Family and Education

b. 1506, s. of Thomas Foster of Cranbrook, Kent, and Romsey, Hants. educ. G. Inn 1543. m. bef. 18 June 1539, Jane, da. of Sir Nicholas Wadham of Merrifield in Ilton, Som. by his 2nd w. Margaret, da. of Sir John Seymour of Wolfhall, Wilts., 2s. 1da.

Offices Held

In the service of Romsey abbey, Hants by 1527, jt. rec. 20 Feb. 1535, chaplain of St. Andrew-within-the-Infirmary and of St. Peter-within-the-Abbey 28 Dec. 1538; incumbent of North Baddesley bef. 1543; j.p. Hants 1547-53, q. 1561-4.

Biography

Destined for an administrative post in Romsey abbey, Foster took holy orders after an affair with a nun there, whom he later married. In 1543 he ceased to be minister at North Baddesley, and went to Gray’s Inn. At the beginning of the Elizabethan period he recovered the manor of Baddesley, which he had bought from Sir Nicholas Throckmorton in 1553, and of which he had been deprived by Mary, and seems to have become some sort of agent for Bishop Horne of Winchester by 1561. It was Horne who brought him into Elizabeth’s second Parliament for Hindon, but Foster left no mark on its records. In 1564 Home suggested him as a suitable j.p. for Winchester to counteract the city’s ‘bad example’ in continuing to favour the old religion. Foster had a house there, and leased lands in Wiltshire from the cathedral. He died at Baddesley 8 June 1576, his eldest son Andrew succeeding to his estates.

C24/10, ex inf. Dr. R. Fritzie; H. G. D. Liveing, Romsey Abbey Recs. 249; LP Hen. VIII, xiv(1), p. 509; xvi. 459; xix(1), p. 280; Vis. Som. ed. Weaver, 84; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 124; Cam. Misc. ix(3), pp. 54-5; CPR, 1547-8, p. 84; 1554-5, p. 187; 1560-3, p. 442; Winchester Cath. Docs. ed. Kitchin (Hants Rec. Soc.), i. 96; C142/175/65.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes