542 he was one of those sent to the court at Woodstock to sue for the Whitefriars church, he shared in the administration of newly acquired city lands, and in Edward VI’s reign he received and disbursed money, probably in connexion with the purchase of chantry lands. As a Member of the Parliament of April 1554 he was paid £4 2s. ‘being in the Parliament of 41 days’: as it had lasted for only 35 days he was either given a generous travel allowance or paid for additional days spent in London. He had previously received £20 to use in promoting the city’s interest in the continuing dispute over Bond’s hospital. Keyvet remained a member of the mayor’s council until his death on 9 Feb. 1559. His will was proved at Lichfield in 1559 but is no longer extant.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: S. M. Thorpe

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Dugdale, Warws. i. 263; VCH Warws. vi. 236; C142/183/92.
  • 2. Coventry Leet Bk. (EETS cxxxiv), ii. 711, 768, 788.
  • 3. CPR, 1553, p. 113; E179/192/157, 193/188; Coventry mayors’ accts. 1542-61, pp. 19, 37, 42, 56, 71, 406, 498, 499; council bk. 1561, unpaginated; Lichfield Wills (Brit. Rec. Soc. vii), 65.