Sir Thomas Parr

Sir Thomas Parr (c. 1483 – 11 November 1517) was an English knight, courtier and Lord of the Manor of Kendal in Westmorland (now Cumbria) during the Tudor period. He is best known as the father of Catherine Parr, queen consort of England and the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII.

Life
Thomas was the son of William Parr, 1st Baron Parr of Kendal and the Hon. Elizabeth FitzHugh. He descended from King Edward III of England through his mother, Elizabeth.

Thomas' forebears were members of a rough-and-ready northern landed gentry clan, the Parrs of Kendal. They had been, after the crown, the most influential presence in southern Westmoreland since 1381. His mother and grandmother before him were royal ladies-in-waiting, and this enabled Thomas to acquire a polished upbringing at the English court.

According to biographer Susan James, the young Thomas most likely studied under Maurice Westbury of Oxford, learning (among other things) classical Greek and Latin as well as modern languages. Westbury had been installed as a teacher by Lady Margaret Beaufort at her estate of Colyweston. It was at Colyweston that certain gentlemen, including the son of the Earl of Westmoreland, not only received an education but also gained political connections that would prove useful in their future careers. Thomas' father, the first Baron Parr of Kendal, had once been Lady Margaret Beaufort's revisionary heir to her substantial lands in Westmoreland, known as the Richmond fee. Thomas' mother's family by her second marriage to Sir Nicholas Vaux (later 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden), were also close to Margaret, enjoying a long-term relationship with her. In adulthood, Thomas found the educative tools that he had acquired as a young man to be of considerable practical use, and he would emphasise this aspect of household management when the time came to educate his own children.

Sir Thomas More's first wife, Jane, was a niece of Parr by marriage, thereby making More an in-law of his. Parr was fond of More — the future but ill-fated Lord Chancellor of the kingdom — and respected his intellect. He was also an advocate of the teachings of his erudite cousin, Sir Cuthbert Tunstall. These teachings embraced the discipline of mathematics, which Thomas' daughter Catherine would put to good use in her later capacity as the lady of a succession of important households.

Under the rule of King Henry VIII, the Parr family flourished. Their influence, income, and titles increased as Thomas' career advanced. He became a Master of the Wards and was appointed Master of the Guards and Comptroller to the King. He was knighted and made High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1509, and of Lincolnshire in 1510. His wife, Maud, became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. Shortly before the birth of their first surviving child, Catherine, the couple had bought a house in Blackfriars, London. Sir Thomas was popular with Henry and, as we have seen, served at court with Sir Thomas More. Although he was rich in land and money, Sir Thomas never attained the aristocratic title of baron. He did, however, hold messuages, lands, woods, and rents in Parr, Wigan, and Sutton, as well as the manor of Thurnham.

Marriage
Thomas Parr married Maud Green (6 April 1495 – 1 December 1531), daughter of Sir Thomas Green and Joan Fogge in 1508. Before the birth of their most famous offspring, Catherine (also spelled Katherine), Maud gave birth to a son. This occurred not long after Maud and Thomas' marriage. Their happiness at the birth proved short lived as the baby soon died and his name remains unknown. After the birth of their third child, Anne, Maud fell pregnant again — in circa 1517, the year of her husband's death. The child, however, either miscarried or was stillborn, or succumbed in very early infancy to an illness. Whatever the cause of the tragic loss, it may have been somewhat of a relief on a practical level as the baby had arrived at a difficult juncture in Maud's life, with her husband dying and she being appointed executrix of his estate.

The surviving children of Sir Thomas and Maud were:
 * Catherine Parr (1512–5 September 1548); Queen Consort of England and Ireland, who wed:
 * Sir Edward Burgh, 1529 at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.
 * John Nevill, 3rd Baron Latimer, 1534 in London, Middlesex, England.
 * King Henry VIII, 12 July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace in the private oratory of the Queen's Closet.
 * Sir Thomas Seymour on 4 Apr 1547. Had issue: Lady Mary.
 * William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, 1st Marquess of Northampton (c. 1513–28 October 1571) He married three times, all without issue:
 * Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier
 * Elizabeth Brooke
 * Helena Snakenborg.
 * Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke (c. 1515-20 February 1552), married in 1538, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, by whom she had two sons and a daughter.

Death
Sir Thomas fell seriously ill in November of 1517. He had compiled a will which made provision for his wife and children. The two female children were to receive dowries while the bulk of the estate was to be inherited by his only male child, William. Because Sir Thomas died before any of his children were of age, Maud — together with Sir Cuthbert Tunstall, the children's uncle Sir William Parr, and a Dr. Melton — were made executors.

Sir Thomas died in his home at Blackfriars, London, on 11 November 1517. He was interred in St. Anne's Church, Blackfriars, within an elaborate tomb. His widow would be buried beside him in due course.