THYMBLEBY, Stephen (d.1587), of St. Swithin’s, Lincoln.

Family and Education
2nd s. of Matthew Thymbleby of Poolham in Edlington, Lincs. by Anne, da. and coh. of Sir Robert Hussey of Linwood in Blankney; half-bro. of John Savile II. educ. Queens’, Camb. 1554, L. Inn 1558, called 1565. m. c.1575, Katherine (d.1587), s.p.1Lincs. AO, Lincoln minute bk. 1575, city charters 89, final concord. index Easter term 24 Eliz. no. 7; Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. lii), 957.
Offices Held

Recorder, Lincoln 1572; dep. recorder, Boston 1572; bencher, L. Inn 1573, Autumn reader 1574, j.p. Lincs. (Holland, Lindsey), Isle of Ely from c. 1573, (Kesteven) from c.1579.2J. W. F. Hill, Tudor and Stuart Lincoln. 72–3; P. Thompson, Hist. Antiqs. Boston, 458.

Address
Main residence: St. Swithin's, Lincoln.
biography text

Through his mother, who married as her second husband Sir Robert Savile, Thymbleby was connected with the local families of Hussey, Savile, Tailor and Monson. Succeeding Robert Monson as recorder of Lincoln, and obtaining the deputy recordership of Boston,3R. E. G. Cole, Hist. Doddington Pigott (privately 1897); Hill, loc. cit. Thymbleby represented both places in Parliament, sitting on the following Commons committees: grants by corporations (30 May 1572), recoveries (31 May), bastardy (15 Feb. 1576), dilapidations (24 Feb.), and, as one ‘learned in the laws’, that of 1 Dec. 1584 to consider the termination of certain statutes. On 4 Mar. 1585 he was ‘licensed to repair home into the country to an assizes’.4CJ, i. 99, 106, 108; D’Ewes, 220, 334, 362.

Thymbleby had a considerable conveyancing practice in Lincolnshire, for his name appears as attorney in a number of final concords for land there. In 1579 he was involved in a dispute with a servant of the Earl of Leicester over the lease of the parsonage of Belton in Axholme, which was owned by the city; he promised to ‘yield up all the interest that he may claim’. During the years 1584-7 he was involved in the disputes about the mayoralty of the city, which were sufficiently serious for the Privy Council to intervene. His labours were rewarded in January 1587 by a grant from the common council of a hogshead of wine. Thymbleby died before the disputes ended, during an outbreak of plague in Lincoln. Because of the infection no entries were made in the city minute book 20 May-22 Aug. 1587, and the first entry after the interval records Thymbleby’s death. He died intestate, as his wife had done the previous April, and administration was granted to William Thymbleby, son of his elder brother Richard. Thymbleby was apparently buried in his parish church of St. Swithin, for, though neither register nor transcripts survive for this period, Gervase Holles recorded his memorial window there.5Lincs. AO, Foster lib. index of final concords; min. bk. 28 July 1579, Jan. 1587, 22 Aug. 1587; prob. recs. AN, 139, 151; APC, xi. 153, 288, 294; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 618; Hill, op. cit. app. iv. 227-232; G. Holles, Lincs. Church Notes, ed. Cole (Linc. Rec. Soc. i), p. 54.

Author
D.O.
Volume
Commons 1558-1603
Notes
  • 1. Lincs. AO, Lincoln minute bk. 1575, city charters 89, final concord. index Easter term 24 Eliz. no. 7; Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. lii), 957.
  • 2. J. W. F. Hill, Tudor and Stuart Lincoln. 72–3; P. Thompson, Hist. Antiqs. Boston, 458.
  • 3. R. E. G. Cole, Hist. Doddington Pigott (privately 1897); Hill, loc. cit.
  • 4. CJ, i. 99, 106, 108; D’Ewes, 220, 334, 362.
  • 5. Lincs. AO, Foster lib. index of final concords; min. bk. 28 July 1579, Jan. 1587, 22 Aug. 1587; prob. recs. AN, 139, 151; APC, xi. 153, 288, 294; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 618; Hill, op. cit. app. iv. 227-232; G. Holles, Lincs. Church Notes, ed. Cole (Linc. Rec. Soc. i), p. 54.