NICHOLAS, Thomas (c.1575-1638), of Stratton, nr. Cirencester, Glos.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
Available from Cambridge University Press

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1575,1 1st s. of Reginald Nicholas* of Prestbury Glos. and Winifred, da. of William Pierson of London.2 educ. New Inn; M. Temple 1594.3 m. (1) 1604, Jane, da. of John Audley, wid. of Andrew Ketelby of Poole Keynes, Wilts., s.p.; (2) Bridget, da. of Michael Strange of Cirencester, Glos. and Somerford Keynes, Wilts., s.p.4 suc. fa. 1613.5 d. 13 or 14 Aug. 1638.6 sig. Tho[mas] Nycholas.

Offices Held

Bailiff and collector of rents, Deerhurst Glos. 1604-?;7 steward of Cheltenham manor, Glos. 1614-d.;8 j.p. Glos. 1617-c.1624, 1626-7, 1628-d.,9 liberty of Cheltenham 1618-at least 1625 (custos rot. by 1619-at least 1625);10 commr. subsidy, Glos. 1622, 1624,11 Forced Loan, 1626-7;12 sheriff 1626-7;13 commr. repair of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Glos. 1632;14 capt. militia ft. Glos. by 1635.15

Biography

Nicholas was trained for the law, and shared chambers in the Temple with Thomas Stephens†, which he surrendered on his marriage to the widow of a friend of his father’s, ‘a gentlewoman of a noble house’ and presumably a kinswoman of Sir Mervin Audley*. From her first husband she inherited estates in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, including Stratton, one-and-a-half miles from Cirencester.16 Returned for Cirencester in 1620, his appointment to the committee to consider a bill for the repair of Tewkesbury bridge on 5 May 1621 is his only appearance in the parliamentary record.17 Omitted from the commission of the peace in the new reign, he was restored on the intervention of his ‘cousin’ Edward Nicholas*.18 During his shrieval year he joined in the widespread Gloucestershire opposition to the Forced Loan. He was imprisoned in the Fleet and confined in Northamptonshire until January 1628.19 In 1631 he compounded for knighthood at £46 13s. 4d.20 He drafted his will on 11 Aug. 1638. Being childless, he had arranged for the sale of his estate, to provide for his wife and to pay bequests, amounting to over £6,000, to his sisters and their children.21 He died two or three days latter, aged 63, and was buried at Stratton.22 None of his descendants sat in Parliament.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

  • 1. Rudder, Glos. 710.
  • 2. Vis. Glos. (Harl. Soc. xxi), 117.
  • 3. M. Temple Admiss.
  • 4. PROB 11/104, f. 287; C142/684/50; Rudder, 710.
  • 5. Vis. Glos. 117.
  • 6. Abstracts of Glos. Inquisitiones Post Mortem ed. W.P.W. Phillimore and G.S Fry (Brit. Rec. Soc. Index Lib. xxi), 113-16; Rudder, 710.
  • 7. E315/210, f. 21.
  • 8. C66/2027/1.
  • 9. C231/4, ff. 42, 198, 227, 261; C66/2310; SP16/405, f. 29.
  • 10. C181/2, ff. 324, 356; 181/3, f. 186.
  • 11. E115/85/135; C212/22/23.
  • 12. T. Rymer, Foedera, viii. pt. 2, p. 145; C193/12/2, f. 21.
  • 13. List of Sheriffs comp. A. Hughes (PRO, L. and I. ix), 51.
  • 14. Glos. RO, TBR A1/1, f. 80.
  • 15. Glos. RO, GBR H2/2, p. 201.
  • 16. MTR, 451; C142/684/50; PROB 11/104, f. 287.
  • 17. CJ, i. 609b.
  • 18. CSP Dom. 1625-6, p. 294.
  • 19. Ibid. 1627-8, p. 59; APC, 1627, pp. 125, 374, 449; 1627-8, p. 217.
  • 20. E407/35, f. 80v.
  • 21. PROB 11/180, f. 224.
  • 22. Rudder, 710.