LANE, Thomas (by 1492-1544), of Gloucester and Lincoln's Inn, London.

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 1492, s. of Thomas Lane of Gloucester by Margaret. educ. L. Inn, adm. 4 Aug. 1515. m. (1) by 1526, Catherine, da. of John Arnold of Churcham, 2s. 2da.; (2) Maud, da. of John Rastell of Gloucester, wid. of Henry Marmion (d. 7 Mar. 1542) of Gloucester, 1s. suc. fa. 18 Feb. 1504.2

Offices Held

Pens. L. Inn 1529-30, bencher 1531, Autumn reader 1534, gov. 1544.

Servant of Thomas, de jure 5th Lord Berkeley by 1532; recorder, Gloucester by Nov. 1534-d.; j.p. Glos. 1535-d., Oxford circuit 1540-d.; commr. musters, Glos. 1539, 1542; escheator 1540-1.3

Biography

Walter Rowdon, who died on 24 May 1513, left 40s. to his clerk Thomas Lane. Two years later Lane entered his master’s inn, maybe with the favour of another of Rowdon’s servants, Robert Cole. Lane’s connexion with Rowdon was probably influential in securing him a place on the council of Lord Berkeley, who bequeathed him an annuity of £3. As a practising lawyer Lane retained his Lincoln’s Inn chambers until his death, leaving his son their contents. He was employed by Cromwell in local affairs.4

As his father had done earlier, Lane held office under Gloucester abbey, and at its dissolution he became steward to the dean and chapter of the new cathedral. In a will dated 4 Oct. 1544 he asked to be buried near his parents in the north aisle of the cathedral under the image of St. Sonday. Shortly before his death on the following 2 Dec., when he was living in the parish of St. John the Baptist, Lane was assessed for subsidy on lands and fees worth £40. His widow married as her third husband Richard Pate. Although he is known to have sat only in the Parliament of 1539, it is possible that Lane had been returned in 1536, the first Parliament to meet after he is known to have become recorder, or even that he had been by-elected to the Parliament of 1529 in place of John Rawlins who died in 1532, and he is likely to have been re-elected in 1542. His successor as recorder, Richard Morgan, was to sit in the three Parliaments which met during his tenure.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard

Notes

  • 1. E159/319, brev. ret. Mich., r. [1-2].
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Glos. (Harl. Soc. xxi), 100-1; Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. xxxii. 19; PCC 9 Holgrave, 20 Pynnvng; Gloucester Guildhall 1375, ff. 26v, 28.
  • 3. LP Hen. VIII, v, vii, xii, xv, xvii; PCC 3 Hogen.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, vii, ix; PCC 1 Holder, 3 Hogen; Gloucester Guildhall 1375, f. 26v.
  • 5. Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. xxxii. 19; lxv. 800-1; PCC 20 Pynnyng; C142/73/70; E179/114/245.