Burghs of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England

Burghs of

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England

From the 1400's to the 1600's, a number of Burgh families resided in Lincolnshire. The following list shows one of these families whose descendants established themselves in Gainsborough and Stow, Lincolnshire:

John de Burgh, b.1182, of Burrow, Westmorland, England

Matthew de Burgh, b.1225, of Over Burrow, Westmorland, England

Roger de Burgh, b.1255, of Burrow, Westmorland, England

Peter de Burgh, b.1286, of Kendal, Westmorland, England

John de Burgh, b.1312, of Kendal, Westmorland, England

John de Burgh, b.1336, of Kendal, Westmorland, England

Richard de Burgh, b.1366, of Kendal, Westmorland; d.1407, Yorkshire, England; married Margaret Roos

Thomas Burgh, b.1394, of Cowthorpe, North Yorkshire, England

(Sir) Thomas Burgh, b.1431, d.1496, of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England (1st Lord Burgh).

Sir Thomas Burgh (1431-1496) built Gainsborough Old Hall in 1460-1483, which Richard III and Henry VIII visited)

(Baron) Edward Burgh, b.1464, d.1528, of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England, (2nd Lord Burgh)

(Baron) Thomas Burgh (b.1488, d.1550, of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England

(Esquire) Henry Burgh, b.1531, bur.1557, of Gainsborough and Stow, Lincolnshire, England

(Esquire) Richard Burgh, b.1557, bur.1616, of Stow, Lincolnshire, England

(Sir) John Burgh, b.1582, of Stow in Lindsey, d.1627, Isle of Rhe (Ile de Re), France

The family heritage of Richard Burgh (Esquire, 1540-1616) and the patriotic service of his son, Sir John Burgh (1582-1627), is commemorated by a brass memorial plaque that appears on the north pier of the chancel arch in the church of St. Mary, Stow Minster. According to Stow Minster's website, the memorial states that "Sir John, 'a noble and valyeant souldyer' [a noble and valiant soldier] was killed while serving as colonel-General of Charles I's expeditionary force to the Isle of Rhe in 1627". Also, Ann Brough Hind stated in June 2010 that the plaque and register of Memorials of Stow Minster states the following (as shown below in the picture): "In this Chancel Lyeth Bvryed Ye Bodies of Richard Burgh of Stowe Hall Esq and Amy His Wife, which said Richard was descended from ye noble and avntient familie of the Lord Burgh Baron of Gainsborough and next heyre male of that familie & ye said Amy was the eldest daughter of Anthonie Dillington of Knighton in ye Isle of Wight Esq whoe had together 4 sonnes vist: that noble & valeant sovldyer Sir John Burgh Colonell Genrall of His Majesties Forces to ye Isle of Rhe [Ile de Re] in France where he was slayne A Dni 1627 [20 Sep.1627], Thomas, Richard & Edward, and 5 daughters Marie, Martha, Dillington, Iane [Jane] & Anne. Ye said Richard dyed in A Dni 1616 & ye said Amy A Dni 1632".

The church of St. Mary's in Stow Minister, Lindsay, Lincolnshire (shown below), was founded in the 7th Century, and is one of the oldest and largest parish churches in England. It is partly Saxon and partly Norman, and has the tallest Saxon arches in the Europe and the earliest known example of Viking graffiti in England. Click here for more information and photos about the church of St. Mary, Stow Minster, Lincolnshire.

Burghs of Gainsborough may be Connected

to other Burgh or Brough Families of the British Isles

Currently the BFO Research Committee believes that the Brughs of Gainsborough may be connected to other Burgh or Brough families of the British Isles. Below are several research reports on the ancestry and descendants of the Burghs of Gainsborough and their possible connections to other Burgh or Brough families of the British Isles.

Research Report on the Burghs of Gainsborough

by Michael McMichael, April 2015

Many authorities attribute the pedigree of the Gainsborough Burghs as descending from Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent and Chancellor of England and the progenitor of the Irish de Burgh/Burke/Bourke lineage.

Recent research by the BFO has established that this is not the case, and that the Gainsborough line in fact descended from the Gernet family of Westmorland, more particularly those members of the family who resided at Burrow (or Burgh) and took the name of that place as a surname, beginning it appears with one John de Burgh in the late 12th Century.

There were, however, a number of de Burgh families in Westmorland at that time (1), all presumably related, including in 1270 one William de Burgh of nearby (i.e. to Burrow) Gressingham who bore what have become known as the Brough arms (2).

Exactly the connection between this William or the de Burghs of also nearby Middleton and the de Burghs/Burghs of Cowthorpe and Catterick is not known at present, but it seems likely that it was one of cousinage, particularly in light of the identical arms in the Gressingham case to those borne by the Catterick branch.

Whether or not he was a descendant of these or other de Burgh/Burgh lineages in Westmorland, one person who is of great interest in any discussion of the rise of the Gainsborough Burghs, and apparently related, is Hugh Burgh (3), who through 1415 to 1425 represented Shropshire in Parliament on five occasions (4). Through his connections with the powerful Talbot family (5) he was appointed the Treasurer of Ireland in 1414, and remained in Ireland until the end of 1415 (6).

It seems probable that the coincidence of landholding in Westmorland in previous centuries by Hubert de Burgh and the similarity of first names, together with the holding of high office in Ireland, albeit many years apart, has led to the confusion of Hugh Burgh with the Earl of Kent - perhaps even a mistaken claiming of that pedigree by the Gainsborough line.

However, the latter seems unlikely, as Hugh's son John, who was more or less contemporary with Thomas Burgh, the first Lord Burgh of Gainsborough, married Joan, the daughter of William Clopton and with his mother's and wife's estates and his mother's royal connections was a man of great substance (7) (8). It seems more reasonable to draw the inference that Thomas Burgh gained his position at Court under Edward IV as the consequence of his cousin's position, at least in the first instance. As will be seen from the reference cited at footnote 7, this family did not continue in the male line beyond John (9) (10), which may have facilitated Thomas Burgh's rise.

References:

(1) See, e.g., History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, Edward Baines, 1836, p 539 although the connection with Hubert de Burgh is misstated. Web Link.

(2) See British History Online, pp 85-89: Web Link; and Materials for the History of the Church of Lancaster, Chetham Society, 1984, p 163. Web Link.

(3) See England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, David Bates, 1994. Web Link.

(4) See The History of Parliament, 1386 - 1421. Web Link.

(5) See The Commons in the Parliament of 1422: English Society and Parliamentary Representation Under the Lancastrians, John Smith Roskell, 1954, p 159. Web Link.

(6) Ibid, The History of Parliament.

(7) See Guto's Wales, part of the Guto'r Glyn Project under the auspices of the University of Wales. Web Link.

(8) See Wikipedia entry on Sir Henry Lingen. Web Link.

(9) See also British History Online, Domesday Book 1300-1540, pp 72-118, under the heading "Landlords" (fn 64). Web Link.

(10) See also The Family of Lingen, by Tom Burgess, the Archaeological Journal, Volume XXXIV, London, 1877. Web Link.

Research Report on the Burghs of Gainsborough

by Ann Brough Hind, February 2015

In January 2008, Ann Brough Hind (considered by the BFO as the foremost Brough historian in the world) wrote the following to the BFO: "The Lincolnshire [Burghs and] Broughs has links with the Broughs both north and east [of Lincolnshire] and with the 12th and 13th century Broughs [of Staffordshire]". And in November 2009, Ann added the following: "I [intend to eventually] write-up [and submit for publication] the evidence of direct connection between the Broughs of Appleby, Cumbria [Cumberland], and of the Lords [of] Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, with the Broughs of Leekfryth [Staffordshire] in 1486 as shown in a volume of 15th and 16th century correspondence and legal grant of land in Staffordshire and Derbyshire".

In February 2015, Ann sent the BFO a research report (published below) entitled "A C15th [15th Century] Royal Grant of Lands in Staffordshire, Derbyshire & Elsewhere", which presented some of her findings and ideas regarding connections that may have existed between the Broughs (or "Burghs" or "Boroughs") of Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and elsewhere in England.

A C15TH [15th Century] ROYAL GRANT OF LANDS

IN STAFFORDSHIRE, DERBYSHIRE & ELSEWHERE

On The Morrow of St Martin,16 Edward IV. 1477.

"Collections for a History of Staffordshire" Wm Salt Arch. Soc. Vol XI. P251.

by Catharine Ann Hind, nee Brough. 2014

"Between Elizabeth, Queen (Consort) of England; Thomas Boucher Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury; William Bishop of Ely; Richard Bishop of Salop; Thomas, Earl of Lincoln; John, Bishop of Worcester; John Bishop of Rochester; William, Bishop of Durham; Henry,Earl of Essex; Anthony, Earl Rivers; William Hastynges, Knight of Hastynges; John Gunthorpe, Clerk; THOMAS BOROUGH, Knight; Thomas Vaughan, Knight; Sir Thomas Montgomery; Richard Fowler and William House…… the Complainants.

John Pole, Knight &Alice,ux (wife) Deforcients of the Manor of SHENE. 10 messuages (farmhouses with out - buildings) 1water mill, 200 acres of land, 20 of meadow, 300 of pasture,10 acres of wood and rents of £10 in Shene; and the Manor of HERTYNDON with 8 messuages, 6 tofts, 2 caracute of land, and 100 shillings of rents."

" John and Alice Pole granted the said Manors and tenements to the complainants and HEIRS OF THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN, for which the complainants gave them £400." ( 1. )

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An early pedigree of the Lincolnshire's de Burgh Line begins with Hubert, a son of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent and Chancellor of England; whilst another, perhaps later pedigree begins with Richard Burgh of Cowthorpe and Bikerton, Yorkshire and his wife Margaret, daughter of Thomas Roos of Kendal. Their eldest son Thomas Burgh Esquire married Elizabeth, daughter and co - heir of Sir Henry Percy d'Atholl, 1st Earl of Northumberland amongst whose properties was Gainsborough. By this marriage the de Burghs came to Gainsborough House, by inheritance from Elizabeth's father. The pedigree in Dugdales Lincolnshire Visitation records their son Thomas as their only child and it is he who is the Sir Thomas Borough of the Royal Grant of 1477. Sir Thomas is a cousin to Elizabeth King Edward's Queen, for both are Grandchildren of great The Earl of Northumberland and great nephew and niece to a national military hero Henry Percy, whose daring and prowess led the Scots to give him the name by which he is still known "Harry Hotspur".

Thomas Burgh/Brough was a Member of the Royal Household, friend and confidante to Edward IV who made him one of his Council, and Master of The King's Horse. Doubtless he was with Edward at the Battle of Towton, North Yorkshire on the 29th of March 1461. The Lancastrians outnumbered the Yorkists in this bloodiest battle of the Wars of The Roses, but Edward's prowess won the day and restored him to the Throne. Much - rewarded, Sir Thomas was made a Knight of The Garter and eventually created 1st Lord Gainsborough, for his Loyalty to that Monarch.

The Yorkist King Edward IV's Queen Consort Elizabeth was the widow of Sir John Grey, slain at St Albans in 1461, fighting under under Lancaster's banners. She was also a daughter of the Lancastrian Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers; her Mother was Jaquetta of Luxembourg whose own mother was the widow of John, Duke of Lancaster.

It was as grandchildren of Henry Percy, 1st, Earl of Northumberland that she and her cousin Sir Thomas Borough came full circle as relative to the other aristocrats of Wales, the Welsh Marches and of several English Counties. Kinsmen; and heirs of The Late Bishop of Lincoln named in this Royal Grant of Land.

Edward's own Yorkist supporters were less than enthusiastic in reception of his unannounced, sudden, and secret marriage to the daughter and widow of his enemies. They felt that in so doing he had raised them to a level above themselves. They attributed their King's falling in love and marrying Elizabeth in such short order to magic spells of witchcraft used by her Mother. In truth they resented further that Edward did so without consulting his ministers and advisers; and worse, he was no longer in a position to choose his Queen from amongst their own daughters as some hoped and some plotted, that he should.

With each gift or return of land by a victor comes expectation that the landowners will equip and provide troops; few or many according to his acres and occupants … and of course his purse, should the King again need to depend upon their support in their region. Traditional and good strategy in mapping any future crisis.

King Edward's early restoration to families who had lost home and estate, suffered privation and even poverty in support of him, were remembered. Some felt he rewarded too quickly and too early in his return to Reign and viewed it as greed by his Queen and her large immediate family: brothers, sisters and her children by John Grey, all of whom were suddenly risen in rank by their new kinship with the Throne.

Of Elizabeth's own Woodville siblings, the men must have properties and title befitting this new rank, and there was no shortage of offers of marriage from heirs of aristocratic title for Grey and Woodville ladies, whose own expectations had formerly focused upon Gentlemen of more modest means. Those already married were promptly risen in rank. This confirmed to the disappointed, that Elizabeth's Mother had bewitched their King into marriage so that her daughter should sit beside the Throne, and her family rise overnight.

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Of Special Interest To The Brough Family of North Staffordshire and Their Descendants:

This Grant is of particular interest to the Burgh or Brough families of the North Staffordshire Leekfryth, a stiff walk from SHENE and a horse ride to HARTINGTON on the North West Derbyshire border. Both these … and some other land in southern Derbyshire; in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire detailed within it, appear amongst bequests and inventories of three early C16th Burgh/Brough brothers. Sons of Robert Brough of Ye Chappelhowse, Dieulacres. Edmund at Brownsword; William of The Roche Grange who had "land at Shene with a barn on it"; and Thomas of Rushton ,whose will revealed "My stithie at Hartington and Houses in Leicester" … Leicestershire and Nottingham.

Robert Brough of Ye Chappell House, Dieulacres died in [1547], naming four sons and grandchildren on their properties on the Fryth. [Note: The Will of Robert Burgh, dated 13 May 1547, lists the names of four of Robert's sons: Edmund, Thomas, William, and Richard Burgh.] He left no property in Derbyshire or elsewhere, so seemingly the brothers would have inherited from a Grandfather or Uncle of a generation or two before them. I scoured Brough pedigrees emanating from Gainsborough but found no tradition of Roberts. Edwards predominated in every generation, as at Brownsword especially; although Robert too is also continuous across North Staffordshire, and from the C13th to the C17th Broughs of Whitchurch, as is Ralph.

Robert of Ye Chappelhowse named John Brough "late of Middlehulme" in 1536 without detail of kinship. Later Broughs, their widows "of Middlehulme"; and Robert Broughs of Whitchurch are writ in the 16th & 17th century documents of Brownsword, Roche Grange & Windyates as debtors or creditors; suggestive of some connection … perhaps of trading or of bonds held between them.

Robert Brough of Ye Chappelhowse leaves in the care of his sons a silver heart, a silver cross and the keys to the Chapel Yard. He made sizeable loans to Monks and an Abbott, made homeless by the ruthless destruction of the Abbey by Thomas Cromwell's thugs. Did his holding the keys and silver and close friendship to the Monks mean that he was the last of their Seneschals as well as their Forester?

A Seneschal was a landowning man sufficiently prosperous to leave his own affairs in the hands of others when he was required to represent the Abbott in the outside world; i.e. in Court disputes over land or other worldly matters. As Forester he never wielded and axe. His role was oversight of the wellbeing of every living thing within it and the acres around it. Every tree and leaf growing out of the ground and all birds or animals living within. He oversaw the legal and pursued the illegal hunting of dear, wild boar and game birds. He regulated the entitlements of cottagers and other tenants to the kindling and larger firewood; and the grazing of their cattle and seasonal feasts of Beech mast by their boar within it and its surrounds.

Following the destruction of the Abbey, the people of the Fryth needed a new church, nearer than All Saint's in Leek in which to worship. St Matthew's (or as in an early painting in Stafford C.R.O., St Mary's ?) was built under the auspices of Robert Brough with his sons and other able residents as guardians with responsibility for the building; the life of the Church and meat and provisions to maintain a priest. Robert Brough entrusted the safety of the silver heart to … Rudyard; and we may consider what it may have represented.

Other Seneschals of Staffordshire Monasteries, Convents and Lichfield Cathedral across centuries were Burghs, or Broughs. One Ralph de Burgh of Whitmore as Seneschal of Hulton defended a complaint over a piece of land at Middlehulme in 1268, the year attributed to the centre longhouse section and an outbuilding in a 2000 archaeological survey of Middlehulme. That mid C13th documenting of a complainant is the first written association of the de Burgh / Brough name alongside that of Middlehulme thus far found. It was also the time Dieulacres Abbey Monastery, Merbrook was built to rehouse the Monks from their West Lancashire House, to escape constant Welsh invasion and theft of their cattle.

Ralph de Burgh, Seneschal of Hulton was followed into office by another Ralph, seemingly his son. A lease or gift of property in Whitmore by Ralph Snr was to a couple of whom the wife is believed to be his daughter; and made by Ralph at a time when he too, took a new wife; but I've found nothing more. So are those Broughs living in Whitmore his descendants, or is it coincidental that there were transactions between them and Burgh/Broughs of Brownsword in the 16th? I opt for its being a kinship, but still look for firmer evidence.

Early C16th Court Case records name many young Hotheads from The Leekfryth, including the Brough Houses. Even quotations survive. A Richard Burgh of Wyndygates, armed with a bow and arrows, when advised by Authority to leave and escape trouble "sayd he could not now go as he was a lyttul busyed." An early C16th raid by Fryth men on a Farm at Cheddyltun included John Burgh of Middlehulme at 31 and John Burgh of Middlehulme at 22yrs. Uncle & nephew seemingly born in Middlehulme in 1487 & 1498 and matching the whole family recorded there in the 1532 Archdeacon's Census of the Fryth and which I will compare with old documentation, including Musters, elsewhere and anon.

The connections between the Burgh/Brough sons of Robert the Forrester of Dieulacres and the Burghs of Gainsborough and their widespread family connections enlightens one's surprise at the unexpected niceties and luxuries named amongst their bequests and inventories listing rings, purses of gold coin, velvet capes and jackets; linen ruff collars and silver buttons … belonging to our forebears in the wild moors and lower grazing lands which once was Oak Forest … a Fryth. William of Roach Grange not only left a daughter her bed and its hangings, but money left by a former kinsman "for her business at the time" and lists her looms … more than she could operate herself. Fleeces and rolls of cloth, other items for spinning, and of course, "money of her purse". His son Thomas is to have the property at Knachurch /Naychurch behind the Roaches) "which he already occupies". "Her business" was more likely her personal needs rather than commercial business; although every signal suggests that she ran that too.

The reference that most tellingly links William to the Royal Grant is "My land at Shene with the barn upon it." A canny move when you owned a piece of land away from your house was to put up a building that holds animals, and a servant to live with them. You own the land, you have property and livestock upon it and it is a dwelling. This makes it more definitely yours, and prevents it being taken over.

What I would like the most to be able to see is "My counterfeit." This isn't fraud or illegal coinage it is a painted portrait. When he is absent and cannot be seen, you can see a counterfeit, a copy, of his face.

Edmund Brough of Brownsword has a formidable inventory including a bloom and iron for smelting it; and course, of livestock and a comfortable home. And as with his brothers, an impressive wardrobe of velvet clothes, hat, cape and ruffs. Without checking, I believe he is also the one with beaver fur mittens. It is recorded that he displayed a crest with swans.

Brother Thomas Brough of Heaton, Rushton; besides his properties in Hartington and Leicester, left fleeces to his nephews and to various women neighbours and servants. Dress fabrics to his nieces. He also leaves monies to complete a young man's apprenticeship and cancels some monies owing to him. He entrusts to his Beloved brother Edmund monies to buy and equip a farm for his acknowledged illegitimate son William Booth … and I wonder who got his best riding horse, his fighting cocks, his purse of gold coins, velvet clothes and cape. Monies to nieces and nephews "shall be given to them as will do right and will be told. It shall be taken from any who do not right and will not be told and given to the others." Following the tenets of Christian personal conduct was paramount in these centuries. I like most of all "My best sword to Edmund son of my brother Edmund with direction that he part not with it save to another of the name of Brough." A sword with a history, perhaps.

Robert Brough was likely the last Seneschal of Dieulacres Abbey during its final phase of closure, desecration and destruction at the hands of King Henry VIII's henchman, Thomas Cromwell; Uncle of the notorious C17th Puritan and Regicide, Oliver Cromwell. As guardian of some Abbey treasures including "A Silver Heart; a Silver Cross and Ye Seal of Ye Gate "…that is, the Key that seals the gate. Robert names John Burgh of Middlehulme whose kinship is not specified. Perhaps a brother or cousin?

A Thomas Brough's C16th Middlehulme will instructs his widow to "complete the property to a house of three bays like unto my neighbour "…keeping up with the Jones's? Certainly not to keep up with the Broughs of Windygates who built their three bays in the C17th. Evidence supporting that this Thomas intended to enlarge Middlehulme came in early 2000 when a large Grant was given to new owners of Middlehulme to preserve the listed house and a listed adjoining farm building (which has now gone!). Archaeologists went in, as they did also to Windygates and identified both the barn and the centre of Middlehulme house as a medieval longhouse of circa 1267, with a Tudor addition on the west end. The 1st bay had been added at the time of the said will's instruction. The 2nd seemingly c.1740 by Thomas Brough who held also Calton Manor and other property at Alton, although the ancient stone door frame looking over the lane bore the date of 1140, until the C21st repairs and restorations by new owners. My own theory on that is that for an ancient doorway to be inset into a mid c18th annexe suggests its removal from the long house and insertion into the new. Very weatherworn, it could once have read 12 or some early number plus 40. I note too that the main Fire was at that end of the longhouse and/or Tudor conversion which is exactly the place one would expect to see THE FIRE and the first chimney stack. Originally, in a longhouse of 1267 the hearth would have been in the middle of the floor and risen into and around ... a theory already spoken of by my Father Edgar Brough n1898 … the very last Brough born in that House … and others of his nine brothers who were familiar with the roof space. All spoke of the soot - blackened timbers at the heart of the house . Their Father, Edmund and his C19th researcher and historian cousins talked much of the evidence written and otherwise, to all the boys.

Research on

The Lincolnshire Gentry and the Wars of the Roses

by Jonathan S. Mackman, August 1999

by Jonathan S. Mackman

Ph.D. Thesis, Department of History, University of York

August 1999, pages 302-303

The ancestry of the Burgh's of Gainsborough is described in the publication, "The Lincolnshire Gentry and the Wars of the Roses", by Jonathan S. Mackman (Ph.D. Thesis, Department of History, University of York, August 1999, pages 302-303 (online source: http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2492/1/DX210326.pdf), which states the following (without internal citations listed):

"The Burghs had been settled at Cowthorpe in the North Riding of Yorkshire from at least the thirteenth century, and only gained Lincolnshire interests in the fifteenth century. Richard Burgh, a retainer of Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal, Earl of Nottingham and later Duke of Norfok, left two sons, the eldest of whom, John, may have been the John Burgh who attested the Lincolnshire election of 1436. He died childless in 1438, and after the death of his wife, Isabel, in 1451, his lands passed to the Rouclyff family, the children of his younger brother, Thomas, who had married Elizabeth, widow of Sir William Lucy and the heiress of a junior branch of the Percy Earls of Northumberland. Their son, Sir Thomas, inherited only modest estates. He gained the manor of Couseby from his father, while his mother's lands consisted of the Northumberland barony of Mitford and the Lincolnshire manor of Gainsborough, which became his home. Sir Thomas joined the Yorkists from an early stage, possibly through his Stafford connections, becoming a friend and supporter of Edward IV, and the chief royal agent in Lincolnshire throughout Yorkist period. He was a prominent royal household officer, a Knight of the Body and Master of the Horse to Edward IV, was created a Knight of the Garter by Richard III, and was elevated to the peerage as Lord Burgh of Gainsborough by Henry VII in 1487. Sir Thomas died on 18 March 1496, and was buried at Gainsborough, where he built the famous Old Hall, probably as a replacement for the house destroyed prior to the 1470 Rebellion. He was succeeded by his son, Edward, but Thomas' successors failed to build upon his successful career, and the family died out during the sixteenth centry. John Burgh, escheator of Lincolnshire in 1463 and a Lindsey JP in 1470, may have been a brother of Sir Thomas, but there is no firm evidence...."

Reference Note: The "Stafford connections" mentioned above are referenced in the following two publications:

1) The above mentioned 1999 Thesis, which states the following: Page 284: "Sir Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough 1st Lord Burgh (c.1431-90)" married "Margaret Roos", and Page 60: the "Roos" family held "Staffordshire estates"; Page 188: "Burgh's personal associations lay elsewhere - Hastings, the Staffords, and even the Woodvilles"; Page: 209: "For Burgh's Stafford connections, see Rawcliffe, 'Staffords', pp.55-6, 200, 225" (see below).

2) Rawcliffe, Carole, "The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham 1394-1521" (Cambridge, 1978), pp.55-56, 200, 225. (FHL Book # 942, H2.), states the following: "The first known appointment to his post [of Surveyors General] dates from 1461 [1 April 1461], when Sir Thomas Burgh was given supervisory powers over all the Dowager Anne's estates, with a life annuity of 40 marks. Burgh's activities at court made it necessary for him to appoint a series of deputies.... Among their duties were the imposition and collection of entry fines, the inspection of ministers' accounts and the sale of timber; they were also expected to draw up leases and eal with a wide variety of legal business." Interestingly, an online account (http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasBorough(1BGainsborough).htm) of "Sir Thomas Burgh" also states the following: "Nothing for certain is known about his [Sir Thomas Brough's] early life, but he did serve in the great household of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (The Dukes castle of Kimbolton is enfeoffed to Sir Thomas in 1459), a senior but respected member of Henry VI’s government, from 1456/7, when he was paid ten marks per annum. Sir Thomas may have transferred to the Duchess Anne’s household, maintaining his Stafford connections even after his employment by the King, acting as a Surveyor General for the dowager Duchess (from 1461) and also as executor of her will in 1480. Sir Thomas also acted as feoffee for Henry, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Sir Thomas appears in recorded documents in 1455, at the death of his mother, as being aged '24 or more..."