{41} Edward IV Descent for William Thompson (1680-1744), Stepson of Lord George Howard

Thompson coat of arms
The Humbleton Thompsons
differenced with a crescent 

When Lord George Howard, third son of the 6th Duke of Norfolk, finally took a wife, at age 30, in 1698, it was financial stability, not the desire to start a family, that was his motivation. The lady he chose, Arabella Thompson, was thirteen years his his senior, so unlikely (and probably unable) at age 42 to bear him children. But she was a wealthy heiress, and Lord George a Catholic Jacobite who was heavily in debt. Their marriage settlement left her estates in the hands of trustees and under her full control, but did provide her new husband some estate in the (what seemed at the time, given their age difference), likely event that he would outlive her. Lord George kept secret from Arabella the full extent of his debt, and when she discovered after they were married that it amounted to £2,000, she refused to pay it, and the marriage quickly went sour.

Arabella, Lady Howard, was no doubt tired of being a pawn in the financial schemes of men who were supposed to honour and protect her. Her father Sir Edmund Alleyn, 2nd Baronet, died in 1656 when she was only a year old, her mother died two months later, and when her brother, Sir Edmund Alleyn, 3rd Baronet, still a child, followed their parents to the grave the next year, in 1658, the three-year-old Arabella became an extremely wealthy heiress. A very thorough account of this Allen family is given by historian and archivist Nick Kingsley in a post on his wonderful blog (which I highly recommend) Landed families of Britain and Ireland. In the 16th-century, the Allens, originally from Thaxted in Essex, inherited through marriage two manors in that county - Hatfield Peverel Priory and Little Leighs Hall. Though the family's baronetcy was inherited by Arabella's great-uncle seated at Little Leighs Hall, the young girl received the family's chief seat of Hatfield Peverel and the rest of the landed estate, worth a hefty £1,400/year in rent alone. Arabella's dying mother in her will had appointed her own first cousin William Thompson as one of two guardians over her infant daughter, but, in an effort to protect her from land-hungry predatory relations, had entrusted her daughter's physical care to a more objective third party, Sir William Dalston. But Lady Alleyn's plans proved to be useless when faced with greed, and immediately Thompson and two other relations, uncle Sir William Jones, and great-uncle Sir George Alleyn, now 4th Baronet, contested with Dalston for her custody. Thompson abducted the girl, and betrothed her to his son and heir Francis.

Hatfield Peverel Priory, Essex in about 1960

The Alleyns were Protestant, but Thompson was a Catholic. His family had started off as successful merchants in Scarborough, Yorkshire, in the sixteenth-century, and in 1614 purchased a country estate, Humbleton Hall, in Holderness, which became their chief seat, though their influence in Scarborough remained vast. They served that town as bailiffs, leased the castle from the Crown, and were regularly returned to Parliament from there, starting in 1625. William Thompson was powerful enough to succeed in his abduction of the young heiress, quickly sending her to the continent to be raised Catholic, and keeping her from seeing her other relations until she reached the age of twelve, forcing her then to legally agree to the contracted marriage to his son. This only bred resentment in Arabella, who watched the Thompsons use her inheritance to clear their debts, and, after she refused to levy a fine and settle it legally on the Thompsons, made her closest relative Sir William Jones, pay for her food and shelter. It was Sir William who finally made her husband Francis Thompson grant her a maintenance allowance of £200/year (these details, like most of the information about the second family of the 6th Duke of Norfolk, come from Henry Kent Staple Causton's 1862 work The Howard Papers, pp. 349-353). But by that point, the damage was done: in their eleven years of marriage, Arabella bore Francis just a single child, a son, when she was age 25, and the couple chiefly lived apart. Francis Thompson, who, like his father, was a Member of Parliament for Scarborough, died in 1693, only age 38, a year after his father.

Scarborough Castle, Yorkshire

When her second marriage started down the same path as her disastrous first, Arabella stepped up and took charge, instigating a formal and legal separation from Lord George Howard in January 1707. The two do not seem to have parted amicably - Lord George made no mention of his estranged wife in his 1720 will. In the meantime, Arabella, who "seems to have been a woman of independent views and strong character" (Nick Kingsley), believing her son was well provided for financially with his paternal Thompson inheritance, sold her property of Birdbrook Hall, Essex, in 1716, and petitioned Parliament to allow her to lease Hatfield Priory for life to her executor Arthur Dobbs, with reversion after his death to her cousin Sir Edmund Alleyn, 8th Baronet. Her request was granted, and Arabella lived in retirement till July 1746, surviving her only child by two years, dying at the ripe old age of 90.

Alleyn of Hatfield Peverel coat of arms

ARABELLA ALLEYN, b. 5 Nov. 1655 Hatfield Peverel Priory, Essex, bap. 21 Nov. 1655 St Andrew Church, Hatfield Peverel, d. 9 July 1746, bur. there 15 July 1746, only dau. and heiress of Sir Edmund Alleyn, 2nd Baronet of Hatfield Peverel (1632-1656) & Frances Gent (1636-1657, descended from Edward I - see Generation A14 below); m. 1st 2 Dec. 1669, FRANCIS THOMPSON of Humbleton Hall, Yorkshire, b. c.1655 (aged 15 in June 1671); d. 27 Oct. 1693, bur. St. Peter Church, Humbleton, son of William Thompson of Humbleton Hall & Frances Barnard, and had issue, one son; m. 2nd 1698 (separated 23 Jan. 1707), Lord GEORGE HOWARD of Holmes Hall, Rotherham, b. 1668, d.s.p. 6 Mar. 1721 Croydon, Surrey, bur. 20 Mar. 1721 Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel, Sussex, son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk & Jane Bickerton.

Issue of Arabella Alleyn & Francis Thompson:

1) WILLIAM THOMPSON of Humbleton Hall, M.P. Scarborough 1701-1722, 1730-1744, b. c.1680 (aged 15 in July 1695), d. unm. June 1744; .

I usually don't blogpost Edward I descents, as there are just so many, but Arabella (Alleyn) (Thompson) Howard has a single 15-generation line of descent from that monarch, which is not immediately obvious from published accounts, so I'm making an exception. It is followed below by the line of descent for her son William Thompson from Edward IV.

Edward I had a dau:
A1) Princess Joan 'of Acre' (1272-1307) m. 1) Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester (1243-1295), and had
A2) Lady Eleanor de Clare (1292-1337) m. 1) Hugh, 2nd Lord Despenser (c.1289-1326), and had

Sir Edmund Arundel -
see Generation A4

A3) Isabel Despenser (c.1313-aft.1356) m. (div.) Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel (c.1314-1376), and had
A4) Sir Edmund Arundel of Bignor (1327-c.1381) m. Lady Sybil Montagu (c.1327-aft.1371), and had
A5) Philippa Arundel (c.1352-1399) m. 1) Sir Richard Cergeaux of Colquite (c.1340-1393), and had
A6) Elizabeth Cergeaux (b. c.1371) m. Sir William Marney of Layer Marney (c.1370-1414), and had
A7) Anne Marney m. Sir Thomas Tyrell of Heron Hall (c.1411-1476), and had
A8) Sir Robert Tyrell of Wivenhoe (d. 1508) m. 1) Christian Hartishorn (d. 1506), and had
A9) Robert Tyrell of Birdbrook Hall (d. 1555) m. Joyce Crosse[*1], and had
A10) Thomas Tyrell, Heir of Birdbrook Hall (d. 1555) m. Elizabeth ---[*1], and had
A11) Anne Tyrell (c.1555-1580) m. Sir John Dalston of Dalston Hall (1556-1633), and had
A12) Dorothy Dalston (b. 1577) m. Henry Gent of Moyns Park (d. 1639), and had
A13) Thomas Gent, Heir of Moyns Park (d. 1638) m. Isabel Thompson, and had
A14) Frances Gent (1636-1657) m. Sir Edmund Alleyn, 2nd Baronet of Hatfield Peverel (1632-1656), and had
A15) Arabella Alleyn (1655-1746) m. 1) Francis Thompson of Humbleton Hall (see B9 below)

[*1] In the Tyrell pedigree from the 1558 Visitation of Essex, p. 115, the wife of Robert Tyrell is given as "Joyce da. to Crosse". No wife or child is assigned to their eldest son Thomas, though he had died three years before, leaving a daughter and heiress. The pedigree is full of errors, but whether they are from the original 1558 herald's visitation, or from the 1878 efforts of editor Walter C. Metcalfe, is not clear. Surviving records confirm that the first name of Robert Tyrell's wife was 'Joyce', and the first name of the wife of his son Thomas was 'Elizabeth', but further identifying these spouses is difficult. The surname 'Crosse' does occur in East Anglia in this period, in both Essex and Cambridgeshire. If anyone has any knowledge, or suggestions on avenues for further research, on the Tyrell spouses in these generations, please let me know.

Through his father, Arabella's son William Thompson has a ten-generation illegitimate descent from Edward IV.

Edward IV

Edward IV = (probably) Margaret Fitzlewis, Dame Lucy (1440-1466, descended from Edward I), and had a dau:
B1) Margaret Plantagenet, illegit. (b. c.1462) m. Thomas Lumley, Heir of Lumley Castle (c.1462-1503, descended from Edward III), and had
B2) Roger Lumley of Ludworth Tower m. Isabel Radcliffe (descended from Edward I), and had
B3) Agnes Lumley (d. 1564) m. John Lambton of Lambton Castle (c.1505-1549), and had
B4) Helen Lambton (d. 1611) m. George Tonge of Eccleshall (d. 1593, descended from Edward III), and had
B5) Henry Tonge of West Thickley (1550-1615) m. 1) --- Watson [*2], and had
B6) Mary Tonge (b. c.1590) m. Henry Blakiston of Archdeacon Newton (d. 1665), and had
B7) Mary Blakiston (1610-1659) m. Stephen Thompson of Humbleton Hall (1603-1677), and had
B8) William Thompson of Humbleton Hall (1629-1692) m. Frances Barnard (d. 1711), and had
B9) Francis Thompson of Humbleton Hall (c.1655-1693) m. Arabella Alleyn (see A15 above), and had
B10) William Thompson of Humbleton Hall (1680-1744)

[*2] The Tonge of West Thickley pedigree from the 1615 Visitation of Durham records the first wife of Henry Tonge only as "......, da. of ...... Watson of the Bishopricke". I've been as yet unable to further identify her.

Cheers,                                       ------Brad