GOOD, Thomas (by 1519-75/77), of New Windsor, Berks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1553

Family and Education

b. by 1519, s. of Nicholas Good of New Windsor. m. by 1553, 5s. 1da.1

Offices Held

Jt. warden, guild of the Holy Trinity, Windsor in 1547, mayor ?1548-9, 1549-50, 1552-3, chamberlain 1555-9 or later.2

Biography

Thomas Good inherited a house called ‘Didsworth’ at Windsor and enough goods to place him near the top of the subsidy roll in October 1540, when his movables were assessed at £40. This rating was repeated in 1541, but was lowered to £30 in 1551 and 1560; even so, he and Gabriel Hill were the most highly assessed in the town, a distinction he probably retained in 1563 (when a few of the other entries are illegible) and 1571, when he led with three others at £20.3

In his will Good was to describe himself as a gentleman, and the payments to him recorded in the chamberlains’ accounts throw some light on his occupation: 2s.8d. ‘for carriage of timber’ (1541), 9s.‘for his charge about the suit of the Trinity lands’ (1547), presumably when the Trinity guild was suppressed as a chantry, and a total of 38s.8d. for making two pairs of butts, with 35s.10d. ‘in full payment of his bill’ (1549). As mayor, Good twice received the new fee of £3, first paid in 1530, but he does not seem to have been given anything in 1556, when on at least one occasion he acted as deputy to Thomas Butler II. He supplied a cygnet for the banquet when the accounts were heard on 14 Oct. 1551, which cost the corporation 5s., and a swan and two cygnets in October 1557 at a cost of 12s. The loss of the chamberlains’ accounts for the years after 1559 means that nothing is known of his municipal career under Elizabeth.4

As mayor Good was a natural choice to represent Windsor in Mary’s first Parliament, when the government was bent on reviving the election of residents and when the town could therefore aspire to return at least one townsman, a practice which had lapsed under Edward VI. Nothing is known of his part in the work of the House, but his receipt of £3 for expenses (recorded by the chamberlains as representing 60 days at 1s. a day), was the first known payment to a Member by Windsor since 1531. By his will made on 23 Nov. 1574, signed on 19 Feb. 1575 and proved on 18 Nov. 1577, he provided for his sons and other kin and named his eldest son Thomas executor.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: T. F.T. Baker

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. PCC 43 Daughtry.
  • 2. Bodl. Ashmole 1115, f. 40; Windsor recs. Wi/FA c.1, ff. 54, 57v, 61v, 63, 66v, 69, 71v.
  • 3. E179/73/153, 158, 74/201, 217, 221, 233.
  • 4. Windsor recs. Wi/FA c.1, ff. 31, 45, 52v, 53v, 54, 56, 57, 57v, 59.
  • 5. Ibid. ff. 33, 60; PCC 43 Daughtry.