PATCHE, Thomas (by 1504-53), of Sandwich, Kent.

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

Constituency

Dates

? 1547
Mar. 1553

Family and Education

b. by 1504. m. Susan.4

Offices Held

Common councilman, Sandwich 1533-7, jurat 1537-d., mayor 1539-40, bailiff 1543-d.; sewer of the chamber by 1543; bailiff to Yarmouth 1544; capt. of the Turf bulwark, nr. Sandwich by 1553.5

Biography

Thomas Patche had a house in Sandwich in 1525, but it was not until three years later that he was admitted to the freedom ‘by reason of his free purchase’, that is to say, his purchase of a free tenement. Although he held office in Sandwich from 1533 he did not play a prominent part in the life of the town, but he was chosen to go to the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports on three occasions and to serve as Member of Parliament and as mayor. His election to the Parliament of 1539 may have been due chiefly to some outside interest (perhaps a military command) or to the influence of the lord warden of the Cinque Ports, Sir Thomas Cheyne; he did not serve free of charge, however, being paid £5 as wages during 1540-1.6

In November 1543 Patche was appointed by the King bailiff of Sandwich. His office presumably accounts for his election to the two Parliaments of Edward VI’s reign, although on the first occasion this was countermanded. He and Thomas Ardern, comptroller of the customs at Sandwich, were returned after the mayor had refused to seal the indenture naming Thomas Pinnock and John Seer as the Members, but the Council upheld the original election and the appearance of his and Ardern’s names on the list of Members of this Parliament may indicate only that they sat in the House until the Council decided against them. It was perhaps to make amends for this rebuff that Patche was elected to the following Parliament. This time Cheyne disapproved of the choice of Thomas Menys as his fellow-Member and rebuked the port for not consulting him: Patche and William Oxenden, whom the warden had favoured, informed the mayor and jurats of his displeasure, but Menys’s election was allowed to stand. The Journal throws no light on Patche’s activity in the Commons.7

Patche made his will on 17 May 1533, asking to be buried in the chancel of St. Mary’s, Sandwich. After providing for his brother, he made his wife his sole executrix and left her all his movable goods and all his property in Richborough and Sandwich except the White Hart in Sandwich, which he gave to Thomas Gull, a kinsman. His ‘well beloved friend’ William Oxenden, appointed overseer, was one of the witnesses of the will, which was proved on 26 June 1553.8

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Helen Miller

Notes

  • 1. Sandwich old Red bk., f. 111.
  • 2. Hatfield 207.
  • 3. Sandwich little black bk., f. 31.
  • 4. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Canterbury prob. reg. C25, f. 33.
  • 5. Sandwich old red bk., ff. 13 seq.; little black bk., ff. 1 seq.; LP Hen. VIII, xviii; CPR, 1553, p. 78; Stowe 571, f. 42.
  • 6. Sandwich white bk., f. 352; old red bk., ff. 13, 133v; treasurers’ accts. Sa/Fac. 34; Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. (Kent Arch. Soc. recs. br. xix), 224, 233.
  • 7. Sandwich little black bk., f. 31; old red bk., ff. 200v, 207; APC, ii. 536-7.
  • 8. Canterbury prob. reg. C25, f. 33.