Biography of Thomas White 1492-1567
In or before 1538 Ralph Warren (age 52) and [his future wife] Joan Trelake were married.
In 1547 Thomas White (age 55) was appointed Sheriff of London.
In 1553 Thomas White (age 61) was elected Lord Mayor of London. He was knighted the same year by Queen Mary I of England and Ireland (age 36).
Henry Machyn's Diary. 06 Jun 1553. The same day, wyche was the xvj day of July, was Raff Warren (age 67) knyght, mercer and alderman, and twysse [lord mayor of] London, and marchand of the stapull and marchand ven[turer, buried] with standard and v pennons of armes, a cott armur, ... a helmett, mantyll and crest, and sword, and a xij dosen of schochyons; and ther wher my lord mere morner .... berer, the iiij sqyre mornars, and mony aldermen at ys beryng; [there] wher mony mornars in blake, and in blake cotes, and ther wher L. gownes gyffyn unto L. men, of rats coler, of a m ... a yerd; and ther dynyd my lord mayre and mony aldermen, [and] ther wher a gret dener as I have sene.
Note. Funeral of alderman sir Ralph Warren. Son of Thomas Warren, fuller, son of William Warren of Fering in Essex; sheriff in 1528, mayor in 1537, and again in 1544 (in the place of sir William Bowyer). On a fair marble tomb in the chancel of St. Osythe's, alias St. Benet Sherehog: "Here lyeth buried the right worshipfull sir Ralph Warren knight, alderman and twice lord mayor of London, mercer, merchant of the staple at Callis; with his two wives, dame Christian and dame Joane, which said sir Ralph departed this life the 11. day of July, An. Dom. 1553." He was buried on the 16th. By his second wife Joan, daughter and coheir of John Lake, of London, sir Ralph left issue Richard Warren (age 15) esquire, who married Elizabeth (age 10), dau. of sir Roland Lee [Hayward?] knt. alderman and lord mayor, and Joan (age 8), married to sir Henry Williams alias Cromwell (age 18), by whom she had issue Oliver, Robert, Henry, Richard, and Johanna. "Lady Jone Waren, aforesaid, one of the doters and heyrs of John Lake, dysseassed at the howse of sir Henry Williams alias Cromwell knight, her son in lawe, called Hynchyngbroke, in the county of Huntyngton, on Wensday 8. of October, 1572, and the 14. yere of our most gracious soveraigne lady quene Elizabeth, and was beryed in the parish churche of St. Benedicke Sherehogge in London, on tewsday the . . . vember, in the yere aforesaid." Her second husband was sir Thomas White (age 61), another lord mayor, and who is immortalized by his foundation of St. John's college, Oxford. Our diarist records their marriage, in p. 179.
A remarkable instance of the simplifying of arms is afforded by what was done in regard to sir Ralph Warren's monument at St. Osith's. It originally bore this crowded coat: Azure, on a chevron between three lozenges argent, three eagle's heads erased of the first, on a chief checky or and gules a greyhound courant ermine. "These armes were taken downe by his sonne Ric. Warren, and these sett upp in place thereof: Or, a chevron engrailed between three eagle's heads erased sable." Arms of the Lord Mayors, by William Smith, Rouge-dragon.
the iiij sqyre(s) attendant at the same funeral were the four esquires of the Lord Mayor's house, namely, the swordbearer, the common hunt, the common crier, and the water-bailiff.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 29 Oct 1553. [The same day the new Lord Mayor (age 61) went] toward Westmynter [attended by the] craftes of London in ther best leveray .... with trumpets blohyng and the whets playng .... a goodly fuyst trymmed with banars and guns ... waytyng of my lord mayre('s) barge unto Westmynster [and] all the craftes bargers with stremars and banars [of every] craft, and so to the Cheker, and so hom-wards; my lord mayre landyd at Banard Castyll and [in St. Paul's] chyrche-yerd dyd hevere craft wher set in [array]: furst wher ij tallmen bayreng ij gret stremars [of] the Marchand-tayllers armes, then cam on [with a] drume and a flutt playng, and a-nodur with a gret f[ife?] all they in blue sylke, and then cam ij grett wodyn [armed] with ij grett clubes all in grene, and with skwybes bornyng ... with gret berds and syd here, and ij targets a-pon ther bake ... and then cam xvj trumpeters blohyng, and then cam in [blue] gownes, and capes and hosse and blue sylke slevys, and evere man havyng a target and a gayffelyn [javelin] to the nombur of lxx .. and then cam a duyllyll [devil], and after cam the bachelars all in a leveray, and skar lett hods; and then cam the pagant of sant John Baptyst gorgyusly, with goodly speches; and then cam all the kynges trumpeters blowhyng, and evere trumpeter havyng skarlet capes, and the wetes capes and godly banars, and then the craftes, and then the wettes playhyng, and then my lord mayre('s) offesers, and then my lord mayre and ij good henchmen, and then all the aldermen and the shreyffes, and so to dener; and after dener to Powlles, and all them that bare targets dyd [bare] after stayfftorches, with all the trumpets and wettes blowhyng thrugh Powlles, thrugh rondabowt the qwer and the body of the chyrche blowhyng, and so home to my lord mere('s) howsse.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 29 Aug 1557. The xxix day of August was the Marchand-tayllers' fest on the decolassyon of sant John babtyst, and my lorde mayre (age 57) and ser Thomas Whytt (age 65) and master Harper shreyff, and master Row, and all the cloythyng, and the iiii wardens of the yomenre, and the compene, hard messe at sant Johns in Smyth-feld; and offered evere man a pene; and from thens to the halle to dener, ij and ij together. The sam day a grett shoutyng; and the cheyff warden master Horne marchand-tayller.
Before 26 Feb 1558 Thomas White (age 66) and Avice Unknown were married.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 26 Feb 1558. The xxvj day of Feybruary ded my lade Whyt, the wyff of ser Thomas Whyt (age 66) late mare of London, and marchand tayller, and marchand of the Muskovea, and altherman of London.... Whyuthalle with many lordes and lades.
Note. P. 167. Death of lady White. Sir Thomas White (age 66), son of William White of Reading; sheriff 1546, lord mayor 1553. The founder of St. John's college, Oxford, and the principal benefactor of Merchant-taylors' school, as well as his native town and many other places. He died at Oxford Feb. 11, 1566, aged 72, and was buried in the chapel of his college. (See further particulars of him in Wilson's Merchant-taylors' School, p. 3.) The present paragraph relates to his first wife, whose parentage is not ascertained, but she was probably nearly related to lady Laxton the chief mourner at her funeral. Sir Thomas White's remarriage to lady Warren is noticed in p. 179, and the lady in a previous note (p. 330).
On 26 Feb 1558 [his wife] Avice Unknown died.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 25 Nov 1558. The xxv day of November was mared ser Thomas W[hite] (age 66) knyght, late mare, d unto my [his wife] lade Warren, the wyff of ser Raff Warren, knyght, twys mare of London.
On 25 Nov 1558 Thomas White (age 66) and Joan Trelake were married.
In 1562 Henry Cromwell aka Williams (age 27) and [his step-daughter] Joan Warren (age 17) were married.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 08 Feb 1562. The viij day of Feybruary was crystened the dowther [Note. Unclear as to which of their several daughters this refers to.] of master (blank) Crumwelle (age 27), and she the dowther (age 17) of ser Raff Warren knyght, [Note. the child's mother] gohyng to the chyrche a fayre mayd carehyng the chyld in a whyt saten gowne, and a-bowt and the mantylle of cremesune satyn fryngyd with gold of iiij ynchys brod, and the master of the rolles was the godfather and my [his wife] lade Whytt [Note. the child's maternal grandmother, mother to [his step-daughter] Joan Warren (age 17), wife of Thomas White (age 70)] godmother and (blank), and after a grett bankett [banquet] at home.
Note. P. 277. Christening of master Cromwell's daughter. The first supposition in the footnote is correct. The child's mother was the daughter of sir Ralph Warren, formerly lord mayor of London, and "my lady White" was grandmother as well as godmother, as will be seen by consulting the note already given in p. 330.
On 12 Feb 1567 Thomas White (age 75) died.
On 08 Oct 1572 [his former wife] Joan Trelake died at Hinchinbrooke House [Map]. She was buried on 04 Nov 1573 at St Benet Sherehog Cordwainer Ward.
Father: William White of Reading
GrandFather: John Kibblewhite of South Fawley in Berkshire
Mother: Mary Kibblewhite