BATHE, Thomas (d.c.1428), of Wanstrow, Som.

Thomas Bathe, who owned property in Shaftesbury, may have been the person of the same name who represented that borough in the Parliaments of 1372, 1377 and 1378, and who in 1374 had stood surety at the Exchequer for the abbess of Tarrant.CFR, viii. 262. It was perhaps his appearances in the central courts as a lawyer on behalf of such clients as the widow of William, Lord Botreaux, that brought him to the government’s notice. In May 1396 he shared a grant at the Exchequer of the custody of estates in Sussex, Somerset and Gloucestershire belonging to Bruton priory and, in July following, another of the town of Lyme Regis itself, provided that he paid the fee farm.CFR, xi. 173, 182, 184. The latter concession was to last for ten years as from Michaelmas. Within three months of his assuming the custody of the town the burgesses returned him to Parliament.

Bathe’s escheatorship of Somerset and Dorset, to which he was appointed a few months later, lasted for two years. He retained interests in both shires: he occasionally acted as an attorney at the Dorchester assizes, continued to be involved in the affairs of Shaftesbury (serving, for instance, as executor of Laurence Mawdyt, parson of Holy Trinity church), and owned lands in Dorset (his widow held the manor of Bradford in the hundred of Badbury), but he preferred to reside in Somerset.CCR, 1405-9, p. 148; JUST 1/1519 mm. 115d, 117; C258/40/33; CPR, 1416-22, p. 224; Feudal Aids, ii. 120. In 1404, described as ‘of Wanstrow’, he obtained the Exchequer lease of a quarter of that manor during the minority of Thomas Lovell and, evidently by virtue of the grant, presented to Wanstrow church in September following. In February 1409 he gave two messuages in Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, to the Carthusians at Witham in aid of their sustenance. He attended the Somerset parliamentary elections held at Ilchester in 1414 and 1423.CFR, xii. 239; Reg. Bowet (Som. Rec. Soc. xiii), 52; CPR, 1408-13, p. 48; C219/11/5, 13/2.

In 1427 Bathe settled lands at Blackford and Wilkenthrop, as well as his portion of Wanstrow, on himself, his second wife and their heirs, with remainder to Thomas Lovell’s father-in-law, John Roger I of Bryanston. He made his will that spring, requesting burial in St. Mary’s at Wanstrow. Among his executors was John Frank, the clerk of the rolls, who had provided securities for him in 1404. Probate was not granted until 20 Apr. 1429.Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xxii), 70; Reg. Chichele, ii. 416.