Thomas Spencer of Badby & Everdon

William Spencer of Badby and Agnes Heritage had three sons, Thomas Spencer (d. 17 August 1576); John Spencer of Thame (who married Alice Wilmer, sister of William Wilmer); and Giles Spencer (who married a wife whose name is unknown.

Thomas and Dorothy were cousins.

According to an inscription in Everdon church, the eldest son of William Spencer and Agnes Heritage, Thomas Spencer (d. 17 August 1576) of Everdon, married Dorothy Spencer (d. 14 September 1575), the daughter of Sir William Spencer (d. 22 June 1532) of Wormleighton by Susan Knightley, the daughter of Sir Richard Knightley (d. 8 December 1534) of Fawsley, Northamptonshire, by whom he had five sons and seven daughters, of whom seven died as infants.

The only surviving son and heir William Spencer, married Elizabeth Milney, but died without issue, leaving his four married sisters, Dorothy (wife firstly of George Cope, esquire, and secondly of Gabriel Pulteney, esquire), Susanna (wife of John Temple, esquire), Mary (wife of Richard Wallop, esquire), and Catherine (wife of Thomas Browne, esquire), as his coheirs.

See the will of Thomas Spenser of Everdon, dated 26 June 1576 and proved 22 August, 1576, TNA PROB 11/58/322; the will, dated 22 January 1529 and proved 10 February 1535, of Sir Richard Knightley, TNA PROB 11/25/292; the will of Sir William Spencer (d. 22 June 1532) of Wormleighton, dated 17 June 1532 and proved 8 July 1532, TNA PROB 11/24/12; and Collins, Arthur, The English Baronetage, (London: Thomas Wotton, 1741), Vol. I, pp. 202-3 at: GoogleBooks

Thomas Spenser (d. 17 August 1576), was named as heir in the will of Thomas Spencer (d.1532) of Hodnell, who died without issue:

Also if it fortune me to die without issue, then I will that Thomas Spenser, son and heir of William Spenser of Badby, shall have and enjoy the same terms and all the said lands to him and to his heirs males of his body lawfully begotten.

For the will of Thomas Spencer (d.1532) of Hodnell, dated 31 January 1532 and proved 30 October 1532, see TNA PROB 11/24/51.

Shortly after Thomas Spencer (d. 17 August 1576) of Everdon was named as the heir of Thomas Spencer (d.1532) of Hodnell, Thomas Heritage, brother of Agnes Heritage (see above), wrote to Thomas Cromwell suggesting that his kinsman, the heir Thomas Spencer (d. 17 August 1576) of Everdon, should marry the widow of Thomas Spencer (d.1532) of Hodnell. See: 'Henry VIII: October 1532, 21-25', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532 (1880), pp. 615-619. URL: http://www.british- history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77496

1461. Thomas Heritage, Priest, to Cromwell. Your building goes as well forward as any I have seen. Another of the best of the Spensers, named Thomas Spenser, of Hodenell, is dead, and has made my cousin, Thos. Spenser, that was with you, his heir. If I thought he might have your good counsel, I would communicate with the said Thos. Spenser's wife, to marry my said kinsman, for considerations I forbear to write, because letters keep no counsel. Please let Ralph Sadler, or some other of your clerks, write me three or four words. 22 Oct.

However, as noted above, the heir, Thomas Spencer (d. 17 August 1576) of Everdon, married Dorothy Spencer (d. 14 September 1575) of the senior branch of the Spencer family.

References

• Will dated 15 September 1496 and proved 25 January 1497, of John Spencer (d. 4 January 1497) of Hodnell, Warwickshire: PDF