| Notes |
- Between 1357 and 1393 Sir Thomas represented either Wiltshire, Somerset, or sometimes both, in Parliament. As Speaker between 1357 and 1363 he was promoted to custody of the Great Seal. At the peiory of Bonnehommes at Edington in 1365 he founded a obit for himself, his first wife, his parents and uncle. In 1369 he purchased the estates of Wellow and Farleigh Montford, since called Farleigh Hungerford, from Lord Berghersh for 1100 marks. This became the chief residence of his descendents. He was appointed in 1360 by Bishop Wyville, of Salisbury Cathedral, as bailiff of the episcopal manors of Potterne and Ramsbury, with the right to appoint a deputy. The office carried with it an annual livery of an esquire's robe and the customary fee of 20 marks. He retained this appointment until April 1370 when he surrendered it to take the appointment of Bishop's Bailiff of the City of Salisbury and of the Manors of Milford and Woodford at an annual fee of £10. By October he was Constable of Marlborough Castle. He was described in Norman French as 'Merchaunt de Salisburi'.
In 1360 he was appointed to head a commission to survey the defects in the structure of Dover Castle. In 1383 he fortified the manor house at Farleigh Montford into a castle without first obtaining the King's permission. Because he was in favour he was only fined one mark. It appears he was Steward of the Lands of the See of Winchester during the later years of the episcopate of William of Edington, who was one of the great professional royal administrators. On the death of Bishop Edington, the executors, of which Sir Thomas was one, were given the Bishopric of Winchester and all of the temporalities of the see during the vacancy for the sum of £200 each per month. Two months later William of Wickham was elected to the see. Due to his earlier connection with Lord Berghersh, whose niece was the Countess of Salisbuty, married to William Montacute the second Earl, he came into the service of the Earl as steward of the Earl's lands for an annual fee of 20 marks plus expenses. He was knighted some time before 1377. He was closely associated with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and acted for some time as steward to his household, and also of the Duchy of Lancaster south of the river Trent. By 1377 he had purchased the three manors of Heytesbury. It is commonly thought that he was the first Speaker of Parliament. This is not true; in April 1376 Peter de la Mare, Steward of teh Earl of March, was named Speaker. The death of the Black Prince in June 1376 weakened the 'Good Parliament' which was shortly dissolved and de la Mare was imprisoned. John of Gaunt was in the ascendancy and his steward, Thomas Hungerford, was elected as Speaker in january 1377 until the death of Edward III on June 21st 1377. In 1380 he was confirmed in the forestership of Selwood. In 1382 cnfirmed in the estates of Wellow, Farleigh Montford and Heytesbury. He then purchased Warminster, West Knoyle, Codford, North Tidworth, Mildenhall, Marlborough, Down Ampney and Ashley.
In about 1384 he aroused the suspicion of Richard II who attached him, but after obtaining a pardon he was confirmed in his free warrant of Farleigh. He died at Farleigh on December 8th 1898 and was buried in the chapel of the castle. He had ordered a chantry at Longleat Priory near his residence at Haytesbury. To support this he enfeoffed North Tidworth Manor.
- Farleigh Hungerford is a small hamlet some eight miles south east of the historic city of Bath. Today, its only feature is the ruins of the medieval castle which are open to the public and well worth a visit.
It is known that a manor house existed on the site of the present Castle ruins, the property being bestowed by King William on one of his followers, Roger de Curcelle upon whose death it reverted to the Crown. William Rufus subsequently granted it to the Montfort family and from them it passed to Bartholomew de Bunghersh in the early years of the reign of Edward 111. The grand-daughter of that family eventually sold it in 1370 to Sir Thomas Hungerford of New Sarum, Steward to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
Once Sir Thomas Hungerford became established at the Manor House the village became known as Farley Hungerford instead of Farley Montfort. The names "Farley" and "Rowley" are believed to have been derived from "Fair Lay" and "Rough Lay", i.e. "fair land" and "rough land". Whether this was so no-one knows but what is known is that Farley was in the Diocese of Bath and Wells whereas Rowley was in the Diocese of Sarum and from this division certain important matters had to be resolved.
Sir Thomas was an able lawyer who was Mayor Salisbury Bailiff of the Bishopric of Sarum, King's Escheator for the County of Wilts and, finally, first Speaker of the House of Commons. The office of King's Escheator was a valuable one because whenever a Baron who was a substantial landowner died without issue his lands reverted to the Crown and were said to Escheat to the Monarch as at that time all land was in the hands of the Crown. Sir Thomas' 5 job was to take responsibility for this procedure and in the process he probably acquired some of his estate as his lands extended over large portions of West Wilts and North Somerset.
Sir Thomas fortified his manor house without the king's consent but was fortunate to receive a royal pardon in 1377 and eventually died in 1398. He was succeeded by his son Sir Walter Hungerford.
- HUNGERFORD, SIR THOMAS (d. 1398), speaker of the House of Commons, was son of Walter de Hungerford of Heytesbury, Wiltshire, by Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Adam Fitz-John of Cherill in the same county. The Hungerfords were seated in Wiltshire in the twelfth century, and Thomas's father sat for the county in the parliaments of 1331-2, 1333-4, and 1336. An uncle, Robert, sat for Wiltshire in the parliament of 1316, was a commissioner to inquire into the possessions of the Despensers after their attainder in 1328, and gave much land to the hospital at Calne in memory of his first wife, Joan, to the church of Hungerford, Wiltshire, and to other religious foundations. He was buried in 1355 in Hungerford Church, where an elaborate monument long existed above his grave. An inscription to his memory is still extant in the church. His second wife was Geva, widow of Adam de Stokke, but he left no issue (cf. Gough, Sepulchral Monuments, i. 107, plate xxxviii; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. viii. 464, ix. 49, 165, 293).
Thomas was himself returned for Wiltshire in April 1357, and was re-elected for the same constituency in 1360, 1362, January 1376-7, to the two parliaments of 1380, in 1383, 1384, 1386, January 1389-90, and in January 1392-3. He sat for the county of Somerset in 1378, 1382, 1388, and 1390. He was returned for both constituencies in 1384 and January 1389-90. He was knighted before 1377. He was closely associated with John of Gaunt, and acted for some time as steward of Gaunt's household. Owing to Gaunt's influence, he was chosen in January 1376-7, in the last of Edward III's parliaments, to act as speaker (Stubbs, Constit. Hist. 1883, ii. 456). According to the rolls of parliament (ii. 374) Hungerford 'avait les paroles pur les communes d'Angleterre en cet parliament.' He is thus the first person formally mentioned in the rolls of parliament as holding the office of speaker. Sir Peter de la Mare [q.v.] preceded him in the post, without the title, in the Good parliament of 1376 (cf. Stubbs, iii. 453). In 1380 Hungerford was confirmed in the forestership of Selwood. In 1369 he purchased of Lord Burghersh the manor of Farleigh-Montfort (since called Farleigh-Hungerford, and the chief residence of his descendants), and in 1383 obtained permission to convert the manorhouse into a castle. About 1384 he aroused the suspicion of Richard II, who attached him, but he obtained a pardon and confirmation of his free warren of Farleigh. Hungerford died at Farleigh on 3 Dec. 1398, and was buried in the chapel of the castle (Leland, Itin. ed. Hearne, ii. 31), where a monument was erected to his memory, and a portrait placed in a stained-glass window. The latter is engraved in Hoare's 'Mod. Wiltshire, Heytesbury Hundred,' p.90. He married, first, Eleanor, daughter and heiress of Sir John Strug of Heytesbury, and, secondly, Joan, heiress of Sir Edmund Hussey of Holbrook. By his second wife, who died on 1 March 1412, he was father of Walter, lord Hungerford (d. 1449) [q.v.], and three sons who predeceased him.
[Dugdale's Baronage; Collinson's Somerset, iii. 353; Manning's Lives of the Speakers; Returns of Members of Parliament; Hoare's Hungerfordiana, privately printed, 1823; Canon Jackson's Guide to Farleigh-Hungerford, 1853.]
- Upwardly mobile Thomas Hungerford, the first Speaker of the House of Commons, bought the Manor House at Farleigh on the Somerset/Wiltshire border in 1370 and soon set about turning it into a castle.
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Dutton, Berrett & Hungerford Twigs
Est 1330 - 1398 (68 years)
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