Constituency Dates
Bridport [1558]
Family and Education
b. by 1537, s. of John Walshe of Cathanger by 2nd w. Margaret, da. of John Clawse (Claveshey), half-bro. of John Walshe. m. Julian, da. of one Richards, wid. of Baldwin Sandford (d.1571/72) of Winsford.1Presumed to be of age at election. Vis. Som. ed. Weaver, 87; PCC 6 Daper.
Address
Main residence: Stowey, Som.
biography text

Thomas Walshe’s father is said to have retired to Muchelney abbey, Somerset, after the death of his first wife and to have married his second wife after being expelled for rape and degraded from his orders. Whether or not there was any truth in the story, there seems to have been no ill feeling between the Member and his half-brother John, who in his will of 1572 admonished his heir not to disturb Walshe in the lands appointed to him in Curry Mallet, Fivehead, Stowey and Wrantage.2Collinson, Som. i. 41-42; PCC 18 Daper.

There is no evidence that Walshe was a lawyer, but he seems to have owed his seat in Parliament to legal connexions. His half-brother, who was chosen a knight for Somerset in 1558, belonged to the Middle Temple; so did John Hippesley, his fellow-Member. Neither Hippesley nor Walshe had any direct connexion with Bridport: their link with the borough was probably through John Popham, also of the Middle Temple, the brother-in-law of William Pole (and more distantly related by marriage to Thomas Walshe himself) and John Walshe’s successor as recorder of Bristol.3Vis. Som. ed. Weaver, 15.

Nothing has been discovered about Thomas Walshe during his remaining years. He died without making a will and administration of his estate was granted to his widow on 5 Feb. 1579.4PCC Admins. ed. Glencross, ii. 111.

Author
H.M.
Volume
Commons 1509-1558
Notes
  • 1. Presumed to be of age at election. Vis. Som. ed. Weaver, 87; PCC 6 Daper.
  • 2. Collinson, Som. i. 41-42; PCC 18 Daper.
  • 3. Vis. Som. ed. Weaver, 15.
  • 4. PCC Admins. ed. Glencross, ii. 111.