Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough

In records, the peerage, and genealogy books he is shown as being created 1st Lord Burgh, of Gainsborough {England by writ} on 1 September 1487.

He was several times summoned to Parliament, but never sat; whether he held a hereditary peerage is not clear; fifteenth century records treat him as a knight.

Sir Thomas slowly became the King's chief man in Lincolnshire where he held manors, land, tenements from Northumberland (from his mother's inheritance, which he shared with her sister Margaret, Baroness Grey of Codnor) through Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire, down to his wife's dower lands in Somerset.

Thomas became a rich man who was backed by the King and soon found himself giving advice and legal help to the people of Lincolnshire as well as becoming their Sheriff in 1460 and their representative in Parliament.

[2] After the unexpected death of Edward IV, Sir Thomas was courted by King Richard III of England.

In 1470, the manor was attacked by Sir Robert Welles over a clash about lands, status, and honour, but it was not severely damaged.