Family and Education

b. by 1530, 2nd s. of Sir John Arundell by 2nd w., and bro. of John I. m. (1) 1s.; (2) Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Richard Trengove alias Nance of Nance in Illogan, Cornw., wid. of John Courtenay (d.1560) of Tremere in Lanivet, Cornw.1

Offices Held

Capt. St. Mawes castle 8 Nov. 1553-d.2

Biography

When Thomas Treffry I was dismissed from the captaincy of St. Mawes on the accession of Mary, the Queen appointed Thomas Arundell to the command ‘in consideration of his service in the wars of Edward VI’. Although the nature of this service has not transpired he is known to have lived in Kent for a time early in that reign, perhaps as one of the garrison in a coastal fort, but by 1551 he had settled at Crantock where he leased the deanery from the crown. Treffry resisted his dismissal and brought an action for trespass against Arundell, who failed to answer the charge and was outlawed. After surrendering himself to the Fleet he was pardoned the outlawry on 26 June 1557 and evidently won the case. Despite his Catholicism Elizabeth left him undisturbed in the office which he held until his death.3

Some months after Arundell’s appointment Mary summoned her second Parliament. Sir John Arundell was elected a knight of the shire for Cornwall and it was doubtless his influence which procured his son’s return for a borough in the north of the county, near which he had a lease of duchy property. It may be that Thomas Arundell did not relish this taste of the Commons, for his family’s authority remained unquestioned until 1558 and a borough could have been found for him in any of the remaining Parliaments of the reign.4

Arundell was a litigious man. He was called by one complainant ‘naughty, busy, and troublesome’ and said by another to be very wealthy: the second description was true, for besides his income from lands and the fees and perquisites of his captaincy he had an extensive interest in tin-mining. He was ‘sick and feeble in body’ when he made his will at his wife’s house on 29 May 1571. After remembering unpaid tithes and the poor, he left his property to his wife and son whom he appointed executors. The will was proved on the following 8 Nov.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: J. J. Goring

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Cornw. ed. Vivian, 4-5.
• 2. CPR, 1553-4, p. 267.
• 3. Req.2/25/190; CPR, 1555-7, p. 430; C3/1/9, 2/109.
• 4. LP Hen. VIII, xix.
• 5. C3/1/9, 2/16, 75, 109, 106/77; Duchy Cornw. RO, 227/3v, 228/4, 230/4v, 233/5v, 234/6, 235/6; E101/274/1, mm. 3v. 4, 23; PCC 42 Holney.