VENTRIS, Thomas (by 1526-81), of Cambridge.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1526, prob. 2nd s. of Robert Ventris of Cambridge by his w. Agnes. m. Joan, 3s.

Offices Held

Treasurer, Cambridge 1547, common councilman 1552, mayor 1559-60, alderman by 1561, j.p. in 1564.

Biography

Ventris was an innkeeper, vintner and carrier of grain and other goods between Cambridge and King’s Lynn. As MP in 1559 he was paid 1s. a day, 2s. ‘for the entry of his name’, and had £5 7s. as ‘money due for the Parliament’. He may have been a relative of John Ventris the Marian exile, and was himself classified by the bishop of Ely in 1564 as a godly justice in Cambridge. That year he was one of the aldermen ordered by the Privy Council to meet university officials in an attempt to settle the chronic disputes between the two bodies, and in 1580 he was himself at law with St. John’s College over landed property. He died intestate later in 1581. Letters of administration were granted to the widow and their sons Daniel, Edward and Thomas.

Cambridge Univ. archives, wills proved in vice-chancellor’s court, i. f. 63; PCC admon. act bk. 1581, f. 21; Req. 2/124/16, 288/28; Add. 5812, f. 102; Cooper, Cambridge Annals, ii. 22, 66, 205, 268, 311; F. Blomefield, Coll. Cant. 225; CPR, 1560-3, p. 406; LP Hen. VIII, xix(2), p. 473; Downing Coll. Camb., Bowtell mss; C. H. Garrett, Marian Exiles, 317-18; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 25; APC, vii. 161; SP12/144/35.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes