THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF ENGLAND
Thomas Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, and his Descendants.
THOMAS PLANTAGENET, born at Woodstock, 7th January, 1355, and thence surnamed “of Woodstock,” was youngest son of King Edward III. He m. the Lady Alianore de Bohun, one of the daughters and coheirs of Humphrey, last Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton; and in consideration of that alliance was shortly afterwards made Constable of England (a dignity enjoyed for nearly two centuries by the Bohuns).
At the coronation of his nephew, King Richard II., the prince was advanced to the EARLDOM OF BUCKINGHAM, with a grant of a thousand marks per annum, to be paid out of the exchequer, until provision of so much value should be made otherwise for him, and twenty pounds a year out of the issues of the county, whence he derived his title. From this period, he was constantly employed as a commander in foreign wars, until the 9th of the same reign, when, for his eminent services, he was created by patent, dated 12th November, 1385, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. In that interim, he bad been likewise sent into Essex, at the head of a large force, to suppress the insurrection of Jack Straw. The ceremony of his creation, as Duke of Gloucester, was performed at Hoselow Lodge, in Tividale, by girding with a sword, and putting a cap with a circle of gold, upon the prince’s head; the parliament being then sitting at London, and assenting thereto. In two years afterwards, he was constituted JUSTICE OF CHESTER, but he subsequently forfeited the favour of the king, by his opposition to Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, and his coalition with the lords who assembled in arms, at Haringey Park, to put an end to the power of that celebrated minion. After the disgrace and banishment of De Vere, the Duke of Gloucester obtained some immunities from the crown, but the king never pardoned the course he had pursued in that affair, and eventually it cost the duke his life. The death of the Duke of Gloucester occurred in 1397. He left issue,
HUMPHREY PLANTAGENET, his heir.
Anne Plantagenet, m. first, to Thomas, Earl of Stafford, by whom she had no issue; and secondly, by virtue of the king’s especial licence, (22nd Richard II.,) to the said Thomas’s brother, Edmund, Earl of Stafford, by whom she had a son,
Humphrey, created Duke of Buckingham, from whom descends George William LORD STAFFORD, who is entitled to quarter the Royal Arms.
Her ladyship m. thirdly, William Bourchier, Earl of Eu, in Normandy, and had by him a son Henry, Earl of Ewe and Essex, from whom descend, entitled to quarter the Royal Arms,
1. The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos; 2. The Marquess Townshend; 3. The Marquess of Hastings; 4. Earl Ferrers; 5. Evelyn John Shirley, Esq., of Eatington; 6. Lord Hatherton; 7. Sir Robert Burdett, Bart.; 8. Viscount Hereford; 9. Sir Charles Knightley, Bart., of Fawsley: 10. Troth, wife of the Rev. Richard Jenkyns, D. D., Master of Baliol College, Oxford; II. Sir Bourchier Wrey, Bart.; 12. John Bruton, Esq.; 13. Wrey Chichester Bruton, Esq.; 14. George Barnard Knighton Drake, Esq.; 15. Lord Berners; and 16. the families of Strangwayes, Knyvett,* &c. &c.;
Joane, was designed to be the wife of Gilbert, Lord Talbot, but died unmarried.
Isabel, a nun.
The duke’s son,
HUMPHREY PLANTAGENET, who was styled Earl of Buckingham, after the murder of his father, was conveyed to Ireland, by King Richard, and imprisoned in the Castle of Trim, where he remained until the accession of Henry IV., who purposed restoring him to all the honours, but he died upon his return to England, at Chester, in 1399.
Note.—Thomas of Woodstock, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, was summoned to parliament in 1385, as Duke of Aumarle, but never afterwards by that title, nor did his son, Humphrey, ever assume the dignity.
Among the descendants of the Knyvetts, are William Nicholson, of Manchester; John Penny, Sadler, of London; William John Penny; Thomas Penny, Shoemaker, of Brompton; all entitled to the Royal Arms.