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Birth:          ABT 1460 Bayford, Hertfordshire, England
Death:          7 Apr 1544 prob Bayford, Hertfordshire, England

Notes
ancestry.com
see extract of will at 
www.uftree.com/UFT/WebPages/Tracy_Ashley_Crocker/CROCKER
3340. Thomas18 Knighton was born in Bayford, County Hertfordshire, England circa 
1472.(34118) Thomas died April 1544 in Bayford, County Hertfordshire, England, at 71 
years of age.(34119) 

He married four times. He married NN---- NN----. NN---- became the mother of Anne 
Knighton.(34120) NN---- became the mother of Elizabeth Knighton.(34121) NN---- 
became the mother of Thomasine
Knighton.(34122) He married Anne Underhill circa 1490.(34123) Anne was born circa 
1470 in Little Bradley, county Essex, England.(34124) Anne was the daughter of 
Thomas Underhill and Thomasine Caldebeck.
Anne died circa 1506. Anne became the mother of Thomas Knighton. Anne became 
the mother of Joan Knighton circa 1494 in Bayford, County Hertfordshire, England.
(34125) Anne became the mother of
John Knighton circa 1500.(34126) He married Joan (gascoigne) Collope 1506.(34127) 
Her body was interred 24 November 1539 in Bayford, County Hertfordshire, England.
(34128) He married Margery NN----
28 July 1540 in Bayford, County Hertfordshire, England.(34129) Margery died 16 
November 1551 in Hatfield Peverel, co. Essex, England.(34130) 

Thomas became the father of Thomas Knighton. Thomas became the father of Anne 
Knighton.(34131) Thomas became the father of Elizabeth Knighton.(34132) Thomas 
became the father of Thomasine
Knighton.(34133) Thomas became the father of Joan Knighton circa 1494 in Bayford, 
County Hertfordshire, England.(34134) Thomas became the father of John Knighton 
circa 1500.(34135) 

"The Will of Thomas Knyghton: 

of Bayford, co. Hertford, Esq., was dated 3 February 1544 (35 Henry VIII), in 
"prosperous health of body" even though he died only three months later. He stated 
that "concernynge my landes I neade nat
here greatlie reherse seynge that I longe afore this tyme the same after my decease 
haty gevyn them unto my yongest sonne John Knyghton go the fre and copie beinge in 
the counties of herts and Essex...."
"my wretchede bodye I will the same to be buryed in Seynt Annys Chapell in [the] 
parish churche of Bayforde...betwyxe my fathers grave and my wiffes pewe...." To my 
daughter Anne, now wife of Will[iam]
Mason 640 on "the day of my yeretide." If she die, 10 marks to go to the said William 
Mason. The said Will and Anne to have their meat and drink as they now do, and their 
chamber. To my daughter
Elizabeth, now John "Alleynys" wife, 65, a featherbed, etc. to "Tomyson a nother of 
my doughters" 65 (to go to Elizabeth if Thomasine die). To Richard Haggere my clerk 
20s. To the church of Bayforde 2
forthes [?] prie, 13s., 4d, 20s. toward buying a new vestment. To every of my 
tenements' [?] servants taking wages 12d., and to every of my other servants not 
taking wages 8d. To every poor household
within the said town 4d. and a cheese of 4d. and a loaf of bread of 1d. To the church 
wardens of All Hallows, Hertford, 5s. Unto Little Barkynfield 3s 4d. Residue, except 
best carpet, which I give John my
son, to Margery my wife and John Knyghton my son. Said John Knyghton to be sole 
executor. Said wife to have "all the plate that my lady Maryyss grace hath given to her 
and me synce the tyme of our
maryage savynge one of the cuppys which hir grace gave to my wiff the day of our 
mariage...." To her the "cheyne" which I bought of "Mastris Clarenoyes" and a little 
ring her brother gave her. Residue of
rings to be divided between my wife and said son. "And as to my stuffe of housholde 
will they be sett in to two sundrie chamberes eqallie to be devidede by ij or iij honeste 
persons and my sade stuff so
devidede the namys of the said chambers to be put in to ij billetts [ ? ] in waxe and to 
be put in to an hatte or cappe my said wiff to take the one and the said John the other 
and so to take there fortune...." All
the hangings on the walls to remain to the use of John. To John Alleyne my son-in-law 
my tawny furred gown. To Will Mason my gown with a cap furred with "foynys." "And 
in consideracion that my said
wiff and my said sonne evary of them shall have a convenyant porcion betwyxe 
wherfor I will and in gods behalfe charge them that ther be no veriance betwyxe 
them." To Margerie my wife a piece of coined
gold the value of 22s 6d and a piece of like value to John Knyghton "callede as I 
suppose portageues." My mass book, my chalice of silver of gilt, my pax of silver and 
my two vestments to remain in my
chapel "in the same which my late wiff gave the same to the same intente." To Agnes 
Hoggyn and Agnes Fallar, meat, drink, and lodging for life. Proved 22 April 1544. 
(Cambridgeshire Record Office,
Huntington, ref.: Will T. Knighton 1544. [the record office also gave the citation as 
"Vol. 7 p.102; clearly from the records of the commissary court of the Bishop of 
Lincoln and of the Archdeaconry of
Huntingdon.] 

Two copies of the Inquisition post mortem on Thomas Knighton survive, each in poor 
condition. The following abstracts were made by Peter Wilson Coldham: 

[Right hand portion of parchment and bottom illegible] I.P.M. on Thomas Knyghton of 
Bayford, Herts., Esq., dated 10 Jun 36 Henry VIII [1544]. The deceased had property 
in Bayford by deed of 8 May
21 Henry VII [1506], to which the parties were ---- of Bedford, Esq., William Macehall, 
John Burgoyn, William G[ascoyne], Thomas Blake, William Bensted, and ---- Bardolff, 
which property was to
the use of Johane Collope, widow, sister of the said William Gascon [sic], and to the 
heirs of her body by the said Thomas Knyghton. ---- ---- ----- to the use of John 
Knyghton, son of the same. By deed
of 4 February 27 Henry VII ----- ----- ----- was extinct after the death of the said Thomas 
Knyghton, son of the said John Knyghton. ---- ----- ----- the said John Knyghton died 
without heirs of his
body. A holding in Bayford of 4 acres held by Thomas Knyghton and Margerie his wife 
and to the heirs of her body [by deed of?] 10 May 31 Henry VIII [1539]. Reference to 
property held of Waltham
Abbey, Essex. Thomas Knyghton died on 7 April last ---- ---- ---- of the aforesaid John 
Knyghton and Margerie Knyghton ---- ---- and he is in full life, and that Francis 
Knyghton is the next blood kin
and heir, i.e., son of Thomas Knyghton the younger, son and heir while he lived of the 
said Thomas Knyghton. (PRO C142/70/11) 

[copy of the above with large "bald" patches] By deed of 21 [?] Henry VII between 
William Gascoyne of Cardington, Beds., gent., William Marchall, John Burgoyn, 
Thomas Blake, William Bensted,
Edmund Bardolf, tenements and land in Bayford were devised to the user of Joan 
Collope, widow, sister of the said William Gascoyne and her male heirs on the body of 
Thomas Knyghton, and after their
deaths to the use of John Knyghton, younger son of the said Thomas Knyghton, ---- 
Manor of Breckindon. ---- That Thomas Knyghton, who was son and heir of the said 
Thomas Knyghton, ---- aged
10 years and more. (pro e150/318/4) 

[Very faded] I.P.M. on Margery Allen, taken at Ware, Herts, on [--] July 4 Elizabeth 
[1652]. Margerie Allen, late wife of John Allen of Hatford Peverell, Essex, gent., and 
former wife of Thomas
Knyghton of Bayford, Herts., [held] ---- church of All Saints, Herford, of the Monastery 
of ----; and of the Manor of Brickingdon [in] Stansted, Hoddesdon, Ware, Amwell, 
Hertford, and Hertford Heath.
She died at Hatfield on 16 November 5 Edward VI [1551]. The heir is Andrew Baynton, 
gent., son and heir of Edward Baynton, gent., deceased, and at the time of the 
iNquisition was aged 39 and more.
(PRO C142/133/100) 

I.P.M. on Andrew Baynton, gent., taken at Hertford on 13 October 11 Elizabeth 
[1569]. Margery Allen, late wife of John Allen of Hatfield Peverell, Essex, Esq., and 
former wife of Thomas Knyghton of
Bayford, was seized for the rectory of the church of All Saints, Hertford, held of the 
Manor of Waltham All Saints, Essex and of the tenements in the parish of All Saints 
and the hamlet of Breckindon, Herts.,
late of the Monastery of Waltham, and lands in Breckindon, Stansted, Hodlesdon, 
Ware, Amwell, Hertford, and Hertford Heath. She was seized also of the Manor of 
Brickendon [sic] alias Brickendon Bury
and fines were levied thereon on Easter Day 15 Henry VIII [27 March 1524 (this date 
must be wrong, since Thomas Knighton's widow Joan could not have married John 
Allen until after 7 april 1544.)] at
Westminster in Christopher Allen and Robert Eggersey, plaintiffs, v. John Allen and 
Margery his wife deforciants. Being so seized, the said Margery Allen died at Hatfield 
Peverell on 16 November 5
Elizabeth [sic--the I.P.M. on Margery Allen (above) says 5 Edward VI, which is 
presumably correct, since her Inquisition was taken in 4 Elizabeth] upon which the 
Rectory and Manor descended to her next
heir Andrew Baynton, i.e., the son and heir of Edward Baynton who was the brother 
and next of kin of the said Margery. The said Andrew Baynton died on 7 July [5?] 
Elizabeth aged 29 and more and in
the same month the Andrew Baynton named in this Inquisition came before the Court 
of Wards to petition for the said lands but died on 21 February 6 Elizabeth [1564], 
upon which the lands should have
descended to Anne Baynton, daughter and next heir of the said Andrew Baynton, who 
was aged 12 and more 23 September 8 Elizabeth [1566]. (PRO C142/157/81) 

In his will, Thomas Knighton does not mention his elder son Thomas, who died vita 
patris; his parentage is proven by his father's Inquisition post mortem. The daughter 
Joan (Knighton) Bull is also not
mentioned, doubtless because she had already received her portion. Her son revealed 
her parentage in his Visitation pedigree, (Visitation of Hertford, 1572, Harleian Soc. 
Pubs. 22:3(1886)) and the
Inquisition post mortem on her first husband, Charles Bull, includes land that Thomas 
Knighton demised to them. (PRO C1452/61/78, Inquisition post mortem on Charles 
Bull, gent., 16 July 31 Henry VIII
[1539]. 

Herbert C. Andrews indicates that Thomas Knighton married first a Gascoigne and 
second Anne Underhill and concludes that John Knighton and Joan (Knighton) Bull 
were children of the Gascoigne
marriage and that Thomas Knighton the Younger was a son of the Underhill marriage. 
This interpretation began with a pedigree in Harleian Manuscript 1541, which was 
followed in the Harleian Society's
Miscellaneous Essex Pedigrees, (Harleian Soc. Pubs. 15:586) even though another 
pedigree in the same manuscript says that "the heire of Tho: Underhill of Bradley" was 
mother of both Thomas Knighton
the younger and John. The evidence is convincing that Anne (Underhill) Knighton was 
the mother of Thomas Knighton the younger, John Knighton, and Joan (Knighton) Bull. 
It is uncertain whether Anne
(Underhill) or Joan Gascoigne was the mother of the three daughters mentioned in 
Thomas Knighton [Sr.]'s will, Anne (Knighton) Mason, Elizabeth (Kinghton) Alleyne, 
and Thomasine Knighton,
although the first name of the latter may suggest that she was a granddaughter of 
Thomasine (Caldebeck) Underhill. 

The first consideration in showing that Anne Underhill was the mother of Thomas, 
John, and Joan is chronology. Thomas Knighton's Inquisition post mortem indicates 
that an ante-nuptial arrangement was
made in 1506, before his marriage to Joan (Gascoigne) Collope. Peter Wilson Coldham 
has examined the Inquisition under an ultra-violet lamp and confirms that the deed 
referred to in it was dated 8 May
21 Henry "Sept," and that the Victoria County History is incorrect in dating the deed 
(with a citation to this Inquisition) as 1529, which was the 21st year of the reign of 
Henry VIII. (Victoria County History:
Hertfordshire, 3:422 (1912)) The marriage must have taken place shortly after 8 May 
1506. Joan (Gascoigne) (Collope) Knighton was buried at Bayford on 24 November 
1539, and Thomas Knighton
married Margery Baynton at Bayford on 28 July 1540." 

Margery's Inquisition and that on Andrew Baynton, show that she was survived by no 
issue. The 1506 deed vested property in certain individuals to the use of Joan 
Collope, sister of William Gascoigne,
and to the (male) Heirs of her body by Thomas Knighton; with reversion to John 
Knighton, younger son of Thomas Knighton [Sr.]. The property did indeed go to John 
Knighton, a fact which indicates
that Joan Had no surviving male offspring by Thomas Knighton, though it does not 
eliminate the possibility that she had surviving daughters by him. 

Was Anne (Underhill) Knighton the mother of both Thomas Knighton, the younger and 
John Knighton, and was her marriage to Thomas Knighton later than the Gascoigne 
marriage, as Andrews
concludes? The evidence is strong that both of these sons of Thoms Knighton Sr., 
were children of Anne Underhill but that the marriage occurred about 1490, 
undoubtedly Knighton's first. Thomas
Knighton the younger used the Underhill surname, his descendants quartered the 
Underhill arms, and his property at Little Bradley appears to have been Underhill 
property. The 1572 Visitation of
Hertfordshire shows that John Knighton's descendants also quartered the Underhill 
arms, even though they inherited the Hertfordshire property. (Harleian Soc. Pubs. 
22:70) 

"Thomas Underhill, the son of Thomas Knyghton" was grantee on 6 November 1503 of 
the manor of Dalham, co. Suffolk, along with Richard Stotevyle, Esq., Thomas 
Stotevyle, his son, Richard Drury,
knight, George Trace, John Bent, and Ralph Stotevyle, "to hold to Richard Stotevyle 
for life and to Thomas Stotevyle and the others and their heirs for ever." (Calendar of 
the Patent Rolls, Henry VII,
2:342-43 (1916)) Thomas Knighton the elder was born considerably before 1470, his 
son Thomas Knighton alias Underhill could not have been an adult in 1503 and would 
probably not have been a
feoffee at that time. Col. Charles M. Hansen FASG, suggests that it was Thomas 
Underhill the second husband of Thomasine Caldebeck, who was named in the 1503 
grant, and that the text should read
"Thomas Underhill, his son [in-law] Thomas Knighton." Thomas Underhill's daughter 
Margaret married Thomas Stuteville, named in the grant along with his father Richard 
Stuteville. Richard Stuteville
was of the same generation as Thomas Underhill, one being the father and the other 
the father-in-law of Thomas Stuteville. 

The Inquisitions post mortem indicate that Thomas was the older son, and the 1506 
deed indicates that John Knighton was the younger son; hence both were born before 
the marriage to Joan (Gascoigne)
Collope in 1506. Joan (Knighton) Bull's son Richard, according to her husband's 
Inquisition post mortem, was born about 1511; (Inquisition post mortem on Charles 
Bull, gent., 16 July 31 Henry VIII
[1539], PRO C142/61/78) clearly his mother was born in the 1490's, which places her 
as a child of Anne Underhill. 

The records above suggest that Thomas Knighton's financial and social status were 
considerably higher than that of his probable father, the steward to Sir John Say. His 
rise probably began with his marriage
to the co-heiress of Thomas Underhill. Thomas Knighton is mentioned frequently in 
Hertfordshire Feet of Fines from 1507 to 1536, as published in The Herts Genealogist 
and Antiquary. (Herts Genealogist
and Antiquary, 1:9, 75, 76, 77, 73, 83, 84, 138, 140, 145 (1895)) After dissolution of 
the monasteries, the king gave the rectory and advowson of All Saints in Herford to 
Knighton (Victoria County
History: Hertfordshire, 3:510) 

(David L. Greene (TAG)) 

Thomas Knighton and Anne Underhill had the following children: 

  3341 i. Thomas17 Knighton was born before 1 March 1532/1533, the first event for 
which there is a recorded date. Thomas died 1 March 1532/1533.(34136) 

"According to his brass at the Little Bradley church, he died 23 April 1532. The 
inscription is gone, but Weever (who mistakenly places it in the Great Thurlow Church) 
read it as " Thomas Knighton gent.
and Ales his wife, which Thomas died the xxiij. of Aprill, an. M.D.xxxii." (Bayford 
Parish Register, Hertfordshire Record Office, abstracted by Mrs. Pauline Sidell) His 
wife was Alice Bull of Hertford, co.
Herts, and sister of Charles Bull who married Joan Knighton. (PRO C1452/61/78, 
Inquisition post mortem on Charles Bull, gent., 16 July 31 Henry VIII [1539]; H.C. 
Andrews, "The Knighton Family of
Bayford, Herts, and Little Bradley, Suffolk, "East Herts. Archaeological Society 
Transactions (1928)) His inquisition post mortem was taken at Stowmarket, co. 
Suffolk, on 10 October 25 Henry VIII [1533]
(abstract by Peter Wilson Coldham); "Thomas Knyghton alias Underhill, gent.,... 
possessed a capital messuage, etc., at Bradley, Suffolk, and messuages at Cowlinge 
and Little Bradley, Suffolk. He died on
1 March last and his heir is his son Frnacis Knyghton alias Underhyll, aged 6 or more." 
For his descendants, see Visitation of Suffolk, 1561, and H.C. Andrews, "The 
Knighton Family of Bayford, Herts,
and Little Bradley, Suffolk."" 

Parents
KNIGHTON (KNYGHTON) John (ABT 1425 - )
----- Margerie ()

Siblings
KNIGHTON (KNYGHTON) Thomas (ABT 1460 - 7 Apr 1544)

Marriage To UNDERHILL Anne (ABT 1470 - BEF 1506)
    m. ABT 1490 

Notes

Parents
UNDERHILL Thomas (ABT 1430 - AFT 6 Jul 1509)
CALDEBECK Thomasine (ABT 1430 - )

Children by UNDERHILL Anne ABT 1470 - BEF 1506
KNIGHTON Joan (ABT 1494 - AFT 16 Jul 1539)

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