Children of Thomas Burgh
The Children of the 1st Lord and Lady Burgh

Thomas Burgh and Margaret Roos married in early 1463, and their first child, Edward, was born in 1464. Margaret died in 1488 aged 57. She bore, from 1464, a further four children, that are documented (there may have been a bastard child of Thomas’s, called Isabel); Thomas, Anne, Margaret and Elizabeth. Between 1464 and, if the last child was born before 1470, there would have been, until, about 1480, a very busy nursery at Gainsborough, with wet nurses, teachers and extra staff to care for the boys and girls, not only of the immediate family, but for the extended family and staff children to. By the time their mother died the five sons and daughters would have been, at least, in their mid-teens, if not older. Sadly, of Thomas and Anne we know nothing, except that they were still alive in 1496, when their father died. Anne and Thomas may have died shortly after, of one of the many prevalent diseases of the time; Anne may have become a Nun, but more research needs to be done to locate her.

EDWARD BURGH. Eldest son and heir. There is no evidence for any of the Burgh children being sent away to other noble households for their early teaching or training. If Edward was sent away, he may have not gone very far, perhaps to the Sheffield’s at Epworth or his cousin, Lord Henry Grey of Codnor. Like his father, Edward received a high standard of education, although, once again, no record remains to support this (the Duke of Suffolk’s sons all went to University at Cambridge).

In 1477, when Edward was aged 13, his father arranged a very advantageous marriage with the heiress of the Cobham family of Starborough Castle in Kent, Anne - aged 9.  While all this was being arranged by his highly efficient father, Edward would have carried on with his training and education, designed to fit him out to become a knight and to enable him to manage and run a great estate, an estate which, by his marriage to Anne, was set to become even bigger.

Although married in 1477, Edward and Anne were not allowed to live as man and wife. Edward accompanied his father on various Commissions, obviously learning the ‘ropes’, also serving with him as joint Constable of Lincoln Castle. There is no record of Edward becoming involved with more worldly affairs until 1487, when, aged 23, he took part in the Battle of Stoke Field, near Newark. Henry VII’s royal army destroyed a rebel force, led by John, Earl of Lincoln and Edward was one of those, lucky, young noblemen knighted on the field by the King.

Sir Edward, it seems, had a fair interest in military affairs as later he was taking part in jousts at Westminster, he had, however, certainly earned his father’s distrust.

Anne and Edward appear to have been allowed to live properly together when she was 18 in 1486. The couple had two more children; Humphrey and George, who were alive in 1495, although nothing more is known of them, so they probably died young. In 1491, no doubt to the anger of his father, Sir Edward stood surety for the Marquis of Dorset (Sir Thomas Grey of Groby), brother of Queen Elizabeth (Woodville), who had supported Henry VII in 1483/4 but wavered in 1485, earning the new King’s mistrust. Sir Edward entered into an agreement with Empson and Dudley, Henry VII’s two ’enforcers’, to be Mainprized for The Marquis’s loyalty and good behaviour on pain of forfeiting £2000, a huge sum. Luckily for Sir Edward, Dorset died in 1501, having remained a safe bet and avoiding the Tower and the block. It should be understood that the period 1485 to the late 1500’s were a time of great concern for Henry VII and VIII, with plots against them pretenders and treasons to contend with.

Until his coming of age Sir Edwards and Anne’s estates in Kent were ably administered by his father. The Cobham estates included the magnificent castle of Sterborough or Starborough, near Lingfield, and the manors, lands and rents were all carefully accounted for, down to the last farthing by the redoubtable Edward Baynebrigge, the Burgh Bailiff there. Starborough Castle provided, not only, excellent hunting for the family and its guests, but a high standard of accommodation, much closer to London and the court, as well as important neighbours, like the Hautes at Igtham Mote, and the Duke of Buckingham at Penshurst.

On the 18th March 1496 Sir Edwards’s father died and he should have become 2nd Lord Burgh; however, he never received a formal writ or summons to attend Parliament, but this, today, does not mean that Sir Edward was not Lord Burgh and many families were overlooked. It is quite obvious that Sir Thomas did not trust his eldest son, and his will proves that they had fallen out over the marriage the father had arranged for his grandson. Sir Edward, it seems, was headstrong and rash, having made illegal entry into lands that were not his, along with other young men. Despite this Sir Edward a Borough, as he was identified, was appointed official interpreter to the Count of Vendộme, when the French came to discuss peace in 1492, and in 1494, aged 30, he took part in a magnificent joust, to mark the creation of Prince Henry as Duke of York. He greatly distinguished himself, running many courses against Charles Brandon, Earl of Suffolk, winning a gold ring with a great diamond, which was presented to him by the Kings daughter, Princess Margaret. 1508 saw the wrangle over Lord Grey of Codnor’s will sorted out (he died with no male heir), with Dunham and various other manors falling to Sir Edward, as heir male of his mother and aunt. 

Although he had served as MP for Lincoln in 1492 and had obviously proved his reliability as a member of the nobility in other ways, such as serving on various Commissions, by 1510, aged 46, he had been, disastrously, declared a lunatic and ‘distracted of mind’. There is no way of knowing what the cause of Sir Edwards’s mental breakdown was, but he was one of several members of the nobility to suffer from severe mental problems at this time (Viscount Beaumont and Lord Roos). By 14th June 1510 the symptoms had become so obvious that his illness could not be concealed and the inquisition, held at Deptford in Kent, took the family manors, lands and rents into the Kings hands; describing that ‘through divers infirmities and sicknesses had become a lunatic. He enjoys lucid intervals, but he is unable to govern himself, or take care of his manors and tenements, or of his goods and chattels’. Luckily for the Burgh’s, Sir Edwards eldest son, Thomas II, aged 21, and his wife Anne, aged 42, were able to wrest control of the estates from the new government of Henry VIII in 1515. The lucid periods where Sir Edward was well enough to take part in normal life were, indeed, frequent and between 1511 and 1514, father and son were appointed to Commissions of the Sewers (to inspect rivers and water courses) from Doddington to Tydd Gott (near Sutton Bridge), and he even appointed the Rector to Doddington, in his own name, in 1522.

 
Sir Edwards’s mental illness may have been evident much earlier than 1510, and this might help explain why he was never called, by writ, to take his seat in the lords. During the latter part of his life Sir Edward may have been kept at Starborough Castle, for his own comfort and safety; being closer to London and the Doctors and Apothecaries his wife and son would have, no doubt, engaged, in an attempt to cure him and restore his mind, or to control any pain and distress he may have been in. Lady Anne Burgh died on the 26th June 1526, two years later, on the 20th August 1528, Edward, 2nd Lord Burgh died, having never recovered from his illness. He is buried, along with his wife, at Gainsborough parish church in the family vault. His son, Sir Thomas, paid for a fine tomb in the church and commemorative stain glass for the windows, all of which was there when John Leland visited on one of his itineraries. During the re-building in the 1800’s, all of the effigies and glass were destroyed, lost for ever. The vault, however, remains closed and undisturbed.

ELIZABETH BURGH. Almost certainly the eldest daughter. Born in 1465/66, she would, like her siblings, have received a very high standard of education, suited to her ’condition’ as the daughter of a knight with money and groomed for an advantageous marriage by her father.

In early 1481, when Elizabeth was aged about 13, she was married to the 22 year old Richard FitzHugh, 7th Lord Fitzhugh of Ravensworth Castle (north of Richmond), Yorkshire. As with her older brother, Elizabeth and Richard were not allowed to live together until about 1486, when she was 18 and considered a woman. There first, and only child, George, was born in 1487.

Elizabeth, Lady FitzHugh had been married into another staunchly Yorkist family. Richards’s father, Lord Henry had supported Edward IV and had then assisted Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick to overthrow him, ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’ being his brother-in-law.

Lord FitzHugh held lands, manors and rents in; Dent, Brandesburton, Mappleton, Wodehall, Thirtleby, Ravensworth, Fremlington, Mickleton, Cotherstone, Lartington, Cleasby, Clowbeck, Manfield and Barwick-on-Tees, Yorks, Carlton-in-Lindrick, Kingston-in-Carlton, and Bothamsall, Notts, Winteringham, Lincs, tenements in York, and Little Benton in Northumberland, plus many offices and appointments. Richard, Lord FitzHugh died on the 20th November 1487. Elizabeth, now aged 20, married again, to Sir Henry Willoughby, aged 34, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire. Sir Henry was a Knight of the Body to King Henry VII and was well placed to arrange for the grant of the wardship (but not marriage) of the young George, paying 300 marks a year for the benefit and marrying Elizabeth, as his second wife, as well. Sir Henry died on the 11th May 1528 at his manor of Middleton (south of Tamworth) in Warwickshire, having married twice more. His four wives are all commemorated on his tomb in Wollaton church; Margaret, Elizabeth, Elyn and Alice. It is not know when Lady Elizabeth died or where she is buried. Her son, George, became 8th Lord FitzHugh in July 1509. He married Katherine, daughter of Lord Dacre of Gilsland but they had no children and when he died on the 28th January 1512/13, the barony fell to two female co-heirs.

 

MARGARET BURGH. Born late 1460’s - early 70’s, her exact age cannot, now, be found.

Margaret would have been educated to a high standard and, like her sister Elizabeth, groomed by her father for an advantageous wedding.

Sir Thomas Burgh had faced Sir William Tailboys of Kyme in Lincolnshire, across several battlefields and castle walls, during the early phase and sieges of The Wars of The Roses, eventually seeing the thuggish Lancastrian rebel executed in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the 20th July 1464. The Tailboys family suffered forfeiture and were sentenced under the Act of Attainder in 1461, leaving the eldest son, Robert, and his mother, Lady Elizabeth (nee Bonville), to fend alone.

Luckily Robert’s large family must have, cautiously, not wishing to offend the Yorkist government, leant their support. Sir John Tailboys (died 1467), Roberts great uncle, was a very active man, having working associations with the Roos family, Lord Cromwell, Lord Grey of Codnor, and served as High Sheriff and fought at Agincourt alongside Margaret Burgh’s grandfather. Family marriages including Roberts own to Lady Elizabeth Heron, his cousin Margaret’s to Chief Justice John Ayscough (of Spalding), and the assistance of Sir Thomas Burgh (who had been granted almost all of the family lands), all helped to get the Act of Attainder reversed, the manors, lands and honour restored in 1472 (when Robert was aged 21). Sir Robert went on to serve the Yorkists as MP for Lincoln and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1480, and re-established the Tailboys as a loyal and trusted mainstay of the Lincolnshire nobility. Sir Robert and Elizabeth had five children and it was his eldest son, George, that Margaret Burgh was earmarked to marry. Also born in the late 1460’s, George and Margaret would have probably been married, sometime, around 1478, when she was 11 years, or so old. The couple would have lived together from about 1484 but there were no recorded children and Margaret, Lady Tailboys, died, sometime after 1496 (she is recorded as living in her father’s will of 1495, the year George, as an Esquire, served as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire). Sir George Tailboys went on to marry Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Gascoigne, by whom, he had four sons and five daughters. He died at Bullington, near Wragby, Lincolnshire, on 21st September 1538, and is buried there. Lady Margaret’s place of burial is not known, perhaps at Bullington as well?