HUSSEY, Thomas II (c.1553-1604), of Shapwick and Winterbourne Tomson, Dorset.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1593

Family and Education

b. c.1553, o.s. of Hubert Hussey of Shapwick and Winterbourne Tomson by Elizabeth, da. of John Banister. m. bef. 1583, Mary, da. of Thomas Baskett of Dewlish and coh. to her gd.-fa.John Larder of Charlton Adam, Som., 5s. 5da. suc. fa. 1554.1

Offices Held

J.p. Dorset from 1591, sheriff 1595-6.

Biography

A seventeenth-century historian wrote of ‘the Husseys, who surely for antiquity and birth give place to few in this county’, and this Hussey was an obvious choice for a turn as knight of his shire. As such he was appointed to the subsidy committee (26 Feb.) and a legal committee (9 Mar.). He took a particular interest in the local militia, viewing horses at Blandford in 1583, and in 1588 commanding part of the 1,000-strong Dorset contingent ordered by the Privy Council to come to London. He remained a cavalry commander and led over 100 men in a later Dorset muster. He died 27 Aug. 1604, having made his will 21 July ‘affter the computation of the Church of England’. It was proved 7 Jan. 1605. He left to his heir his drum, trumpet and armour, and appointed his ‘most kind and loving wife Mary’ executrix and residuary legatee. There were bequests to the poor and church of the parish; one son was to have his library; another, an apprentice, was given money ‘as a stock for him’; and the five daughters were to share £1,000. An inquisition post mortem was taken at Dorchester 27 Mar. 1605.

There was another Thomas Hussey, cousin of this Member, who lived at West Worth, Edmondsham, Dorset, to whom some local references may apply. It was probably the Edmondsham man who was concerned in Sir Robert Cecil’s purchase of Cranborne in 1598.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes

  • 1. Vis. Dorset (Harl. Soc. xx), 59-60; Hutchins, Dorset, iii. 163.
  • 2. J. Coker, Surv. Dorset, 103; D’Ewes, 474, 496; HMC Hatfield, vi. 29; vii. 210; viii. 241; Hutchins, iii. 165; Dorset Nat. Hist. and Arch. Soc. Procs. lxix. 70, 89; Som. and Dorset N. and Q. vi. 215; SP12/163/20(1); HMC Foljambe, 37-8; CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 522; HMC Finch, i. 27; Harl. 3324, f. 1; PCC 1 Hayes; C142/290/126.