Thomas Bekyngham

Date of Brass:

1431

Place:

Northleigh

County:

Oxfordshire

Country:

Number:

I

Style:

London E

Description

February 2026

Although the inscription of the brass of Thomas Bekyngham, esquire, is lost, two shields remain, one of them with the arms of Bekyngham. The figure of Sir Thomas is in armour and lacks the upper part of the helm on which his head rests, the scabbard of his sword and a small part of his lion foot-rest. Malcolm Norris noticed the brass as amongst the finest armoured effigies of the London E series (Monumental Brasses: The Memorials I (1977), 77). the effigy is very similar to that of Sir John de Braose, d.1426, at Wiston, Sussex, other than the replacement of the round besagews shown at Wiston by the larger more rectangular besagews as shoulder protection. Both have a thin line of mail where the bevor protecting the throat overlapped the breastplate.

L S Woodger’s wrote of Thomas Beckingham in The History of Parliament that his origins are obscure although he was probably related to Master Thomas Beckingham, canon of Salisbury cathedral and archdeacon of Lincoln. Thomas Bekyngham was employed by the king’s half brother, Henry Beaufort, bishop of Lincoln, and was part of the bishop’s entourage when they escorted Joan of Navarre from Brittany as Henry IV’s new queen in 1402. In 1404 he became a JP in Oxfordshire and escheator of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and Beaufort appointed him bailiff of the Berkshire estates of the bishop of Winchester in 1405 after Beaufort’s translation there. Around the same time, Bekyngham, as an esquire of the king, was made keeper of Wychwood Forest. Thereafter he continued to enhance his standing in Oxfordshire and Berkshire with other appointments and with his marriage before May 1418 to Sybil Chelrey (Childrey), daughter and co-heir of Thomas, previously steward of the bishop of Winchester’s estates. The following year saw his election as MP for Berkshire. He continued to serve in Oxfordshire and Berkshire in various capacities until his death in 1431, after which his son William from his previous marriage to Agnes took over some of his roles. His son James from his marriage to Sybil was a cleric and succeeded to the estates to which Sybil had been co-heir.

One aspect of his life that Woodger did not mention was that he was head steward of the estates of John Mowbay, earl of Nottingham and Marshall of England, from 1417 onwards. Another is that he acted for Bicester Priory in their suit against the parishioners of Stratton when it was heard by the bishop of Worcester. He was evidently an able administrator but it was presumably as an esquire of the king that saw him armed in the manner in which he was depicted on his brass.

Copyright: Jon Bayliss, text and photos