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Thomas MALET

Male Abt 1516 - Bef 1593  (~ 77 years)


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  • Name Thomas MALET  [1
    Note Aft 1481  [2
    Birth Abt 1516  St Audries, West Quantoxhead, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 3
    • Said to be aged 40 in 1556.
    Gender Male 
    Note
    • Arthur Malet, in "Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family", states that Thomas, second son of Baldwin Malet, solicitor to Henry VIII, was of "Currey Heys" Cornwall, and that he married Isabel Browne. No source was given for this assertion.

      T.P.S. Woods, in "Prelude to Civil War", notes that there was a Thomas Malet aged 40 years, living in Tregony, Cornwall for "20 years" in 1556, and that Tregony was associated with the Trevanion family, whose seat was at "Caerhayes", Cornwall. A sampling of various spellings of the modern day Caerhays estate indicates that it was typically pronounced something like "Caryhays", which is obviously very close to Arthur Malet's "Currey Heys": "Karyhays" (1242), "Caryhayes" (1602), etc.

      When Thomas was 17 years old or so, his father Baldwin died (1533), and his mother remarried to Sir Hugh Trevanion. Thomas would almost certainly have gone with his mother to live at the Trevanion estate of Caerhayes, and it is not surprising to find him living on Trevanion property at Tregony shortly thereafter, at about the time that one would expect him to marry.

      So what happened next?

      Arthur Malet says that he married Isabel Browne, which is probably true, though no source is given that can be verified, and no record of the marriage has been found. The first children recorded in the IGI born to a Thomas Malet in Cornwall are Jone, Pacience, Thomas and William, born in Bodmin between 1578 and 1583, all about two years apart, which is a typical pattern for a family born to a particular couple. That is to say, it is safe to assume that these four children were all born to the same Thomas, since an assumption must be made, because no mother's name was recorded that could help to sort the situation out.

      The next two "Malet" families in this part of Cornwall are those of "Malachie" in Luxulyan, and "Amond" in St Erth. The parentage of Malachie and Amond is unknown, but it is not unreasonable to think that they might have been related to this Thomas.

      Malachie has a suggested connection to Thomas because in Thomas's will he gives money the "the poore people" of Luxulyan. This implies that he had land holdings there. Malachie was not mentioned in Thomas's will, but if he were Thomas's son, he would have been old enough at the time of the writing of Thomas's will that he would already have been married and already have been given some of his father's property (presumably in Luxulyan) to allow him to make a living and to support a family, hence no need to mention him specifically in the will. If this assumption is correct then Malchie would have been the child of Thomas and his wife Isabel Browne.

      Amond could have been Thomas's godson, because in Thomas's will he makes provision for "Reginald Amadas", his godson. This person's name was recorded three different ways in the IGI: "Amond", "Amman", and "Namaan". This implies that the writing in the parish register that the IGI transciber(s) saw was difficult to make out, and that the name was uncommon, making the inscription difficult to interpret. It is perhaps possible that Reginald Amadas, for some reason, adopted the surname Malet, but kept Amadas as a given name, or that he gave his children the surname Malet and the transcribers mistook his surname "Amadas" as the given name "Amond" or "Amman" or "Namaan”. Since Reginald Amadas was a godson, he was not (likely) the biological child of Thomas.

      What of the four children born to Thomas in Bodmin? If they were born to the Thomas, son of Baldwin, born c. 1516, he would have been between 60 and 70 years old. Normally one would assume that these children must have been born to another, younger, Thomas, but, in his will dated 1592, Thomas gives the bulk of his estate to a Patience Archer the wife of his servant John Archer. It is not uncommon for a man of property to give a few shillings or pounds to his servants upon his death, but to give the bulk of ones estate to the wife of a servant is clearly exceptional. The second child born to Thomas Malet in Bodmin, in 1580, was called Pacience. It seems very likely that the mother of this Pacience and probably her 3 siblings was Patience Archer. At the time of the writing of the will, all four children were minors, and there is no mention of them or any other children in the will, nor is there any mention of a wife — only Patience Archer. Normally, when children are to be left without parents, the will will contain very specific provisions as to their maintenance until they reach "full age". In this case, it may be that no mention is made of these children because it is understood that because Patience Archer is their mother, there can be no doubt that she will take care of them — all that remains is to make sure that she has the financial wherewithal to do so, hence the provisions of the will giving a substantial amount of property to Patience herself, and not to her husband, who, for obvious reasons, may not have been too keen on the arrangement between Thomas Malet and his wife.

      T. P. S. Woods, in Prelude to Civil War, states that there was a will of a Thomas Malet of Cuby/Tregony proved in 1581 in Bodmin that has been lost. This could be the will of Thomas, son of Baldwin, but other details of the 1592 will, though that Thomas was of Lanivet rather than Tregony, seem to indicate that it is the will of Thomas born c 1516. He mentions a nephew "Michaell" — his brother John of "Wooleigh" had a son Michael. He mentions Hannibal Vivian — his sister Anne married John Vivian, and their son was called Hannibal. He also mentions Thomas St Abyn (Aubyn) — his niece Zenobia (daughter of John of Wooleigh) married into the St Aubyn family. None of that is proof positive of the 1592 will being of Thomas born 1516, but if it isn't him, it is certainly someone closely related to him, perhaps a son Thomas — a birth gone unrecorded, like Malachie and Amond, aforementioned.
    SW Group
    UKC 1881
    Alternate Name Thomas Mallatt  [7
    Alternate Name Thomas Mallete  [7
    Will 12 Jul 1533  [8
    Will 16 Dec 1592  Lanivet, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Death Bef 21 May 1593  Lanivet, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    • This was the date that probate was granted. The will was dated Dec of the previous year, so he probably died early in 1593.
    Person ID I7395  Southwest
    Last Modified 20 Jun 2016 

    Father Sir Sir Baldwin MALET,   b. Est 1481, Enmore, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Aug 1533, St Audries, West Quantoxhead, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 52 years) 
    Mother Anne HACHE,   b. Est 1481, Wooleigh, Beaford, Devon, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage Est 1512 
    Family ID F2329  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Patience,   b. Est 1550 
    Marriage Other Est 1577  [4
    Children 
     1. Jone MALLETE,   c. 11 Apr 1578, Bodmin, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Pacience MALLATT,   c. 24 Oct 1580, Bodmin, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. Thomas MALLETT,   c. Between 18 Feb 1581 and 1582, Bodmin, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     4. William MALLETT,   c. 6 Nov 1583, Bodmin, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F2438  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Isabel BROWNE,   b. Est 1513, Caerhays, Cornwall, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage Est 1538  [9
    Family ID F2331  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - Abt 1516 - St Audries, West Quantoxhead, Somerset, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsWill - 16 Dec 1592 - Lanivet, Cornwall, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - Bef 21 May 1593 - Lanivet, Cornwall, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), pp 50, M8W994S136.

    2. [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), pp 49-51, M8W994S136.

    3. [S1811] Woods, T.P.S., Prelude to Civil War, 1642 - Mr. Justice Malet and the Kentish Petitions (The Chantry, Wilton, Salisbury, England: Michael Russel (Publishing) Ltd., 1980.), pp 163, Item 24, M9T2746S402.

    4. [S1877] The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers, database, Documents Online, (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/), Probate, Thomas Malet, Lanivet, Cornwall, England, May 21, 1593, catalogue reference Prob 11/81., Prob 11/81.

    5. [S1811] Woods, T.P.S., Prelude to Civil War, 1642 - Mr. Justice Malet and the Kentish Petitions (The Chantry, Wilton, Salisbury, England: Michael Russel (Publishing) Ltd., 1980.), pp 163 Item 24, M9T2746S402.

    6. [S1883] Caerhays Estate (http://www.caerhays.co.uk/.).

    7. [S1876] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, "International Genealogical Index", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org accessed Oct. 16, 2002), entries for Bodmin, Cornwall, England., P002751; M, P002752.

    8. [S1832] Moger, Miss Olive, compiler, Abstracts of Wills and Administrations, Devon Record Office, Great Moor House, Bittern Road, Sowton, Exeter, Devon, UK, EX2 7NL, 44 01392 384253, Probate, Baldwin Malet, of St Audries, West Quantoxhead, Somerset, England, dated Aug. 9, 1533.

    9. [S1780] Arthur Malet, Notices of an English Branch of the Malet Family (St. Martin's Lane, London, England: Harrison & Sons, MDCCCLXXXV (1885).), PP 50, M8W994S136.