He was Attorney General to King Henry V, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Speaker of the House of Commons[2] and was murdered in 1450.

Their son, Francis Tresham, was cousin-in-law of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh through his cousin Elizabeth Throckmorton and was involved in the Gunpowder Plot, November the 5th, as being one of the main conspirators and died in the Tower of London in 1605.

The Hall was sold in 1619 to Sir William Cockayne, Lord Mayor of London who was the first Governor of Londonderry, Ireland.

[2] and on his death in 1626 passed to his eldest son Charles, later Viscount Cullen, who was appointed High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1636–37.

[3][4] Hedingham Castle was the ancestral seat of the House of de Vere since it was awarded to their family by William the Conqueror and those estates would later have to be sold to fund the couple's extravagant lifestyle.

[citation needed] In 1925, Louis(Ludwig) Breitmeyer, a founding director of the De Beers Diamond company[6] leased Rushton Hall.

After the death of William Clarke-Thornhill, the Hall was let to an array of tenants including American socialite James J.