OLIVER, Thomas, of Kingsbridge, Devon and Dorchester, Dorset.

The Oliver family held property in Dartmouth in Devon from early in the fourteenth century, H.R. Watkin, Dartmouth, i. 20, 47, 64, 99. and at Kingsbridge and Dodbrooke in the haven to the west of the port from at least the 1370s. Thomas’s father John Oliver died before 1387 leaving a widow, Millicent, in possession of his property and land in and near Kingsbridge, CAD, i. C555, 785; C146/10421. and in March 1422 he himself conveyed lands in the same places to John, duke of Bedford, the guardian of the realm, and others including John Wybbury† esquire, the former shire knight, and William Mountfort*, the last being a close friend of the family and probably a relation by marriage. CAD, i. C1243 The inclusion of the duke of Bedford in this transaction is not difficult to explain, for Oliver was on the point of leaving for France as a member of his retinue. It may be presumed that he was not going in a military capacity, for in the letters of protection he had taken out just nine days earlier he was described as a tailor. DKR, xliv. 635.

Exactly how long Oliver remained in the duke’s service or stayed with him in France is not known, but it must have been soon after his return to England that he acquired property in Dorchester through marriage to the widow of a former bailiff of the town. In October 1423 he and his wife Alice leased out a house called ‘La Pentys’ in High West Street, which she held by her late husband’s bequest, and in her will of 6 May 1425 Alice bequeathed to Oliver this same property together with a burgage in the lane leading from South Street towards Durnegate. Dorchester Recs. 250, 253. By virtue of these holdings he was qualified to represent the borough in the Parliament which assembled at Leicester in the following year. The Parliament had been summoned by the duke of Bedford, recently returned from France to resolve the quarrel between his brother the duke of Gloucester and Bishop Beaufort. Whether Oliver’s earlier links with Bedford were a factor in his election is open to speculation.

Oliver continued to add to his landed holdings in Devon, CAD, i. C1638. and despite some disagreements he maintained his friendship with William Mountfort, the Dartmouth merchant who established himself as a prominent figure at Bridport through successful participation in the rope trade. Together with his son William and others Thomas received in July 1433 seisin of land in Southtown Dartmouth as Mountfort’s feoffee, and three years later Sir Nicholas Carew formally confirmed that these properties (held of the Carews) had been settled by Mountfort and his wife on the feoffees and the issue of William Oliver, with remainder to that of his father. C146/8532; CAD, i. C1093; vi. C4370, 5592. William Oliver was thus recognized as Mountfort’s principal heir. Together with Mountfort’s widow, in 1441 father and son, both described as merchants, were sued by John Brushford* for failing to mend a gutter on their building adjacent to his house in Dartmouth, causing his walls to rot through water penetration. CP40/720, rot. 161. Thomas is not recorded thereafter.