CHICHELEY, Thomas (c.1578-1616), of Wimpole, Cambs.

Chicheley was a country gentleman whose main career falls outside the Elizabethan period. It is not clear whether he came in for Huntingdon through his local standing or through a court connexion, perhaps through his wife’s family. His name does not occur in the journals but as a burgess of Huntingdon he was appointed to a committee on draining the fens 28 Nov. 1601. Chicheley made his will 29 Oct. 1616, ‘sick and in great weakness’, and wishing to apply his ‘thought and cogitations wholly upon his only saviour and redeemer, Jesus Christ’. His wife Dorothy, his brother-in-law William Harington, and his cousin John Pigott were his executors. He left £10 to the poor of Wimpole and £5 to the poor of each of two other parishes. He died 19 Nov. and was buried at Wimpole, where his widow erected a monument to his memory, describing him as ‘sometime lord of this town’.

Topographer, iii. 70-1; D’Ewes, 657; F. Blomefield, Coll. Cantab. 13; PCC 115 Cope; Mon. Inscriptions Cambs. ed. Layer and Cole, 201.