Thomas Holcroft (politician)
As she was the sole heiress of Nicholas Jennings, who had property at Preston, Lancashire, and in London, the marriage gave Thomas a start in making his fortune.
Holcroft seems to have allied himself to Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, the most powerful magnate in Lancashire, while still young, serving on his council.
James died shortly afterwards and attempts were made to negotiate an end to the conflict, but these failed after the return to power in Scotland of Cardinal Beaton.
Holcroft's service was further rewarded with positions in the Royal Household of England: in 1536 he was appointed Sewer of the Chamber and four years later Esquire of the Body.
More substantial offices accompanied these: he was Bailiff for the Duchy of Lancaster in the West Derby Hundred from 1536 to 1545 and receiver for Lancashire and Cheshire for most of the period between 1538 and 1558).
The English commander Grey de Wilton, wrote to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, "rejoicing in the diligence, good will, and courage of the Lord Warden and Mr.
Thomas Fisher, charged with arranging the return of Mary, Queen of Scots, to marry Edward VI, wrote of Haddington in a letter to William Cecil: Edward VI heard about the exploits of Holcroft and Thomas Palmer bringing food to the besieged garrison at Haddington, and recorded their names in his journal.
[10] Holcroft and Francis Leek wrote from Alnwick to Edward Seymour, now Duke of Somerset, in January 1549, about constructing further fortifications at Haddington, Lauder, and Lindisfarne.
[11] Holcroft became close to Somerset and chief regent of the young Edward VI, and to William Paget, Seymour's key administrator.
Seymour was closely identified with the partly successful Scottish campaigns and Holcroft was given an annuity of £100 "until better provided for" when the wars ended.
When hostilities with Scotland threatened again in Mary's reign, Holcroft was suggested as an adviser to Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, who was appointed commander in the north, as "a man of skill in matters of war".
The Lancashire representatives were formally elected by freeholders but in reality the Duchy of Lancaster was the dominant force in the county, and the Earl of Derby had great sway as the major landowner: all MPs in the period had some sort of connection with him.
His appointment as Vice-Admiral of the Coast for both Cheshire and Lancashire in that year was the work of Thomas Seymour, Protector Somerset's brother.
He was not marked as one of those who "stood for the true religion", i.e. Protestantism, on the Crown Office list of the 1553 parliament annotated in Elizabeth's reign.
Holcroft seems to have acquired control of a wide range of small properties through his marriage, including a number of valuable business premises in London.
[17] A much larger group of properties in London, Essex and Bedfordshire was disposed of in the same reign to a partnership involving Gilbert Gerard, Holcroft's nephew, who was already making a name for himself as a lawyer.
In the latter part of Mary's reign, Thomas and Juliana Holcroft did further property deals in London,[18] this time involving Sir Rowland Hill, a former Protestant Lord Mayor of London, as well as Gilbert Dethick, an important Officer of arms and diplomat, and Thomas Leigh, a Protestant businessman and politician from Bedfordshire.
The Pilgrimage of Grace, essentially a Yorkshire and Lincolnshire rising, spilled over the Pennines and set off resistance in Lancashire, delaying dissolutions that were already under way.
A pardon was proclaimed subsequently for religious who had taken part, and they were ordered to return to their houses for the time being, but not all were covered by this offer and some chose not to take advantage.
At Cartmel some of the canons rebelled, possibly provoked by Holcroft personally,[2] although the prior stole away to join the king's forces at Preston.
[21] This was true also at Whalley,[24] although Holcroft was only indirectly involved at this house, the work and profits of dissolution being undertaken by his servant John Bradyll.
Vale Royal had become riven by political dissension long before it was dissolved, and as early as 1529 an inquiry, probably under the reformer Rowland Lee, had deposed the abbot and sought to bring the abbey under stricter discipline.
[22] As dissolution became more certain, Abbot John Hareware or Harwood began to lease out the abbey lands wholesale to realise what value he could, coming into direct conflict with Thomas Cromwell, who had himself appointed steward of Vale Royal.
Holcroft pointed out that the abbot had run down the property disastrously by leasing demesne lands, depleting stock and felling 5000 trees.
[28] Although not prepared to stand up for Protestantism in parliament, there is considerable evidence that Holcroft used his position as knight marshal to aid Protestants during the Marian Counter-Reformation.
John Strype, an important 17th-century biographer of Thomas Cranmer, wrote that: Strype also recorded the testimony of Sir John Bourne, a principal secretary to Mary, about Edwin Sandys, the Protestant Bishop of Worcester, escape from the Marshalsea: Sandys continued to feud with Bourne long after Elizabeth restored Protestantism.
His expressed attitudes and behaviour to this point suggested that he shared "the contempt with which the new gentry and officials regarded spiritual dignities".
He was replaced as knight marshal early in 1558 by Thomas Harvey, a partisan of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon who would later defect to Philip II of Spain.
[32] When Holcroft made his will on 25 July 1558, he was in Wenham, Suffolk, at the home of Michael Wentworth, a Yorkshire politician and courtier who seems to have been loyal to the regime.
His brother, John Holcroft, and his nephew, Gilbert Gerard (albeit described as his cousin – a common usage in the 16th century), were appointed supervisors.
