SOUTHCOTE, Thomas (by 1528-1600), of Shillingford George and Bovey Tracey, Devon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1528, 1st s. of John Southcote I of Bovey Tracey by 1st w. Joanna, da. of one Hankford; bro. of George. m. (1) settlement May 1541, Grace (d.1547) da. and h. of John Barnhouse of Devon, 1s. 2da.; (2) Susan, da. of Thomas Kirkham of Blagdon in Paignton, 4s. 6da.; (3) Elizabeth, da. of George Fitzwilliam of Mablethorpe, Lincs., 8s. inc. George and Richard 4da. suc. fa. 14 Sept. 1556.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Devon 1558-9, 1570-1; jt. surveyor, Exchequer, Devon and Exeter 16 Oct. 1560-2 June 1598; j.p.q. Devon 1561-d.2

Biography

Thomas Southcote is likely to have owed his return for Tavistock in 1555 to the influence of his family, either on its own account or on behalf of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, during his absence abroad. Southcote may already have been the earl’s tenant for the mansion house of Cowick which had belonged to Tavistock abbey. Although in 1564 he was to be one of six gentlemen consulted by the bishop of Exeter on the religious sympathies of their neighbours, he was not among those Members of the Parliament of 1555 who followed Sir Anthony Kingston’s lead in opposing one of the government’s bills. By 1558, when his younger brother George sat for Tavistock, Southcote was head of the family and may not have needed Bedford’s support to secure the senior seat for Plympton Erle. He was friendly with the locally important family of Strode, and he and his brother were joined in the House by his brothers-in-law George Kirkham and Walter Staplehill: he was also related to the sheriff, (Sir) Robert Denys. Nothing is known of Southcote’s role in this House, but he and his colleague Christopher Perne are among the 17 Members whose names are missing from a copy of the Crown Office list. Two of his sons were to sit for Plympton Erle before his death on 10 Aug. 1600.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m. C142/107/14. Vis. Devon, ed. Vivian, 697; Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. 1), 357-8; (lii), 913; LP Hen. VIII, xvi.
  • 2. CPR, 1558-60, p. 429.
  • 3. J. A. Youings, ‘The disposal of monastic property in land in the county of Devon 1553-58’ (London Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1950), 271 n. 1; Cam. Misc. ix(3), 67-68; PCC 66 Wallop; Wm. Salt Lib. SMS 264.