Thomas Hoo, Baron Hoo and Hastings

Arms of Sir Thomas Hoo, 1st Baron Hoo and Hastings, KG

Thomas Hoo, 1st Baron Hoo and Hastings KG (c. 1396–1455) was a Knight of the Garter and English courtier.

Life

Thomas was the son of Sir Thomas Hoo (ca. 1370 – Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, 23 August 1420) and his first wife (m. 1395) Eleanor de Felton (Litcham, Norfolk, 1378 – 8 August 1400). After his mother's death his father remarried to Elizabeth Etchyngham, daughter of William Etchingham and Alice Batisford, of Etchingham, Sussex. Thomas succeeded his father in 1420, inheriting the family's ancestral home of Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire as well as Mulbarton, Norfolk and other estates. His stepmother remarried to Sir Thomas Lewknor of Horsted Keynes (c. 1392–1452) as his second wife and the mother of his younger children.^[1]

Thomas fought for Henry VI of England in France, and for his services was made, first Keeper of the Seals, then Chancellor of France. In 1439, he was granted the castle, lordship and honour of Hastings, and in 1445 elected Knight of the Garter. Two years later he was created Baron of Hoo and Hastings.

The Barony of Hoo and Hastings became extinct at his death. Lord Hoo died on 13 February 1454/5. He dated his will 12 February 33 Henry VI, making provision for a chantry for himself and his ancestors at the altar of St Benignus at Battle Abbey. He refers to his manors of Wartling, Cukstede and Brokesmayle, which, being held by his stepmother Lady Lewkenor for life, are then to pass to his widow Eleanor for life: the Rape of Hastings is to be sold, if possible to his half-brother (Sir) Thomas (born 1416), and the proceeds to make his daughters' marriage portions: Anne,^[2] Elizabeth and Alianor are to share 1000 marks for their portions, and their marriages to be governed by his widow and brother Thomas. Joan however receives only £20 to her marriage. He mentions also the manors of Offley (Hertfordshire), Mulberton and Hoo.^[3]

The brothers Thomas and Thomas are believed to be represented by the two recumbent effigies now on the Dacre Tomb at All Saints Church, Herstmonceux, Sussex.^[4] It is supposed that the tomb was set up for Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre (d. 1534) and his son Sir Thomas Fiennes (d. 1528), but that the figures themselves (perhaps brought from Battle Abbey following its sale in 1539) were those of the brothers Hoo (as shown by the arms revealed on their tabards during restoration), re-used for the Dacres.^[5]

Marriages and issue

Thomas Hoo married (1st) before 1 July 1428, Elizabeth Wychingham, daughter of Nicholas Wychingham, esquire, of Wichingham, Norfolk, by whom he had a daughter:

• Anne Hoo (born c.1424), who married Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, mercer and Lord Mayor of London: they were the great-grandparents of Anne Boleyn.^[6][7]

He married (2nd) before 1445 Eleanor Welles, daughter of Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles, and his first wife, Joan Waterton, by whom he had three daughters:^[6]

• Anne Hoo (born c.1447), who married (1st) Roger Copley, Esquire (d. before 1488), Citizen and mercer of London, of Roughey (Roffey) in Horsham, Sussex,^[8] by whom she had three sons and six daughters; (2nd) William Greystoke, Gentleman (living 1498), of London and St. Olave, Southwark, Surrey, and (3rd) Sir Thomas Fiennes.^[9]
• Eleanor Hoo, who married Sir James Carew of Beddington, Surrey.^[10]
• Elizabeth Hoo, who married firstly Thomas Masingbeard, and secondly Sir John Devenish.^[11]

After the death of Lord Hoo his widow Eleanor remarried to Sir James Laurence^[12] (eldest son and heir of Sir Robert Laurence, fourth Squire of Ashton Hall in Lancashire, and perhaps his second wife Agnes Croft), by whom she had two further daughters and three sons. After his death in 1490 she is reputed to have made a third marriage to Hugh Hastings. She died before 1504.^[13]

In popular culture

Hoo makes a cameo appearance in the first few chapters of Harry Turtledove's alternate history novel Opening Atlantis. His purpose in the story is so that settlers in a fictitious continent, halfway between Europe and America, can found a city named Hooville after him. As the book was released around the Holiday season, this may be a humorous literary allusion to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

Notes

References

• Cokayne, George Edward (1949). The Complete Peerage, edited by Geoffrey H. White. XI. London: St. Catherine Press. p. 51.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1945). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. X. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 137–142.
• Hughes, Jonathan (2007). "Boleyn, Thomas, earl of Wiltshire and earl of Ormond (1476/7–1539), courtier and nobleman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 17 March 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Ives, E.W. (2004). "Anne (Anne Boleyn) (c.1500–1536), queen of England, second consort of Henry VIII". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 17 March 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Richardson, Douglas (2004). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company Inc. pp. 179–180.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. pp. 320–1. ISBN 1460992709. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
• Weir, Alison (1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Grove Weidenfeld. p. 145.
• British History Online - Offley St. Ledgers
• Kelly’s Directory of Bedfordshire, 1885 – Luton