Lord Burgh’s Enemies  

From his appointment as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in March 1461 by the new King Edward IV to June 1471 Sir Thomas Burgh had to work very hard to keep his manors, lands, offices and his head. Although he had the Kings support and friendship, and the support of his household and cousin, Lord Grey, he could not feel secure until all threats had been removed from his path, chosen or not, to the control of the Lincolnshire region and high position at court.

Starting off in the service of the great Duke of Buckingham in the 1450’s and having a step-father of the high calibre of Sir William Lucy must have given Sir Thomas a brilliant grounding for the years of loyal royal service to follow. High and trusted position at court brought the wrath of the snubbed Earl of Warwick in 1468-69 and both Burgh and his life long friend Montgomery were lucky not to suffer the same fate as the Earl of Pembroke, William Herbert.  

Between 1461 and 1464 however, Sir Thomas had his hands full conveying supplies to the Yorkist siege army in Northumberland where the manors he owned came in very handy for accommodation and supplies. His marriage to Margaret Roos, sister of the rebel Lord Roos brought its own problems, whether it was for love or convenience, it brought association with, not only the disgraced Roos family but also with the rebel Duke of Somersets as well, the dowager Duchess being Margarets mother.

As the Lancastrian campaign unravelled in Northumbria so Sir Thomas Burgh’s problems became smaller; after the battle of Hexham in 1464 the rebel step-brother of Margaret, the Duke of Somerset, was beheaded at Hexham and in the following weeks he was swiftly followed to the block by Lord Hungerford, Margarets step-son in law, Lord Roos, Margarets elder brother and by Sir William Tailboys, the perpetual thorn in the side of every Lincolnshire Sheriff since the 1450’s and enemy of virtually every God fearing person in the County, and ex Treasurer to Henry VI.  

The executions took place at the Sandhill in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a short walk from the castle, where the condemned were held captive, a place that, now, belies its awful use during the Wars of The Roses. In four strokes of the axe Sir Thomas Burgh had seen his position in the County strengthened and his position at court, although murky and mysterious, enhanced in the Kings eyes and those of the senior officers.

But across the open and bloodied ground of the Sandhill there was one man who coveted Burgh’s position, a man who’s family had been one of Lincolnshire’s leading lights and Richard, Lord Willoughby was not about to allow a jumped up squire like Burgh steal his birthright…………………..