Family and Education

b. by 1534. m. by July 1562, Thomasin, da. and h. of William Fry of Spettisbury.1

Offices Held

Servant of Sir John Rogers by 1555-65.

Biography

Thomas Keynell was indicted before the justices at Blandford Forum in 1555 and sued in the Star Chamber for having, with Sir John Rogers’s soy-in-law, John Buller, kidnapped the heiress who later became his wife. Keynell, questioned on 28 Oct. 1555, admitted that he and Buller had taken the girl to Sir John Rogers’s house and kept her there a week, but declared that they had acted at the request of the girl’s uncle, Thomas Fry, who feared for her safety; the depositions in the case justified this contention. Keynell was presumably chosen as senior Member for Weymouth in the last Parliament of Mary’s reign at the instance of his master Rogers: Buller had sat for the borough in the previous Parliament. Apart from the episode of the abduction, his Membership and employment by Rogers little else has been discovered about Keynell. The last trace found of him is on 4 Sept. 1576 when he served as a juror at the inquisition held at Dorchester after the death of Robert Fowke.2

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Helen Miller

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. C1/1468/20; 142/274/53,
• 2. St.Ch.2/24/275; C142/274/53.