Thomas Wise
Died1630 Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationPolitician Edit this on Wikidata
ChildrenThomas Wise Edit this on Wikidata
Parent(s)
  • Thomas Wise, of Sidenham Edit this on Wikidata
  • Mary Buller Edit this on Wikidata
Position heldMember of Parliament in the Parliament of England, Member of the 1621-22 Parliament Edit this on Wikidata

Monument to Sir Thomas Wise in St Mary's Church, Marystow
Arms of Wise of Sydenham: Sable, three chevronels ermine

Sir Thomas Wise (c. 1576–1630),[1] KB, of Sydenham in the parish of Marystow and of Mount Wise in the parish of Stoke Damerel in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1612 and in 1621 served as a member of parliament for Bere Alston in Devon.[2]

Origins

Wise was the second son and eventual heir of Thomas Wise (1546–1593) of Sydenham, by his wife Mary Buller,[3] a daughter of Richard Buller (died 1556)[4] of Shillingham in Cornwall (ancestor of the prominent Buller family of Morval and of the Buller Baronets). The Wise family is earliest recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon in the person of John Wise (fl.1403) of Sydenham, living in 1403.[5] The family can however be traced to Westcountry roots from the eleventh century.[6] They provided a Knight of the Shire (Member of Parliament for Devon) in three of the Parliaments of King Henry VI (1422–1461).[7] In about 1400 the manor of Stoke Damerel, within which was situated the estate later called Mount Wise, was inherited by Thomas Wise of Sydenham (son and heir of John Wise (fl. 1403) of Sydenham), upon his marriage to Margaret Brett (alias Brit),[8] daughter and heiress of Robert Brett of Staddiscombe, near Plymstock,[9][10][11] lord of the manor of Stoke Damerel.

Career

He was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King James I in 1603. In 1612 he served as Sheriff of Devon.[12][13] In 1621 he was elected a member of parliament for Bere Alston[2] in Devon, where he had gained influence following local land purchases.[6]

He re-built Sydenham House and added such height and such a great amount of stone to it that his contemporary Risdon (died 1640) described Sydenham as:

"Beautified with buildings of such height as the very foundation is ready to reel under the burthen".[14]

He also built a new mansion house on his ancestral estate at Stoke Damerel, which he named Mount Wise,[15] on a headland jutting out into Plymouth Sound. His contemporary the Devon historian Sir William Pole (died 1635) remarked as follows concerning the manor of Stoke Damerel and Sir Thomas Wise:

"Hee hath bwilded heere, uppon an advanced ground a newe howse for his pleasure & named it Mount Wise, where Thomas (Wise) Esqr. his sonne now dwelleth, w(hi)ch hath married (Mary), daughter of Edward Lord Chichester, Vicont of Cairfergus".

Marriage and children

In about 1600[12] Wise married Margery Stafford (born 1583), daughter and sole heiress of Robert Stafford (died 1604)[16] of Stafford (alias Stoford) in the parish of Dolton in Devon. The surname of the Stafford family had anciently been Kelloway. By his wife he had children as follows:[12]

Death and burial

Wise died in 1630 and was buried in Marystow Church, where survives his "splendid"[6] marble monument with eight Corinthian columns surrounded by other monuments to the Wise family.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Dates per: Venning & Hunneyball
  2. 1 2 Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
  3. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p. 791, pedigree of Wise
  4. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of Cornwall: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1530, 1573 & 1620; with additions by J.L. Vivian, Exeter, 1887, p. 56, pedigree of Buller
  5. ↑ Vivian, 1895, p. 791, regnal date 5 Henry IV
  6. 1 2 3 4 Venning & Hunneyball
  7. ↑ Tim Venning / Paul Hunneyball, biography of Wise (Wyes), Sir Thomas (c. 1576 – 1630), of Sydenham, Marystow, Devon, published in History of Parliament, House of Commons 1604–1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
  8. ↑ Pole, p. 332; Risdon, p. 208
  9. ↑ "Stottiscombe", Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p. 791, pedigree of Wise
  10. ↑ Pole, p. 325, "Stottescombe"
  11. ↑ modern: Staddiscombe in Plymstock
  12. 1 2 3 Vivian, 1895, p. 791
  13. 1 2 John Burke A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain
  14. ↑ Risdon, Tristram (died 1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p. 219
  15. ↑ Pole, p. 332, who identifies the builder as the father of Thomas Wise (c. 1605 – 1641), MP, who married Lady Mary Chichester, daughter of Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester of Carrickfergus in Ireland
  16. ↑ Vivian, 1895, p. 712, pedigree of Stafford
  17. ↑ "WISE, Thomas (C.1605-1641), of Sydenham, Marystow and Mount Wise, Stoke Damerel, Devon | History of Parliament Online".
  18. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp. 791, 654
  19. ↑ See also Vivian, p. 791
  20. ↑ Visitation of Dorset 1677
  21. ↑ The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 150
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