Sir Thomas Wroth (c. 1518 – 9 October 1573) was an English courtier, landowner and politician, a supporter of the Protestant Reformation and a prominent figure among the Marian exiles.S. Lehmberg, 'Wroth, Thomas (1518?-1573), courtier and landowner', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. A.F. Pollard, 'Wroth, Thomas (1516–1573)', Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900) Vol. 63, pp. 163-65.H. Miller, 'Wroth, Thomas (1518–73), of Durants, Enfield, Mdx. and London', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (Boydell & Brewer 1982), History of Parliament online
Family origins The Tudor-age family of Wroth of EnfieldD.O. Pam, 'Protestant Gentlemen: The Wroths of Durants Arbour, Enfield and Loughton, Essex', Occasional paper, Edmonton Hundred Historical Society New Series XXV (24 pp.), 1 January 1973. derived from the marriage of John Wroth and Maud Durrant.'Wroth of Enfield', in G.J. Armytage (ed.), Middlesex Pedigrees collected by Richard Mundy, Harleian Society LXV (1914), p. 17. (Compare 'Wroth', 'The Visitation of Essex 1612', in W.C. Metcalfe (ed), The Visitations of Essex in 1552, 1558, 1570, 1612 and 1634, Harleian Society Vols XIII-XIV (London 1878–79), XIII, p. 330.)D. Richardson (ed. K.G. Everingham), Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition (Salt Lake City 2011), IV, pp. 372–3 (). Both were descendants of Hugh du Plessis (nephew of John du Plessis, 7th Earl of Warwick) and Muriel de Wrotham, an heiress of the family of William de Wrotham, who had been Constable of Dover Castle in the time of King John. Maud's father Thomas Durrant the younger, son of Hugh's granddaughter (by his eldest son) Avelina, built the residence of Durrants at Enfield and held estates at Edmonton. John Wroth was a great-grandson of Hugh's youngest son Richard (died c. 1292), who became established at Enfield under the name of de Wrotham. The lines and estates of John and Maud were united in their son William.J. Collinson, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, 3 Vols (Dilly, Robinson, Longman & Payne, London/Fletcher, Oxford 1791), III, pp. 62-69.
John Wroth, great-grandson of John and Maud, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Roger Lewknor of Broadhurst (Horsted Keynes, Sussex), and the heiress Eleanor Camoys (great-parents of Jane Lewknor, Sir Richard Lewknor and Thomas Lewknor), in c. 1456. Their grandson Robert Wroth (of Durrants at Enfield,A.P. Baggs, D.K. Bolton, E.P. Scarff and G.C. Tyack, 'Enfield: Manors', in T.F.T. Baker and R.B. Pugh (eds), A History of the County of Middlesex Vol. 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton, Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (V.C.H., London 1976), pp. 224-29 (British History Online accessed 1 January 2017) and of North Newton in North Petherton, SomersetA.P. Baggs and M.C. Siraut, 'North Petherton: Manors and other estates', in R.W. Dunning and C.R. Elrington (eds), A History of the County of Somerset Vol. 6, Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds (Bridgwater and Neighbouring Parishes) (V.C.H., London 1992), pp. 283-300 (British History Online accessed 1 January 2017)), of Gray's Inn,Autumn reader, 1528: J. Foster, The Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, 1521–1889 (Hansard, London 1889), p. 2. married Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Hawte (died 1505, son of Sir William Hawte) and his wife Isabel Frowyk, sister of Sir Thomas Frowyk.R. Hovenden (ed.), 'De Haut', The Visitation of Kent taken in the years 1619–1621 by John Philipot and William Camden, Harleian Society XLII (London 1898), pp. 212-14, at p. 214.Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, II, p. 9. (Jane was the widow of Thomas Goodere of Monken Hadley, Middlesex, by whom she had children including Francis, politician,T.F.T. Baker, 'Goodere, Francis (by 1514–46), of Hadley, Herts. and Polesworth, Warws.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament online and Anne, wife of Sir George Penruddock of Ivychurch, Wiltshire.) Robert Wroth was one of the commissioners appointed to inquire into Thomas Wolsey's possessions in 1529, and from 1531 Attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster. He sat for Middlesex in the Reformation parliament (1529–1535).H. Miller, 'Wroth, Robert (1488/89-1535), of Durants, Enfield, Mdx.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (Boydell and Brewer, 1982) History of Parliament online He and Jane had four sons, Thomas, Oliver,Oliver's daughters Margery and Susan are mentioned in the will of Thomas Wroth (P.C.C. 1575). JohnJohn (died 1556) married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard Callard of Islington, Painter-Stainer (died 1544). She was the widow of Thomas Hayes (by whom she had issue), and by John Wroth she had two sons, Edward and William. After John's death, she married John Clerke (died 1557), son of her father's second wife Anne by Sir John Clerke. The relationships are described under the manors of Weryngs and London Fields by A.P. Baggs, D.K. Bolton and P.E.C. Croot, 'Islington: Other estates', in T.F.T. Baker and C.R. Elrington (eds), A History of the County of Middlesex, Vol. 8: Islington and Stoke Newington Parishes (V.C.H., London 1985), pp. 57-69 (British History Online accessed 20 January 2017). and William,William married Dionysia Wytherall: their son Richard Wroth of Younges in Standon, Hertfordshire married Kynborough Hawley: see 'Parishes: Standon', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Hertford, Vol. 3 (V.C.H., London 1912), pp. 347-66. (British History Online accessed 20 January 2017). and two daughters, Dorothy and Susan.Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, IV, p. 372.C.M. Meale, 'The manuscripts and early audience of the Middle English Prose Merlin,' in A. Adams (ed.), The Changing Face of Arthurian Romance (D.S. Brewer, Cambridge 1986), pp. 92-111, at p. 103. By his will of 1536 Wroth indicated his expectation that his daughter Dorothy should marry his ward Edward Lewknor.Will of Robert Wroth of Durrants, Enfield (P.C.C. 1536).
Youth and marriage Robert Wroth became a friend of Thomas Cromwell's, and for two years before his death in 1536 shared with him the stewardship of Westminster Abbey. Thomas Wroth, the eldest son, entered St. John's College, Cambridge, but seems to have taken no degree.J. & J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses I.iv (Cambridge University Press, 1927), pp. 468-69. In 1536, becoming a ward of the king,Miller, 'Wroth, Thomas (1518–73)', History of Parliament. he was admitted student of Gray's Inn,Foster, Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, p. 11. and on 4 October his wardship and marriage were granted to Cromwell.J. Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. XI (HMSO 1888), 943: Grants October 1536 (item 6). Cromwell sold the marriage in 1539 to Sir Richard Rich for three hundred marks, who provided for his third daughter, Mary, by arranging her betrothal to Thomas.Gairdner, Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, XIV (ii), Miscellaneous: December 1538 & May 1539, p. 324; XV, 613: Grants April 1540 (item 9), 733: Grants May 1540 (item 64). (British History Online) Wroth was granted livery of his lands on 24 April 1540, and in that and the following year Rich secured for his daughter's husband the manors of Highbury (forfeited by Cromwell) and Enfield, and of Beymondhall (i.e. Beaumond Hall)'Parishes: Cheshunt', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Hertford, Vol. 3 (V.C.H., London 1912), pp. 441-58 (British History Online accessed 2 January 2017) at Cheshunt, with its manorial appurtenances in Wormley in Hertfordshire,'Parishes: Wormley', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Hertford, Vol. 3 (V.C.H., London 1912), pp. 487-90 (British History Online accessed 2 January 2017) belonging to various dissolved monasteries.
Favour On 18 December 1544 Wroth was returned to parliament as one of the knights of the shire for Middlesex, and in the following year, reputedly through Thomas Cranmer's influence, was appointed Gentleman-Usher of the Privy Chamber to Prince Edward.Miller, 'Wroth, Thomas', History of Parliament online. He served in that office during Edward VI's reign, being dubbed a Knight of the Carpet at the King's coronation on 22 February 1546/7,J. Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials Relating Chiefly to Religion, New edn., Vol. II Part 2 (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1822), p. 328-29. and was one of the young king's principal favourites.J.G. Nichols, 'Biographical Memoir of King Edward the Sixth', in Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth, Roxburghe Club (J.B. Nichols and Son, London 1857), I, pp. cxvi, cxxxiv, and p. 243-44. In September 1547 he was sent to the Protector Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset in Scotland with Edward's letters congratulating him on his victory at the Battle of Pinkie,Nichols, Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth, I, Letter XLIX, p. 50. and in July 1548 was one of the witnesses against Bishop Stephen Gardiner for his sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral.R.W. Dixon, History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction, 2nd Edition (Routledge, London) II (1895), p. 520, III (1893), p. 260-63. He probably represented Middlesex in the parliament that sat from 1547 to 1552, but the returns are wanting. After Somerset's fall Wroth was on 15 October 1549 appointed one of the four principal gentlemen of the privy chamber, his fidelity to the Earl of Warwick's interests being secured by doubling the ordinary salary of £50. With Lord Rich he was jointly lieutenant of Waltham Forest from 1549.A.G.R.S., 'Wroth, Sir Thomas, 1518–73, of Durants, Enfield, Mdx., and London', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1558–1603 (Boydell & Brewer 1981) History of Parliament online. He held the office of King's standard-bearer during the minority of Sir Anthony Browne the younger.Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward VI vol. V, p. 406.