Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet 1677-1746

On 1st August 1672 Henry Fitzroy 1st Duke Grafton [aged 8] and [his future wife] Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton [aged 4] were married. She the daughter of Henry Bennet 1st Earl Arlington [aged 54] and [his future mother-in-law] Elisabeth Nassau Beverweert Countess Arlington [aged 38]. He the illegitmate son of King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland [aged 42] and Barbara Villiers 1st Duchess of Cleveland [aged 31]. They were half sixth cousins.

He was created 1st Earl Euston, 1st Viscount Ipswich, 1st Baron Sudbury. Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton by marriage Countess Euston.

After 10th May 1675 [his father] William Hamner [aged 27] and [his mother] Peregrina North were married.

On 24th September 1677 Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet was born to William Hamner [aged 29] and Peregrina North at Bettisfield Hall, Flintshire sometime between 10 and 11PM.

Around 1678 [his father] William Hamner [aged 30] died.

On 28th July 1685 Henry Bennet 1st Earl Arlington [aged 67] died. His daughter [his future wife] Isabella [aged 17] succeeded 2nd Countess Arlington, 2nd Viscountess Thetford, 2nd Baroness Arlington of Arlington in Middlesex and 2nd Baroness Arlington of Arlington in Middlesex.

On 5th July 1695 [his uncle] Henry North 2nd Baronet [aged 60] died unmarried. Baronet North of Mildenhall in Suffolk extinct. His nephew Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet [aged 17], son of his sister [his mother] Peregrina North, inherited his estates.

In 1698 Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet [aged 20] and Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton [aged 30] were married. She by marriage Lady Hamner of Hamner in Flintshire. She the daughter of Henry Bennet 1st Earl Arlington and Elisabeth Nassau Beverweert Countess Arlington [aged 64].

In August 1701 [his uncle] John Hamner 3rd Baronet [aged 69] was killed in a duel (probably). His nephew Thomas [aged 23] succeeded 4th Baronet Hamner of Hamner in Flintshire. [his wife] Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton [aged 33] by marriage Lady Hamner of Hamner in Flintshire.

On 30th April 1713 [his step-son] Charles Fitzroy 2nd Duke Grafton [aged 29] and Henrietta Somerset Duchess Grafton [aged 22] were married. She by marriage Duchess Grafton. He the son of Henry Fitzroy 1st Duke Grafton and [his wife] Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton [aged 45]. They were half fifth cousin once removed. He a grandson of King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland.

Memoires of Jacques du Clercq

This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.

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In 1714 Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet [aged 36] was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons.

On 7th February 1723 [his wife] Isabella Bennet Duchess Grafton [aged 55] died. Her son [his step-son] Charles [aged 39] succeeded 3rd Earl Arlington, 3rd Viscount Thetford, 3rd Baron Arlington of Arlington in Middlesex and 3rd Baron Arlington of Arlington in Middlesex.

In 1725 Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet [aged 47] and Elizabeth Folkes Lady Hamner [aged 25] were married. She by marriage Lady Hamner of Hamner in Flintshire. The difference in their ages was 22 years.

In 1737 Elizabeth Folkes Lady Hamner [aged 37], wife of Thomas Hanmer 4th Baronet [aged 59], eloped with Thomas Hervey [aged 37]. In 1739 she made a will bequeathing to Hervey the reversion of her estates in Cambridgeshire, Middlesex, Anglesey and Caernarvonshire, which had been settled 'after death of me and my husband and failure of issue of my body to the use of such person or persons as I should appoint'.