Go To Section
PALMES, Francis (c.1554-1613), of Lindley, Yorks. and Lancelevy, Hants.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Biography Detail
Related Resources
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1554, s. and h. of Sir Francis Palmes of Lindley by Margaret, da. of Roger Corbet of Moreton, Salop. educ. Magdalen Coll. Oxf. 1571; I. Temple 1575. m. Mary (d. 21 Mar. 1595), da. and coh. of Stephen Hadnall of Lancelevy, 6s. 5da. suc. fa. 1567. Kntd. 1601.
Offices Held
J.p. Yorks. (W. Riding) by 1582-1608, Hants 1600-8; member high commission, province of York 1599; sheriff, Hants 1600-1.
Biography
The Palmes family came from Naburn in Yorkshire, where they had been seated for several centuries. In 1516 they acquired the manor of Ashwell in Rutland, which Palmes’s grandfather made the principal family seat. Having succeeded his father at the age of about 13, Palmes entered Oxford as of Ashwell, Rutland, and Lindley, Yorkshire, and the Inner Temple as of Lindley. Through his marriage he acquired lands in Hampshire, and appears to have settled at Lancelevy, near Sherfield, where his wife was buried in 1595. At the time of his return for Knaresborough, however, he held lands at Harrogate, Killinghall and Beckwith, all within the forest of Knaresborough. On 4 Nov. 1586 he was named to a Commons committee dealing with Mary Queen of Scots.
Palmes evidently prospered, perhaps as a lawyer. In 1601, as sheriff of Hampshire, he received the Queen at Silchester and escorted her to Basingstoke, where she knighted him. He made his will in June 1612, commending his spirit into the hands of Almighty God, hoping, through the mercy of Jesus Christ, to be purged of those great offences committed against Him as a result of ‘carnal and wordly affections’. He was succeeded by his son Guy Palmes, who inherited his estates in Hampshire, Rutland and Yorkshire, as well as all his plate, armour and books. He left £800 each to two daughters for their marriage, as well as money for their maintenance, £10 per annum to a grandson, a similar sum to a godson, and 40s. each, plus one year’s wages, to all his servants. His—unnamed—executors were to help the servants to find other jobs or lodgings, and none was to be left wanting a dwelling place.
Palmes died on 30 Mar. 1613,
Foster, Vis. Yorks. N. Riding; Woodward, Hants. iii. 192-3; VCH Rutland, i. 182; ii. 109; Lansd. 53, f. 195; PRO, pat. roll 42 Eliz.; HMC Hatfield, ix. 397; VCH Hants, iv. 104, 107; D’Ewes, 394; PCC 45 Capell; C142/333/43.
