Thomas Burgess --"Mayor of Truro" (English member of Parliament)^[1]

1575 - 1626  (51 years)

• Name	Thomas Burgess --"Mayor of Truro" (English member of Parliament)  [2]
  Birth	1575	Truro, Cornwall, England   [2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Death	20 Jul 1626	Truro, Cornwall, England   [4]
  Person ID	I42209	Master
  Last Modified	12 Jan 2021

  
  

  Father	John Burges,   b. 1540, Brook House, Sussex, England d. 23 Aug 1594, St Katherine By The Tower, London, England (Age 54 years)
  Mother	Silvester Fermor,   b. 1544, Walsh Manor, Sussex, England d. 16 Mar 1585, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 41 years)
  Marriage	12 Jul 1573	Walsh Manor, Sussex, England
  Family ID	F9804	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Pye,   b. 1572, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 20 Jun 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 54 years)
  Marriage	27 Nov 1598	Truro, Cornwall, England   [3, 5]
  Children	1. Daniel Burgess,   b. 1599, Sutton Magna, Wiltshire, England d. 1674, Sandy, Bedfordshire, England (Age 75 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   2. Anne Burgess,   b. 1600, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1626 (Age 26 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural] + 3. Thomas Burgess,   b. 16 Aug 1601, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 13 Feb 1685, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA (Age 83 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   4. Robert Burgess,   b. 29 Aug 1602, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 13 Feb 1685, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA (Age 82 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   5. Honor Burgess,   b. 31 Oct 1603, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1699 (Age 95 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   6. John Burgess,   b. 3 Feb 1605, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1704, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 98 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   7. Henry Burgess,   b. 12 Mar 1607, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 22 Apr 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 19 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   8. Christiana Burgess,   b. 19 May 1608, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 17 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   9. Samuel Burgess,   b. 21 May 1609, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 30 Apr 1610, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 0 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   10. Ellis Burgess,   b. 31 Jul 1610, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 22 Apr 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 15 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   11. Calip BURGES,   b. 8 Sep 1611, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1711, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 99 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   12. Joshua BURGESS,   b. 8 Sep 1611, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1626 (Age 14 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   13. Humphry Burgess,   b. 17 Sep 1612, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 18 Sep 1612 (Age 0 years)   14. Constance Burgess,   b. 13 Feb 1614, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 11 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   15. Frances Burgess,   b. 18 Jun 1615, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1668, Virginia Beach, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA (Age 52 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   16. James Burgess,   b. 24 Nov 1616, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1716, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 99 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   17. Elizabeth BURGES,   b. 30 Dec 1617, Truro, Cornwall, England d. Jul 1619, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 1 year)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   18. Elisha BURGESS,   b. 14 Mar 1619, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 22 Apr 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 7 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   19. Isabell Burgess,   b. 1622, Truro, Cornwall, England d. 1626, Truro, Cornwall, England (Age 4 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F9803	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Jan 2021

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 1575 - Truro, Cornwall, England Marriage - 27 Nov 1598 - Truro, Cornwall, England Death - 20 Jul 1626 - Truro, Cornwall, England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Alternative Tree Thomas Burgess II 1580-1626 Son of Thomas Burgess 1550-1623 Son of Ellice II Orunce Burges 1512=1559 Son of Edward I Sir Lord Burgess 1494-1595 Son of John Burges 1465-1550 son of Thomas Sir Knight 5th Lord Chaundos Brugge or Burgess 1427-1492 Son of Giles 4th Lord Chaundos, Sheriff of Gloucestershire, Sir Knight of the Shire Brugge or Burges or Burgess =Birth 21 Dec 1386 in Haresfield, Gloucestershire, England=Death 13 Apr 1467 in Coberley, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, EnglandSon of Thomas Sir Knight De Brugge=Birth 1356 in Bridge Sollers, Herefordshire, England=Death 7 Apr 1408 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England son of Baldwin Sir De Brugge or Burges or Burgess Birth 1328 in Brugge Upon Wye, Bridge Sollers, Herefordshire, EnglandDeath 1377 i n Bridge Sollers, Herefordshire, England son of John Sir Knight MP De Brugge or Burges or Burgess Birth abt 1296 in Bridge Sollers, Herefordshire, EnglandDeath abt 1350 in England son of Isabel Elizabeth Lady Ashperton de Grandison Birth 1340 in Ashpert on, Herefordshire, EnglandDeath 4 Apr 1406 in Herefordshire, England Thomas I and Thomas II Constituency Dates TRURO 1604 Family and Education s. of Ellis Burges of Truro. m. by c.1579, Honor ( bur. 1 Jan. 1633), da. of Humphrey Sydnam of Tregony, Cornw., 5s. (1 d.v.p.) 2da. bur. 13 Aug. 1623.1 sig. Thomas Burges. Offices Held Mayor and j.p. Truro 1589, 1620-1, alderman by 1619. Biography Although a dearth of local records renders Burges invisible prior to his nomination as Truro’s first mayor in 1589, he had evidently been a prominent figure in the town for some time. By 1594 he was shipping tin, Cornwall’s most lucrative commodity, to France and London, while four years later his partners included the leading London Pewterer, John Catcher. Burges’ 1599 valuation at £10 for the purpose of subsidy confirmed his position as one of Truro’s wealthiest residents, and like many merchants he maximized his capital by lending money. Doubtless on the strength of his local standing, Burges was elected in 1604 to serve the borough in Parliament. Though unmentioned in the surviving parliamentary records, he would have been entitled, as a port town Member, to sit on various committees considering legislation relevant to Truro, such as the 1604 measures on free trade and abuses by custom-house officials (24 Apr., 5 May), and the 1607 bill on merchants’ debts (5 June). The committee appointed on 3 Apr. 1606 to examine an anti-usury bill may well also have interested him, since only two months earlier he had taken advantage of his presence at Westminster to file a Star Chamber suit arising from his money-lending activities. By 1610 it is impossible to trace Burges’ trading ventures with certainty, since the Truro port books do not distinguish between him and his eldest son, Thomas II. However, the family had apparently acquired their own ship, the Toy of Falmouth, the use of which was shared with Burges’ younger son Richard and nephew Balthazar, and they were now engaged primarily in the exchange of fish and salt between Truro and La Rochelle. No entries relating to Burges or his heir have been found in the port books later than 1614, though both men continued to call themselves merchants, and remained prominent in local affairs. That same year Burges secured one of the borough’s parliamentary seats for Thomas junior. His active role in Truro’s 1619-20 dispute with Plymouth over Ship Money probably contributed to his own re-election as mayor shortly afterwards. As borough returning officer in 1621, he may have contributed to the election victory of Sir John Catcher, the son of his former partner. Burges drew up his will on 20 Sep 1619, by which date he had acquired a small landed estate. Part of this he now bequeathed to Truro borough to fund an annual sermon, and to his wife he left an income of just over £30 a year. Burges was interred at Truro church on 13 Aug 1623, and his place in borough politics passed, albeit briefly, to his son Thomas. Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Author: Paul Hunneyball Notes 1.Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 64; Reg. St. Mary’s, Truro (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc.) ed. S.E. Gay et al. 246, 264, 271; mar. date based on birth-date of Thomas Burges II*. 2.C66/1334; C219/37/33-4. 3.E190/1018/1, 16; 190/1020/6, 12, 22; 190/1021/6; E179/88/260; STAC 8/61/30; C.A. Markham, Pewter Marks, 127. 4. CJ, i. 183b, 199a, 292b, 379b; STAC 8/50/3. 5.E190/1024/8; 190/1025/3-4, 13; 190/1026/7; PROB 11/142, f. 471v; 11/149, f. 274. 6.Cornw. RO, B/T 294/6, 11, 22, 24, 29. 7.PROB 11/142, ff. 471v-2v. Constituency Dates TRURO 1614 TRURO 1621 Family and Education b. c.1579,1 1st s. of Thomas Burges I* of Truro and Honor, da. of Humphrey Sydnam of Tregony, Cornw. m. 27 Nov. 1598, Elizabeth ( bur. 18 June 1626), da. of Anthony Pye of St. Stephen in Brannel, Cornw., 12s. (4 d.v.p.) 7da. (3 d.v.p.). suc. fa. 1623. bur. 7 May 1626.2 sig. Tho[mas] Burges. Offices Held Burgess, Truro by 1619.3 Biography Like his father Thomas, Burges was a Truro merchant. In the early seventeenth century the family seems primarily to have traded with France and Spain, exchanging Cornish fish for salt, iron and vinegar, but the precise extent of Burges’ activities cannot be determined because the port’s customs records do not distinguish between the older and younger man. Thomas senior apparently entrusted his affairs to his son while he attended Parliament in 1604, since in April that year the latter allegedly assaulted men who were attempting to repossess livestock sequestered by his father in lieu of a debt. In 1614 Burges was elected to represent Truro at Westminster. Since even six years later he was only a junior member of the borough’s corporation, he presumably relied on his father’s local standing to secure his place. No evidence survives of his participation in the Parliament’s proceedings, but he was entitled as a port town Member to attend legislative committees concerned with such issues as the export of iron ordnance (11 May), the repeal of a fish-packing patent (24 May) and extortions by customs officials (25 May). By 1620 Burges had acquired a measure of personal status in Truro, and signed documents in connection with the borough’s Ship Money dispute with Plymouth. However, he is not known to have contested Truro’s 1620 parliamentary election, even though his father acted as returning officer, and did not again obtain a seat in Parliament until 1624, by which time he was the head of his family. On this occasion at least he agreed to pay his own expenses. As before, he was not recorded as speaking in the Commons, but he did attend two meetings of the bill committee discussing customs officials’ fees in April. Although Burges described himself as a merchant throughout his life, he in fact converted much of his capital into property. Early in 1626 he was assessed for subsidy purposes at £6 in land, the highest such valuation in Truro, reflecting an estate which now included two manors, two half-manors and almost 2,000 acres. A significant proportion of this lay in or near his wife’s home parish of St. Stephen in Brannel, which suggests that the acquisition process dated from her marriage settlement in 1598. Burges drew up his will on 22 Apr 1626, by which time he had entered his final illness. In providing for his exceptionally large family, he specified legacies totalling around £2,000 for his children alone, though his second son John was required to serve abroad as a soldier for three years before receiving his share of £250. Burges died two weeks later, and was buried at Truro church on 7 May. His wife possibly contracted the same disease, for she outlived him by barely a month. Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Author: Paul Hunneyball Notes 1.STAC 8/190/5. 2.Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 64, 387; Reg. St. Mary’s, Truro (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc.) ed. S.E. Gay et al. 154, 247, 259, 261, 265-6; PROB 11/149, f. 274r-v. 3. Vis. Cornw. (Harl. Soc. ix), 285. 4.E190/1024/8; 190/1025/3-4, 13; 190/1026/7. 5.STAC 8/190/5. 6. Procs. 1614 (Commons), 202, 332, 339, 450. 7.Cornw. RO, B/T 294/11, 24. 8.Cornw. RO, EN2469(c), f. 5; HLRO, Lords main pprs., 20 May 1624. 9.Harl. 6243, ff. 24v-25v; E179/89/306; C142/783/8. 10.PROB 11/149, f. 274r-v. lesliebarry11 lesliebarry11 originally shared this to Kaplan Family Tree 11 Apr 2015 story http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/burges-thomas-i-1623

  
  

• Sources

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