Family and Education

b. by 1524, s. of Robert Trencreke of Treworgan. educ. L. Inn, adm. 31 Oct. 1541, called 1547. m. by Jan. 1556, Avis, da. of (?Thomas) Kingdon of Trehunsey in Quethiock, 2da.2

Offices Held

Commr. gaol delivery, Launceston castle, Cornw. 1555; j.p. Cornw. 1558/59-d.; reeve, Moresk, Cornw. 1560-1; recorder, Truro temp. Eliz.3

Biography

Robert Trencreke stood on the threshold of his career as a lawyer in his native county when he was returned for Truro on two successive occasions in the 1540s. His family home was only three miles from the borough, but he probably owed the opportunity to serve for it in Parliament not so much to his own connexions as to his senior at Lincoln’s Inn, Sir Thomas Arundell, who was receiver-general for the duchy of Cornwall. Arundell’s execution in 1552 deprived Trencreke of a parliamentary patron, and despite his success as a lawyer and his marriage to an heiress he is not known to have sat again. He was one of the electors when Henry Chiverton, perhaps already his brother-in-law, was chosen knight of the shire for the third time in February 1555. In 1556 he and Chiverton divided the Kingdon inheritance between them. Trencreke’s legal practice flourished and his services were retained by numerous gentle families and several corporations. He was appointed to the county bench at the accession of Elizabeth, subscribed to the oath of supremacy in 1569 and established himself as a leading figure in local administration. He left no male heir at his death on 24 Dec. 1594 when his property passed to his two daughters, Jane Penwarne and Catherine Polwhele. His body was buried at St. Erme where a monument was erected to his memory, inscribed with these words: Let him who has the key of Heaven go seek This wonderful man Mr. Bob Trencreke.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: J. J. Goring

Notes

• 1. Hatfield 207.
• 2. Presumed to be of age at election. Paroch. Hist. Cornw. i. 345; Vis. Cornw. ed. Vivian, 370, 376, 537; Truro mus. HK12/27.
• 3. Duchy Cornw. RO, 133, m. 11; 501, m. 1; Jnl. R. Inst. Cornw. xiv. 210; CPR, 1554-5, p. 106; 1563-6, p. 20; 1569-72, p. 223.
• 4. C3/148/90; 219/20/21; CPR, 1553-4 to 1569-72 passim; APC, xi. 148; SP12/60, ff. 83v-84; St.Ch.3/6/29; Cornw. RO, Liskeard accts. 1575-6, m. 2v; Truro mus. HK12/27; J. Allen, Liskeard, 274; Paroch. Hist. Cornw. i. 345; Jnl. R. Inst. Cornw. xiv. 210.