Thomas Umfraville

Sir Thomas Umfraville (c1362-1391) was an English landowner, soldier, administrator, diplomat, and politician who sat in the Parliament of England as member for Northumberland in 1388 and 1390 and also served as High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1388. Origins Born about 1362, he was the son and heir of Thomas Umfraville (c1320-1387), a member of the Umfraville family that had been influential on the northern border of England and also in Scotland since about 1120. His grandfather was Robert Umfraville, 3rd Earl of Angus, and his grandmother, the earl's second wife, was named Eleanor, possibly Eleanor Lumley. His mother was Joan Roddam, daughter of Adam Roddam. In 1364 his father's half-brother Gilbert Umfraville, 4th Earl of Angus, had made his father one of his two heirs if he died without surviving children or grandchildren. This arrangement was confirmed in 1378 after Gilbert's only son died without children, with the deed naming both Thomas the father and Thomas the son, then aged about 16. When the Earl died in 1381, Thomas the father inherited extensive estates: in County Durham, the manors of Edmondsley and Farnacres together with holdings in Gateshead and Ravensworth, the manor of Wheatley, the village of Holmside, and other land in the environs of Durham; in Nothumberland, the manors of Harbottle and Otterburn and other properties in and around the villages of Kirkwhelpington and Alwinton; in Yorkshire, the manor of Hessle. Part of this inheritance remained in the hands of the Earl's widow Maud, but she became a valuable connection when in 1383 she married Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. When Thomas the father died in May 1387, the son became one of northern England's prominent landowners. Career In 1387 he was knighted and embarked on a public career, being chosen as a commissioner of gaol delivery for Newcastle-upon-Tyne in February and sitting on a royal commission to investigate rival claims to the manor of Eslington at Whittingham in July. In the English Parliament of 1388, convened in February, he was elected for one of the two county seats. That year he was on the Northumberland commission of array in both June and August and was chosen as county sheriff in December. During parliamentary sittings, he must have been party to the attacks on supporters of King Richard II and to the trials for treason of some of the King's closest associates.