BOURCHIER FAMILY
Born: 1440, Great Totham, Essex, England
Died: 26 Oct 1491, Ware, Hertfordshire, England
Father: Henry BOURCHIER (1º E. Essex)
Mother: Isabel PLANTAGENET (C. Essex)
Married 1: Isabel BARRE (b. 1440 – d. 1 Mar 1489) (dau. of John Barry of Kebworth and Clehonger and Idoine Hotofte) (w. of Humphrey Stafford, 1° E. Devon)
Children:
Married 2: Anne ANDREWS (b. 1442 – d. 25 Jul 1520) (dau. of John Andrews and Elizabeth Stratton) (w. of Sir John Sulyard)
Born: ABT 1474, Puxton, Worcestershire, England
Died: 30 Oct 1546, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Isabel BARRE
Married: Jane DENNIS (dau. of Walter Dennys and Agnes Walwyn) (w. of Humphrey Goodman) ABT 1499, Puxton, Worcestershire, England
Children:
Born: ABT 1504
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Jane DENNIS
Married: Blanche ?
Born: ABT 1506
Died: ABT 1595
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Jane DENNIS
Married: Joan ?
Born: ABT 1502
Died: ABT 1537, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Jane DENNIS
Married: Dau. SMITH (b. ABT 1512 - d. ABT 1537)
Children:
1. Paul BOURCHIER (b. ABT 1538 - d. BEF 1631)
2. Agnes BOURCHIER (b. 1540)
3. Thomas BOURCHIER (b. 1542 - d. 3 Sep 1591)
5. Catherine BOURCHIER
Born: ABT 1545
Died: ABT 1593
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Dau. SMITH
Married: Anne DOWNES ABT 1570, Lovedown, Hockley, Essex, England
Born: ABT 1500, Puxton, Worcestershire, England
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Jane DENNIS
Married: ¿? ABT 1530
Children:
Born: ABT 1532
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Margaret HANBURY 21 Nov 1563
Born: ABT 1534, Lombard Street, London, England
Died: 22 Jan 1622
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Alice MORLEY ABT 1560
Born: ABT 1536
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Dau. WANARKIN
Born: 1542
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Thomas (CLARKE) CLERKE 27 Oct 1565
Born: 1547
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Thomas WOODWARD
Born: 1540
Died: 1576
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Joan BEST 22 Sep 1560
Children:
1. Francis BOURCHIER
2. Joan BOURCHIER
3. Elizabeth BOURCHIER
Born: 1566
Father: John BOURCHIER
Mother: Joan BEST
Married: ¿?
Children:
1. Richard BUTCHER
Born: 1538, London, Middlesex, England
Died: 29 Nov 1594
Notes: "Thomas Bowcher", as he signs his name, went to London, where, as a Citizen and Haberdasher, he acquired what was then a considerable fortune, and purchased the manor of Little Stambridge and other lands. It seems almost certain, however, that he never resided there, and dying at his house in Lombard Street, in 1594, within about seven years after he had bought the property, was buried in the church of S. Edmund the King and Martyr, with heraldic honours, his funeral certificate, with escocheon emblazoned, being entered in the records of the College of Arms. Sir James Bourchier, his only son and successor, who, before the year 1607, had attained to sufficient social and public distinction to obtain the honour of knighthood, ultimately did reside at Little Stambridge.
On the 23 Sep 1587, Mr Clarenceux Cooke, granted to Thomas Bourchier, son of Richard Bourchier of Poukleston, these arms: "Sa. a chevron Erm between three leopards passant Ppr, Crest, On a mount vert, a greyhound sejeant, Arg. ducally gorged, lined and ringed, the line passing between the for legs and reflexed over the back, Or". The arms subsequently assigned to Sir James Bourchier are: "Sa. three leopards passant in pale Or. Crest, A greyhound, salient, Or", by Letters patent exemplified to Sir James Bourchier, Knt. by Mr Camden, 8 Jan 1610.
Contemporary with Thomas Bourchier was his cousin John Bourchier of Loutdowne, in Essex. He was appointed overseer of Thomas Bourchier's will, and his son, a Gentleman Pensioner, subscribes the pedigree for his own line of descent.
Father: Richard BOURCHIER
Mother: ¿?
Married: Elizabeth MORLEY (b. ABT 1544, Grenwich, Kent, England - d. 6 Aug 1617) (dau. of James Morley) m.2 William Seabright) ABT 1573, Grenwich, Kent, England
Children:
Born: 1574, Little Stambridge, Essex, England
Died: ABT 1634
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Elizabeth MORLEY
Married: Frances CRANE (dau. of Thomas Crane and Dorothy Lockey) 19 Jun 1596, Newton Tony, Wiltshire, England
Children:
2. Thomas BOURCHIER
3. James BOURCHIER
4. Oliver BOURCHIER
5. Anne BOURCHIER
6. Robert BOURCHIER
7. Francis BOURCHIER
8. John BOURCHIER
9. Frances BOURCHIER
10. Richard BOURCHIER
11. William BOURCHIER
12. Henry BOURCHIER
Born: 1598, Felstead, Essex, England
Died: AFT 1665
Father: James BOURCHIER (Sir)
Nother: Frances CRANE
Married: Oliver CROMWELL (Lord Protector) 22 Aug 1620, St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, England
Children:
1. Richard CROMWELL (b. ABT 1626 - d. ABT 1712)
2. Frances CROMWELL
Born: ABT 1482, Barnesley, Gloucestershire, England
Died: AFT 13 Jul 1552, England
Notes: It has been suggested he could be a son Fulke Bourchier, 10th Lord FitzWarin. There is no actual evidence to support this. It is probably noteworthy that the arms granted to his son Anthony Bourchier have no resemblance to the Bourchier Baron FitzWarin arms. His parents remain unknown. It has been suggested that his wife was Eleanor Manners. No evidence has been found to support this assertion. His wife was named Joan according to History of Parliament online and the Visitations.
Married: Joan ? ABT 1507, Barnesley, Gloucestershire, England
Children:
2. Richard BOURCHIER
Born: ABT 1508, Barnesley, Gloucestershire, England
Died: BEF 1 Aug 1551
Notes: Auditor, ct. gen. surveyors of the King's lands by 1542, duchy of York this side of the Trent, lands late of Queen Jane Seymour 1543, Berkeley hundred, Glos. by 1546; principal auditor, Queen Catherine Parr's household Nov. 1544-8; member, Queen Catherine Parr's council Dec 1544-8; surveyor of woods, lordship of Berkeley Herons, Glos. by 1546; jt. (with Richard Pate) under steward, lands late of Tewkesbury abbey 1546; keeper, borough cts. Tewkesbury 1546; commr. chantries Salop, Staffs., Shrewsbury 1546, relief, Glos. 1550; j.p. Glos. 1547-d.
Nothing is known of Anthony Bourchier's upbringing or how he came to enter the service of the crown. His father may have been a dependant of the Berkeley family, a conjecture which receives some support both from his baptismal name of Maurice and from his place of residence. Whether it was this or another connexion which started Anthony Bourchier on his career as an auditor is unknown, but once successfully embarked on it he became the mainstay of his relatives, helping his father to stave off creditors and paying for his younger brother Richard's education.
His marriage linked Bourchier with two of the most promising administrators of his generation, the brothers Thomas and Walter Mildmay. It may well have been Thomas Mildmay, with whom he was particularly close, who brought Bourchier to the notice of Mildmay's colleague in the duchy of Cornwall, Wymond Carew, and Carew who in turn helped him to obtain a place in Queen Catherine Parr's newly-established household. This preferment may have been followed by his election to the Parliament of 1545 as one of the group of the Queen's servants who were returned to it, but the loss of so many names makes this incapable of proof. When, two years later, he gained a seat in Edward VI's first Parliament, he clearly owed it to the ex-Queen and her new husband, Admiral Seymour, who had acquired the lordship of New Shoreham on the imprisonment of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Although nothing is known of Bourchier's part in the proceedings of the Commons, many of his papers relating to the Queen and her husband survive, presumably because they were confiscated on Seymour's arrest for treason, and they show how varied were the matters entrusted to him. It was also during his years of service with the Queen that he made his appearance in local government.
Bourchier had a grant of arms on the eve of Seymour's overthrow in Dec 1548 and that event does not appear to have compromised him: it is not known whether he attached himself to any other magnate before his own premature death. In London he lived at different times in rented houses in Colman Street and Silver Street, but he made no purchases of property there. These he restricted mainly to his native county, where as early as 1546 he acquired some escheated land in Berkeley and later under Edward VI several properties in Gloucester and the manor of Barnsley, where he made his home; he also bought several houses, perhaps in connexion with his business as an auditor, at Abingdon, Reading and Windsor. It was during a visit to Barnsley that he died on 13 Jul 1551. On his deathbed he made a will but he did not live to sign it. After asking to be buried in the Lady Chapel at Berkeley, he remembered his parents and provided for his wife, children and servants. He appointed his wife as sole executrix of his will which was proved during the following Aug. His heir was his ten year-old son.
In the remaining session of the Parliament of 1547 Bourchier's vacant place was taken by Sir Henry Hussey. Bourchier's widow later married William Thomas, who bought the wardship of Bourchier's heir in Mar 1553. On Thomas's execution for treason a year later the wardship was transferred to Secretary Bourne. See: BOURCHIER, Anthony (by 1521-51), of London and Barnsley, Glos
Father: Maurice BOURCHIER
Mother: Joan ?
Married: Thomasine MILDMAY ABT 1539, Barnesley, Gloucestershire, England
Children:
Born: ABT 1540
Died: BEF 14 May 1623
Father: Anthony BOURCHIER
Mother: Thomasine MILDMAY
Married: Susan BROWNE ABT 1575, Colchester, Essex, England
Father: Anthony BOURCHIER
Mother: Thomasine MILDMAY
Married: Son FORSTER
Born: ABT 1545
Died: 9 Jul 1578
Father: Anthony BOURCHIER
Mother: Thomasine MILDMAY
Married: Thomas FANSHAWES
Children:
1. Henry FANSHAWE (Sir) (m. Elizabeth Smythe)
Born: ABT 1542, Barnesley, Gloucestershire, England
Died: 29 Jan 1579/80
Father: Anthony BOURCHIER
Mother: Thomasine MILDMAY
Married: Bridget ? ABT 1570
Children:
1. Charles BOURCHIER
3. Elizabeth BOURCHIER
4. Catherine BOURCHIER
Born: ABT 1572, Barnesley, England
Father: Thomas BOURCHIER
Mother: Bridget ?
Married: Thomas RICH
Children:
1. Bridget RICH
2. Susan RICH
Margaret BOURCHIER (Nun at Syon)
Died: AFT 1539
Notes: Nun at Syon Abbey. Her parentage has not been clarified, but Anne Andrews' link to the Windsor and Sulyard families, who also had members at the abbey, suggests that Margaret belonged to the branch of the family of Thomas Bourchier. Her name is among the 52 nuns who received a pension after the dissolution.