Nicholas Wadham (d. 1542)

Arms of Wadham: Gules, a chevron between three roses argent

Sir Nicholas I Wadham (by 1472-1542), of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton in Somerset and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon, was MP for Somerset in 1529.^[1] He was Sheriff of Devon in 1501-2 and 1514–15, Sheriff of Somerset and Sheriff of Dorset in 1498-99 and 1534–35, and Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1516-17. He was Captain of the Isle of Wight^[2] 1509-1520^[1] with residence at Carisbrooke Castle. By 1503 he was appointed an Esquire of the Body to King Henry VII (1485-1509) and was knighted in 1504.^[1] He was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.^[1]

Origins

He was born the eldest son and heir of Sir John Wadham (d.1502) of Merryfield and Edge, by his wife Elizabeth Stucley, a daughter of Sir Hugh Stucley (1496-1559)^[3] of Affeton, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1545.

Early ancestry

In about 1377 the estate of Edge was acquired by the de Wadham family, which originated at the manor of Wadham in the parish of Knowstone,^[4] in North Devon. Wadeham was a manor recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as held in-chief from King William the Conqueror by the Saxon thane Ulf, who had held it since before the Norman Conquest of 1066.^[5] Such continuing holdings by Saxons after the Conquest are very rare, and Ulf in 1086 is still described as one of "The King's Thanes", so clearly was serving the new Norman king satisfactorily. Samuel Lysons (1822) suggested that the de Wadham family may have been direct descendants of Ulf.^[6] The family acquired the estate of Merryfield in the 15th century on the marriage of Sir John III Wadham to Elizabeth Popham, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Stephen Popham (c.1386-1444)^[7] of Popham, Hampshire, five times MP for Hampshire. The Wadhams held Edge for at least nine generations, and Merryfield for five, until on the death of Nicholas Wadham (1531/2-1609), founder of Wadham College, Oxford, these estates and others passed to his heirs, who included his nephew a member of the Wyndham family of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset.

Marriages & progeny

He married four times:

First wife

Firstly to Joan Hill, the daughter of Robert Hill of Halsway, Somerset. By Joan Hill he had progeny including:

• John Wadham (d.1578), son and heir, of Edge and Merryfield, father of Nicholas II Wadham (d.1609), co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford, the last in the male line of the Wadhams of Edge and Merryfield.
• Laurence Wadham, who married Margaret Hody, died without progeny
• Giles Wadham
• Andrew Wadham
• Mary Wadham, wife of Sir Richard Chudleigh.^[8]
• Elizabeth Wadham, wife of Sir Edward Baumfilde (d.1528) of Poltimore, Devon^[9]

Second wife

Arms of Seymour: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or

Secondly to Margaret Seymour, a daughter of John Seymour (d.1491) of Wulfhall, Wiltshire, by his wife Elizabeth Darrell, a daughter of Sir John (or George) Darrell (d.c. 1474), of Littlecote, Wiltshire by his wife Margaret Stourton (born c. 1433), a daughter of John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton by his wife Margery or Marjory Wadham.^[10][11] (Sir Nicholas I Wadham's grandmother was Elizabeth Popham, heiress of Merryfield, whose father Sir Stephen Popham (d.1444), MP, was descended from co-heirs of Laurence St Martin (d.1318) of Littlecote and West Dean, Wiltshire;^[12] The other co-heir of Laurence St Martin was the Calston family, of whom Sir Thomas Calston (d.1418), MP, gave Littlecote to his daughter Elizabeth Calston on her marriage in 1415 to William Darell, MP^[13]). Margaret Seymour was thus the aunt of Queen Jane Seymour.^[14] She probably died at Carisbrooke Castle, her husband's seat as Captain of the Isle of Wight. By Nicholas Wadham she had a son Nicholas Wadham, who died an infant and whose chrysom^[15] small monumental brass survives in Ilton Church, together with a brass heraldic escutcheon showing the arms of Wadham impaling Seymour (Gules, a pair of wings conjoined in lure or).

Monument to 2nd wife

Monument to Margaret Seymour, St Mary the Virgin Church, Carisbrooke

1888 drawing of monument to Margaret Seymour, St Mary the Virgin Church, Carisbrooke

Margaret Seymour's monument and tomb, dated circa 1520, survives in St Mary the Virgin Church, Carisbrooke,^[16] Isle of Wight, and is decorated with an effigy of herself and of six infirm persons, in memory of her having founded a hospital for the infirm. Her monument in Carisbrooke Church was described thus by Rogers (1888):^[17]

It is a canopied monument, with high tomb, in the north wall of the nave, of large size, and late Perpendicular character, with embattled cornice and string-course of vine tracery, having in the centre an angel holding a shield with the sacred monogram. The canopy is cusped and pierced, groined within, and a large double rose in the centre, the ends buttressed, panelled, and embattled. In the centre of the Purbeck marble table is a lady kneeling on a cushion, with pedimental head-dress, embroidered loose sleeves and cuffs, waist-band with long ends fringed, her hands raised in prayer. But the most interesting feature is the reredos at the back of the tomb under the canopy. On each side of the lady are three panels containing figures in alto-relievo, representing cripples and impotent folk, toward whom tradition assigns her to have been most charitable and beneficent. On her right is a man with his feet turned awry, leaning on a crutch, a woman and a man, apparently an imbecile. On the left, a woman with one hand holding, probably, a medicament, and the other hanging helplessly; and two men, one with his legs twisted, and the other on a crutch, and his legs bandaged. Over the lady is a shield, Wadham quartering Chiselden (sic) (for Margaret Chiseldon of Holcombe Rogus, Devon, Nicholas I Wadham's great-grandmother), Popham, and Reade (of Pole-Antony, Tiverton, an heiress of Popham^[18]), impaling Seymour, two wings in lure dependant. The ledger line inscription has disappeared. There are roses in the spandrels; below the table are apparently enriched panels, but they are hidden by the seats".

Monument to infant son

Monumental brass to Nicholas Wadham (1508-1508) infant son of Sir Nicholas I Wadham (d.1542) of Merryfield, by his 2nd wife Margaret Seymour. Ilton Church

A small monumental brass survives in Ilton Church of Nicholas Wadham (1508-1508) infant son of Sir Nicholas I Wadham (d.1542) of Merryfield, Ilton, by his 2nd wife Margaret Seymour. It is now in three parts. Above an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes (thus called a "chrysom brass") is an escutcheon showing the arms of Wadham impaling Seymour (Gules, a pair of wings conjoined in lure or). An inscription on a separate plate of brass reads thus:

"Pray for the soule of Nycholas Wadh(a)m son to Sir Nycholas Wadh(a)m knygtt & capten of the Ile of Wyght whyche dep(ar)ted owte of this worlde the VIII day of December in the yere of our Lorde M VC VIII on whos soule J(es)HU(s) have marci amen".

The lowest inscribed plate relates to Sir Nicholas's 4th wife Jane Lyte (see below).

Third wife

Thirdly to Isabel Baynham, daughter of Thomas Baynham of Clearwell, Gloucestershire and widow of Sir Giles Brydges of Coberley, Gloucestershire.

Fourth wife

Fourthly to Joan Lyte, daughter of Richard Lyte and widow of William Walton, by the latter of whom she had five sons and two daughters. Half of a small monumental brass plate survives in Ilton Church inscribed as follows (the missing half inscribed in stone) (see image above):

"Here lyethe dame Joane Wadame late the wife of Sr Nycholas Wadame knight which dame Jane was doughter to Richard Lyte esquire who dyed the XX day Augustii 1557".^[19]

Sources

• Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p. 141, pedigree of Wadham of Egge, Branscombe
• Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, biography of Wadham, Sir John, Knight, (died 1412), pp. 748–752
• Stevens, Hariet Weeks Wadhams, Wadhams (sic) Genealogy, Preceded by a Sketch of the Wadham Family of England, New York, 1913
• Rogers, William Henry Hamilton, Memorials of the West, Historical and Descriptive, Collected on the Borderland of Somerset, Dorset and Devon, Exeter, 1888, pp.147-173, The Founder and Foundress of Wadham
• Virgoe, Roger, Biography of Wadham, Sir Nicholas (by 1472-1542), of Merrifield, nr. Ilton, Som., Published in The History of Parliament: House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982

References