HOLGOT, Thomas (d.c.1420), of Hereford.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

May 1413
Nov. 1414

Family and Education

poss. s. of Philip Holgot*. ?1s.

Offices Held

Tax collector, Herefs. Mar. 1404.

Commr. of oyer and terminer, Herefs., Glos. Nov. 1405; inquiry, Herefs. June 1406 (concealments), Jan. 1414 (lollards); to raise royal loans June 1406, Jan. 1420; of array Apr. 1418.

J.p. Herefs. 8 Feb. 1406-July 1419.

Escheator, Herefs. and adjacent march 30 Nov. 1407-9 Nov. 1408, 12 Nov. 1414-14 Dec 1415.

Justice itinerant, S. Wales 1415.1

Sheriff, Herefs. 4 Nov. 1418-23 Nov. 1419.

Biography

This somewhat obscure MP was a close relation (if not a son) of Philip Holgot, in whose footsteps he followed both as a lawyer and one of the Mortimer affinity. He is frequently found as a surety for persons taking out leases at the Exchequer, particularly those relating to the land of alien priories. Thus in 1387 (when first mentioned in the records) he acted as a mainpernor when Roger Ploufeld and others secured custody of the estates of Craswall priory, Herefordshire; he served in the same capacity when, in July 1393, Thomas Bredon acquired the farm of those of Frampton priory, Dorset, and Roger Partrich (a Mortimer retainer) those pertaining to Newent priory, Gloucestershire; and in October 1399 he was a surety when the abbot of Llantarnam took custody of St. Clear’s priory, Carmarthen. In March 1402, furthermore, he was a mainpernor when Hugh, Lord Burnell, was granted a lease (during the minority of Edmund, earl of March) of all the Mortimer lands and castles in Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire.2

Thomas was first returned to Parliament in 1406, and on 1 Apr. (during the first of three sessions) he and (Sir) Leonard Hakluyt* (another one of the Mortimer affinity) entered into a recognizance with Sir Hugh Waterton, a member of Henry IV’s council, the terms of which bond are unknown, but the penalty for defeasance was £75. On 28 May (in the same session), he obtained a writ of supersedeas of an action brought against him by a citizen of London: his sureties on this occasion included his fellow lawyers John Russell III*, Richard Winnesley and Edmund Morris*, the last two being Leominster men. Holgot was to act as Morris’s surety in 1409, and in March 1410 (while Holgot was shire knight and Morris was representing Leominster) the two men appeared as mainpernors for John Merbury*. Meanwhile, Holgot had again been returned to Parliament in 1407, John Russell and John Brugge* being his sureties for attendance. During this session he provided securities for Lord Grey of Codnor and also was appointed escheator in Herefordshire.3

From 22 Feb. 1409 (together with Thomas de la Hay* and eight other Herefordshire esquires) Holgot was retained by Prince Henry of Monmouth at an annual fee (payable in his case until his death) of ten marks, the intention being, no doubt, that he would provide legal counsel; and after Henry’s accession to the throne he was employed by him as a justice itinerant in the lordship of Chepstow. Holgot’s legal practice took him in 1415 to Wells, where he then acted for the feoffees of one of the canons. By this time he was apparently connected with Joan Beauchamp, Lady Abergavenny: in June 1415 he was her co-trustee for Thomas, Lord Berkeley when the latter obtained the Mortimer manor of Bridgwater, Somerset, and in the following November he was her feoffee-to-uses at Dean and Chalford, Oxfordshire.He may also have maintained links with the Mortimers, for in January 1419 Thomas Holgot junior (probably his son) went to France in the retinue of Edmund, 5th earl of March.4

In October 1419 Holgot was one of those who attended the Hereford civic parliamentary election which, exceptionally, resulted in the return of one of the gentry of the county, John Abrahall.5 Nothing more is heard of him after the issue of his last royal commission in January 1420, and payment of his royal pension ceased before the following Michaelmas.

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Charles Kightly

Notes

  • 1. T.B. Pugh, Marcher Ldships S. Wales, 50.
  • 2. CFR, x. 166; xi. 88-89; xii. 7, 155.
  • 3. CCR, 1405-9, pp. 109, 132; CFR, xiii. 82, 148, 177; C219/10/4.
  • 4. SC6/1222/10-14, 1223/1-3; HMC Wells, ii. 659; Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xxii), 176-7; Hist. Dean and Chalford (Oxon. Rec. Soc. xvii), 108; DKR, xliv. 614.
  • 5. C219/12/3.