CLERK, Thomas I

The representation of Bridgnorth during the reign of Henry VI was dominated by men, who, although they had interests in the borough, had more considerable interests outside it: Thomas Clerk conformed to this pattern. His principal property was the manor of Skimblescott in the environs of Much Wenlock and held of the priory there.3 VCH Salop x. 373. Yet, in his few appearances in the records, he is interchangeably described as ‘of Wenlock’, as when he attested the county parliamentary election of 1435, and ‘of Bridgnorth’, only a few miles away. It was as a yeoman of the latter place that, in 1427, a writ of outlawry was issued against him in an action of account brought by the executors of William Lee† (d.1425) of Knightley (Staffordshire); and he was again said to be resident at Bridgnorth when, in 1431, he witnessed a grant of goods from William Wolrich to Andrew Wolrich*.4 C219/14/5; CP40/667, rot. 379; Salop Archs., Dudmaston mss, 2922/3/6. The Parliament to which he was elected met eight days later, an election that marks the pinnacle of a modest career. He may then have been well into middle age. In the proof of age of John Fouleshurst taken at Much Wenlock on 6 Feb. 1436, he gave his age as 51 and testified that he had been present at John’s baptism in the church of Cressage near Much Wenlock. A few days earlier, on 31 Jan., he had served on the jury assembled at Much Wenlock for the inquisition post mortem of Joan Beauchamp, Lady Abergavenny, but there is no other evidence that he had any connexion with this important woman.5 C219/14/2; CIPM, xxiv. 514, 565.

Clerk last appears in the records in January 1442, when he again attested the county election, appearing 30th in the list of the 38 attestors; and, if one may judge by the naming of his son, William, in a list of the Bridgnorth burgesses dated September 1442-3, he died very soon afterwards.6 C219/15/2; Salop Archs., Bridgnorth bor. recs., ct. leet bk. BB/F/1/1/1, f. 4. None the less, despite his relative obscurity, he must have been a man of some means. In 1456 his executors had actions of debt pending against 22 defendants for a total of £58, and he himself believed himself prosperous enough to make provision for both his known sons, William and Edmund. In a petition to the chancellor, the latter, as the younger of the two, complained that, although his father had conveyed the manor of Skimblescott to William Clerk and two townsmen of Much Wenlock, Richard Cambrey and Nicholas Maundevyle, to hold to the father’s use for the term of his life and then to the use of Edmund and his issue, the feoffees now refused to make estate.7 CP40/783, rot. 88; C1/17/211. Our MP named his feoffees and his wife as his executors. Given the very successful career of his older brother, it is unlikely that Edmund won his case. William has a claim to parliamentary fame in that he was, in 1472, the first Member returned by Much Wenlock. He also sat for Bridgnorth, and found a place in the service of the Yorkist Kings, whom he served as constable of the royal castle of Bridgnorth and marshal of the King’s hall. He fought for Richard III and suffered attainder in the first Parliament of Henry VII.8 HP Biogs. ed. Wedgwood and Holt, 193; PROME, xv. 107-9.