BALGEY, Thomas (d.1607), of St. Leonard's, nr. Stamford, Lincs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

s. of John Balgey, merchant of London, by Joan (d.1604), da. of John Lucas of Essex. educ. St. John’s, Camb. 1571, BA 1575; Barnard’s Inn; G. Inn 1576, called 1586. m. Alice, da. of Francis Harington of Stamford and South Witham, 3s. 5da.

Offices Held

Pens. G. Inn 1593; recorder, Stamford 1594-1607.

Biography

Balgey was admitted to the clerks’ or lowest table of Gray’s Inn on the day Anthony and Francis Bacon were promoted to the masters’ table. While recorder of Stamford, Balgey owned more than one house there. At the time he made his will he was living in St. Leonard’s, a former monastery, owned by the Cecil family since the dissolution. In June 1600 he was appointed a commissioner, together with Robert Wingfield II and three others, to investigate charges of usury against a King’s Lynn merchant.

On 3 Dec. 1597 ‘Mr. Thomas Balg, recorder of Stamford’ was licensed to depart the House for ‘his necessary business’. This is the only reference to him to be found in the extant parliamentary journals.

He died in 1607 and was buried in St. George’s, Stamford early in November. In his will, dated 30 Apr. 1607 and proved 5 Dec. 1607, he left money to his relatives: £100 each to his three sons, John, Thomas and Harington, and his four surviving daughters, with £300 to his wife Alice, the sole executrix. His brother Daniel Balgey, a London merchant, his brother-in-law William Bodendine, Thomas Harington and Alexander Pell were appointed overseers.

Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. 1), 72-3; G. Burton, Chron. of Stamford, 124; T. Allen, Hist. Lincs. ii. 328; APC, xxx. 366; D’Ewes, 567; PCC 97 Hudleston.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: R.C.G.

Notes