Thomas Bishop (MP)

Thomas Bishop (by 1506–1560) was an English politician who was a Member of the Parliament (MP) for Gatton in 1542.[1]

Nothing is known of Bishop before 1527, by which time he was a clerk to Sir William Shelley, recorder of London.[1] Admitted to the Inner Temple, by 1528 he was prothonotary to the sheriff's court in London.[1] In 1533 he was granted the lease of the rectory of Henfield, Sussex by Robert Sherborne, bishop of Chichester for whom he acted as lawyer.[2] He was elected to parliament in 1542 for Gatton, Surrey through the patronage of Sir William's daughter Elizabeth, who had married Robert Copley of Gatton.[3]

He married Elizabeth, illegitimate daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edward Belknap (d. 1521), Shelley's brother-in-law, and widow of Walter Scott[4] (d. 1550) of Stapleford Tawney and Woolston, Essex.[5] by whom she had issue.[6] He was the father of Sir Thomas Bishopp, 1st Baronet.[7]

There is a memorial to him in Henfield church.[8]

  1. ^ a b c "History of Parliament, Members 1509-58:Thomas Bishop of Henfield, Sussex". Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  2. ^ "VCH Sussex, vol. 6, pt 3:Henfield Manors and other estates". Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  3. ^ "History of Parliament, Constituencies 1509-58: Gatton". Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  4. ^ The visitations of the county of Sussex. Vol. 53. The Harleian Society. 1905. p. 74.
  5. ^ "A History of the County of Essex 4: Chigwell Manors". Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  6. ^ Metcalfe, Walter C. (1878). The visitations of Essex. Vol. 1. p. 287.
  7. ^ "History of Parliament, Members 1604-29: Sir Thomas Bishop of Parham, Sussex". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  8. ^ "VCH Sussex, vol. 6, pt 3:Henfield Church". Retrieved 20 December 2023.