Sheriff of Cornwall
Sir Thomas Grenville II, K.B., (c. 1453 – c. 1513), lord of the manors of Stowe in Kilkhampton, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1481 and 1486. During the Wars of the Roses, he was a Lancastrian supporter who had taken part in the conspiracy against Richard III, organised by the Duke of Buckingham. On the accession of King Henry VII (1485–1509) to the throne, Sir Thomas was appointed one of the Esquires of the Body to Henry VII. On 14 November 1501 upon the marriage of Prince Arthur to Katherine of Aragon, he was created a Knight of the Bath. He served on the Commission of the Peace for Devon from 1510 to his death in circa 1513.
Origins.
He was the son and heir of Sir Thomas Grenville I ( born by 21 January 1432 - died c. 1483), by his second wife Elizabeth Gorges, daughter of Sir Theobald Gorges, K.B., lord of Wraxall, Somerset, and Braunton Gorges, co. Devon by his wife, Jane Hankford.
Marriages and children.
Grenville married twice. His first wife was Isabel Gilbert, daughter of Sir Otes Gilbert of Compton Castle by his wife Elizabeth Hill, daughter of Robert Hill, Esq., of Shilston. By Isabel Gilbert, Grenville had two sons and six daughters:
Grenville's second wife was the widow of a certain "Hill de Taunton". By her he had two further children: John, who was appointed by his father rector of Kilkhampton in 1524, in which office he remained until 1580; and Jane.
Residences.
Bideford was the residence of the Grenville family from shortly after the Norman Conquest and Stowe in Cornwall was also a seat. Grenville's descendants made Stowe their chief seat, whilst retaining ownership of Bideford until the family died out in the senior male line.
Monument in Bideford.
A monument with recumbent effigy on a chest tomb exists of Sir Thomas Grenville in the Church of St Mary, Bideford. Inscribed on the Tudor arch above is the following Latin text:
"Hic jacet Thomas Graynfyld miles patron(us) (huius) eccle(siae) q(ui) obiit XVIII die me(n)sis Marcii A(nno) D(omini) MCCCCCXIII cui(us) a(n)i(ma)e p(ro)piciet(ur) D(eus) Amen" ("Here lies Thomas Grenville, knight, patron of this church who died on the 18th day of March in the Year of Our Lord 1513, to whose soul may God look on with favour Amen") His recumbent effigy is shown fully armed in a suit of Almain rivets and his feet rest on a dog. His hair is of chin-length and his hands are clasped in prayer holding a ball shaped object, his heart according to Roger Granville, Rector of Bideford and the family's historian, who described the monument in detail in 1895.
There are several heraldic escutcheons on the monument displaying the arms of Grenville: "Gules, three clarions or". The monument is an important early source for use in deciphering the form of these mysterious and unexplained charges that are still borne by distant relatives, Baron Grenfell, and are borne in the 3rd quarter by Earl Granville.
References.
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