Britons

TATE ROOTS IN THE BRITISH ISLES

The origin of the name Tait, Taite, Taitt, Taitte, Tate, Tatte, Tayt, Tayte, Teat, Teate, Teit, and Teite was a personal name in Norway in the eleventh century. The Scots made a favorite of this ancient British name for both boys and girls. It is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning the cheerful; and Tatum is a variation simply meaning one of the Tates; the word Tate is Norwegian meaning younger or “son of.”

The name of TATE, TAYTE, or TAIT was taken into England and Scotland at extremely early dates, probably by one of the Norsemen, who ravaged the coasts of the British Isles in ancient times. It is found on ancient records of Scotland, England, and Ireland and on early American records in various forms Teit, Teite, Taitte, Tayte, Tayt, Tait, Tate and others, of which the last two spellings mentioned are those most generally in use in America today.

Norwegian/Norsemen/Viking Ancestors

The Tate family settled in England in the ninth century, arriving from Scotland and Ireland. The first Tates reported their holdings in Northumbria, the land north of the Humber River which was settled by the Scandinavian sea pirates, as reported to William the Conqueror, and his agents, when he checked all land titles in England. The family was mentioned in deeds in Coventry as early as 1207. In the Church of St. Michael in that city was a chantry founded by one of the name, called “Tate’s Chantry.”

John Tate, of Coventry, held lands in the reign of Richard II. A descendent, Sir John Tate, Knight (1442-1515), twice Lord Mayor of London, Member of Parliament, was knighted by Henry VII 1497 at the Bridge Foot on the King’s entering London after the Battle of Blackheath. Sir Bartholomew Tate, of de Ia prey Abbey was a member of the British Parliament in 1496, Sir William Tate, a great grandson of Sir John Tate, of De la Pré Abbey, was a member of Parliament in 1592. Genealogists claim that our American Tate family descended from this line.

Nicholas Tate, appeared in the records of Cambridgeshire, England as early as the year 1273; the most notable of the name was Sir Henry Tate, trustee of the National Gallery, who presented to the British Nation the famous Tate collection and picture gallery then called the “Tate Gallery.” Today, Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom’s national collection of British and international art in a network of four art museums. The original is now called Tate Britain, London. Until 2000, it was known as the Tate Gallery, founded 1897.

Like many other names, early scribes spelled Tate as the fancy moved them, frequently it was spelled Taite. My branch of the family spells the name Tate, and we are descended from William Tate, who was born about 1585 in Northumberland, London, England. He died 1650 in England, was believed to be a son of Bartholomew Tate, Member of Parliament, and Dorothy Tate. He was a brother of Francis Tate, MP; Sir William Tate, MP and Dorothy Tanfield, and married the widow of David Bowerman Tate. He was the father of James Tate, son of William, born 1585.^.

Families of this name were resident at early dates in the Counties of Peebles, Northampton, Nottingham, Leicester, Warwick, Cambridge, and Limerick, as well in the city and vicinity of London. They were, for the most part, of the British landed gentry and yeomanry. Among the earliest records of the family in England are those of Nicholas Tate, of Cambridgeshire, in the year 1273, AD; and those of John Tate, of Warwickshire, in 1392.

Very ancient writings document the probable original roots of the Tate family dating before the year 992, and this family is mentioned in deeds relating to Coventry, as early as the reign of Henry III, who reigned from 1216-1272.

Our First John Tate

The first John Tate that researchers usually attribute to our line was living at Coventry, County Warwick, in and before the year 1392. He was the father of a son named William, (some researchers call him John), who was the father, by his wife Margarett, of Sir John and Thomas Tate, of whom the first, Sir John Tate, became Lord Mayor of London about the year 1473, and probably left at least one son, named John.

Thomas Tate, younger son of William (or John) and Margaret, was the father of Sir John and Sir Robert, of whom the first became Mayor of London in 1496 and was the father by his wife, Magdalen Harpenden, of Wales, of John Anthony, and Sir Bartholomew of whom John was the father by his wife, Elizabeth Marshall, daughter of Anthony and Margarett.

Sir Bartholomew Tate resided in Northamptonshire and married the widow Anne Befford, a daughter of Lawrence Saunders, Among his progeny were two sons, Bartholomew and Anthony, of whom the latter married Margarett, daughter of John Digby, and was the father by her of George and Saunders or Sanders, of whom the first resided in Nottinghamshire and left issue by his wife Barbara, daughter of Richard Stanley,of, among others, and a son named Anthony, who married Bridget, daughter of Henry Kirby, and was the father of George (died young), Henry, Anthony, William, George, Anne, Barbara, Mary, Catherine, Elizabeth, and Dorothy.

Bartholomew, elder son and heir of Sir Bartholomew Tate, of Northamptonshire, married Dorothy, daughter of Francis Tanfield, and was the father by her of Sir William, Jane, Anne, Martha, Dorothy, Francis, and Bartholomew, of whom Sir William owned lands in Warwickshire and Northampton, and died in 1617, leaving issue by his wife Ellinor, daughter of William, Lord Zouch, of five children, Zouch, William, Sir John, Mary and Elizabeth.

Here is the Tate story as compiled from “A Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank: But Uninvested With Heritable Honours,” “History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland,” & “Tate, of Burleigh Park Lineage.”

Knighthood

A knight is a person recognized and honored by a king, king’s deputy, or tribal leader for service to the monarch or country, especially, though not exclusively, in a military capacity. Usually, a knight was a soldier. Historically, in Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors who served to keep order among the tenants of lands controlled by their king, and defend the land against intruders. Knighthood usually conveyed power, and was often accompanied by grants of land, title, and other sources of income.

During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility, and knights were conferred the honorary title of “Sir.” By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior.

Often, a knight was a vassal who served as a fighter for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback. These knights were, then, military leaders who served a particular king, and were, therefore, knights of whatever land his king possessed.

A good example, in the paragraphs below, is “Sir William Tate, knight of De la Pré Abbey, and of Whitley, in the County of Warwick.” Knighthood was universally recognized as accomplishment of above average fighting skills.

Today, the title of knight is purely honorary, usually bestowed by a monarch, as in the British honours system, sometimes even for non-military service to the country.

Sir William Tate of Corfe Castle

Sir William Tate, knight of De la Pré Abbey, and of Whitley, in the county of Warwick, Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle, on the Isle of Purbeck.

The first stone of Corfe Castle was laid more than 1,000 years ago. Since then it’s seen its fair share of battles, mysteries and plots. It’s been a treasury, military garrison, royal residence and family home.

The keep was built in the early 12th century for King Henry I, William the Conqueror’s son. It was designed to be impressive – and it certainly was. Standing 21m tall and on the top of a 55m high hill, this gleaming tower of Purbeck limestone could be seen from miles around.

King Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, was the castle’s first royal owner.

William died in 1617, and was succeeded by his son, Zouche Tate, esquire of De la Pré Abbey, born in 1606.

History of De la Pre’ Abbey

Delapre Abbey and Gardens, Northhampton, England.png

De la Pré, (now called Delaprey) Abbey is a seventeenth century house with a large park (500 acres) and an 8 acre garden. There is a rock garden, haha, lake, woods, sculptures and walled garden. It was the Tate family home 1546 – 1764.

Originally a monastery for nuns, the abbey was surrendered to the crown during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, closing in 1538. After later use as a private residence, and then in war service, the abbey was converted to the library of the Northamptonshire Record Society. At this writing, the Abbey is open to the public, with the Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust managing the building.

1538 – Under the Dissolution of Churches, King Henry VIII forced the Abbey to surrender to the Crown.
1543 – The Crown rented the abbey and grounds to a tenant (Tate).
1550 – The Crown sold the De la Pré estate to the Tate family.
1756 – Sir Charles Hardy, Governor of New York, husband of Mary Tate, sold the estate to Edward Bouverie for £22,000.

The Tate family ownership lasted two centuries until the mid-18th century during which time they reconstructed and adapted the nunnery buildings to form a courtyard house, probably on the foundations of the original monastic buildings. Examples of 16th century detailing, mainly door heads, remain in the north and east ranges.

The Tate family were distinguished in national affairs. Bartholomew I (d1532) was a prominent London merchant and member of the Royal household, in military service for Henry VIII. He married Anne Saunders of Harrington in Northamptonshire.

It was Anne Saunders and her third husband Andrew Wadham and Anne’s son, Bartholomew Tate II, (d 1601), who took ownership of De la Pré. Bartholomew II became Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1585 and appears to have made De la Pré the principal family seat. He was the father of Sir William Tate (1559-1617) who was sheriff in 1603 and MP for the County in 1614, and of Francis Tate, a lawyer and antiquary and also an MP.

Sir William’s son Zouch Tate (1606-51) was MP in 1640 and was a zealous Parliamentarian who represented Northampton in the Long Parliament. Zouch, who was in possession of Delapré from 1617-1650, was responsible for major alterations to the house between around 1630-40, including the remodelling of the west entrance front to form a prestigious new entrance with a projecting porch in a recessed centre between two wings with shaped gables.

Zouch Tate also rebuilt the east range containing the kitchen, scullery and larder as the windows here are of early 17th century date. In 1749, Delapre was given to Captain, later Admiral, Sir Charles Hardy (circa 1714-80) on his marriage to Mary Tate. Mary died shortly after but Hardy remarried and undertook a number of alterations and remodelling of the house and also the erection of the coach house and stable block to the north of the house.

In order to provide space for entertaining, including a formal dining room and withdrawing room, the south range built by Mary Tate’s father Bartholomew was also remodelled and rebuilt and given a second story with a run of 12 sashed windows. In 1755 Hardy was knighted and made Governor of New York. As a consequence, he spent little further time at Delapre, and the house was advertised for let in 1756. Tenants included in 1762 two surgeons, Lyon and Litchfield, who used the house for their medical research in inoculation.

The Tate association with De la Pré was drawing to an end, and finally in 1764 the house and estate was sold to the Bouverie family.

The Tate Family Lineage

Generation No. 1

THOMAS TATE, of COVENTRY

THOMAS TATE, of COVENTRY, a mercer, was born circa 1400. His spouse is unknown, but they were parents of Sir Robert Tate and Sir John Tate, both of whom served as Lord Mayor of London, were both knighted, and both served as Members of Parliament. From the History of Parliament: John Tate b. by 1444, 2nd son of Thomas Tate of Coventry, Warwickshire.
Genealogists have long held that our American Tate family descends through this line. It is , but has not yet been proven, that Thomas was the son of John Thwaites Tate (1385-1461), and grandson of John of Thwaites (1350-). This line was descended from the Yorkshire, England Thwaites.

Some historians list Sir John of Thwaites, born 1350, of Lofthouse, Thwaites and Denton, West Yorkshire. He was married to Joan Thornton, born 1342, daughter of Peter Thornton and Lucia Hellesby.

Sir John Thwaites Tate, born 1385, Lofthouse, West Yorkshire, England married Lady Jane de Thornton, born 1406, daugfhter of Robert de Thornton. John died January 22, 1461, at Lofthouse, Yorkshire, England. Details of Lady Jane’s demise are uncertain.

Notes for Thomas Tate

A descendant, Sir Robert Tate, was Lord Mayor of London in 1488 and Robert’s younger brother, Sir John Tate was twice Lord Mayor. Sir William Tate, a great grandson of Sir John Tate, was a member of the British Parliament in 1592. Reference: History of Parliament online.

From the History of Parliament:

Sir Robert Tate, Lord Mayor of London
Birth: circa 1440
Hasfield, Gloucestershire, England
Death: December 15, 1500 (age 56-64)
Stockbury, Kent, England
Immediate Family:
Son of Sir Thomas Tate, of Coventry and unknown mother
Husband of Margery Tate, Lady
Father of Lady Mary Agnes Chandler; Robert Tate; Bridget Pauncefort and John Tate, of Clerkenwell
Brother of Sir John Tate

Sir Robert Tate, Lord Mayor of London, born circa 1440, at Hasfield, Gloucestershire, England, son of Thomas Tate, of Coventry and unknown mother, married Margery Wood, daughter of Richard Wood, Mayor of Coventry and Margaret Annes Wood. Robert and Margery were parents of Mary Agnes Chandler, Robert Tate, Bridget Pauncefort, and John Tate, of Clerkenwell. He was half brother of Henry Thwaites of Lund; Thomas Thwaites and John Thwaites.

Robert Tate Offices Held:

Sheriff 1481-2. Mayor 1488-9. M.P. London 1483 (bis), 1491; Auditor 1485-7; Master Mercers 1482, 1490, 1498. Died ca Dec 1500; Will (PCC 18 Moone) 18 Nov 1500; proved 26 Jan 1501. Source: The Aldermen of the City of London

Generation No. 2

SIR JOHN TATE (Lord Mayor of London) (ca 1442-1515)

Sir John Tate was born second son of Thomas Tate of Coventry and became a mercer of the City of London, initially apprenticed to his uncle, John Tate, a former (1473) Mayor of London. He held lands in the reign of Richard II, married Magdalen (Maud) Harpenden daughter of a Welsh knight, Sir John Harpenden. He and Magdalen had 3 sons, John, Anthony, and Bartholomew, of which the youngest, Bartholomew, was made his heir. The Tate family lived in the parish of All Hallows by the Tower, and later, in the parish of St. Dion’s, Backchurch.

John Tate was made an Alderman of London in 1463, appointed Sheriff of London for 1485 and elected Lord Mayor for 1496-97 and 1514–15,
and mayor of Calais (1505 and 1509). He was twice elected, in 1504 and 1510, as a Member of Parliament for the City of London. He was knighted 17 June 1497. by Henry VII at the Bridge Foot upon the King’s entering London after the Battle of Blackheath.

He was a generous benefactor to St. Anthony’s Hospital, St Benet Fink in the City of London in which connection John Stow in his Survey of London (1598) wrote of him as follows:

“In the year 1499, Sir John Tate, sometime ale-brewer, then a mercer, caused his brew house, called the Swan, near adjoining to the said free chapel, college, or hospital of St. Anthonie, to be taken down for the enlarging of the church, which was then new built, toward the building whereof the said Tate gave great sums of money, and finished in the year 1501. Sir John Tate deceased 1514, (sic) and was there buried under a fair monument by him prepared”.

Sir John requested in his will that 1,000 requiem masses be said for him within two months of his death. He died January 1515.

Offices Held

Warden, Mercers’ Co. 1480-1, master 1486-7, 1492-3, 1500-1, 1508-9; alderman, London 1485-d., sheriff 1485-6, auditor 1491-3, mayor 1496-7, June-Oct 1514; mayor, staple of Calais 1505, 1509; justiciary for Hanse merchants in London 1511; commr. subsidy, London 1504, 1512, 1514.4

Biography from History of Parliament

The following excerpt was published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, edition, by S.T. Bindoff, 1982:

John Tate was the son of a Coventry mercer, himself a near relative (nephew) of the John Tate, mercer and alderman of London, to whom his young namesake was apprenticed. Tate was admitted to the freedom of the company in 1465 and seven years later sued out the general pardon offered to merchants of the staple of Calais. In 1475 he and his elder brother Robert Tate, both living in Tower ward, were among the London merchants said to be worth £10 a year in lands or £100 in goods: at this time the two were trading jointly into the Netherlands. John Tate became an important stapler, exporting wool and wool fells in nine different ships bound for Calais in March 1502 in preparation for the Easter mart. In 1497 he bought a tenement in St. Nicholas parish, Calais, and the moiety of a hospice in Maisondieu Street; he acquired further property when his factor at Calais, his wife’s half-brother, fell into debt and appealed to him for assistance, offering in return lands and tenements in Calais and four small houses in Faringdon, Berkshire. In London he lived first in the parish of All Hallows by the Tower and later in the parish of St. Dionis Backchurch. (5)

As a warden of the Mercers Tate was chosen on 24 Apr. 1483 to ride to meet Edward V on his entry into London, and two days later was elected by the common council of the City to assist the chief butler at the coronation, which in the event became the coronation of Richard III. An alderman of London from March 1485, he was among those charged with defence precautions in July 1485; two years later, after Henry VII had overcome the first rebellion of the reign, Tate was sent on a deputation to the King at Kenilworth. The Cornish rising of 1497 touched London more nearly, and when Henry VII rode into the City after Blackheath he knighted Tate, then mayor, for his services in the ‘well guiding’ of the City and the victualling of the royal army. Thereafter Tate was frequently employed on city business. Thus in March 1503 he reported to the King the widespread opposition to the new charter granted to the Merchant Taylors and in May was one of those appointed to negotiate with the monarch for the confirmation of London’s charter, which the City hoped to see accompanied by the withdrawal of the Merchant Taylors’; in the same year he was empowered to discuss with the corporation of Exeter a dispute over scavage, and in December he was directed to take evidence on the subject. (6)

Both these issues were to come up in the next Parliament, to which Tate was elected on 30 Dec. 1503, after the death of Sir John Shaa. The first was by implication decided in favour of the Merchant Taylors by an Act (19 Hen. VII, c.7) removing from the mayor and aldermen control over all companies’ ordinances; the second was dealt with by an Act (19 Hen. VII, c.8) restricting scavage to goods sold by foreigners, but with the proviso that the City might levy the duty on denizens’ goods with the assent of the King and Council. In 1510, when Tate was again a Member, his company made a determined attempt to limit the new Act (I Hen. VIII, c.20) of tonnage and poundage made necessary by the accession of Henry VIII; although this passed without the desired amendments it did contain a special proviso for merchants of the staple. Tate was not re-elected in 1512, but he presided over the court of aldermen which approved the sending of a deputation, in which all the companies except the Merchant Taylors had agreed to take part, in support of a bill then before Parliament, ‘that all crafts shall hereafter be under the rule of the mayor and aldermen’; during the second session he was assigned to speak to the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and the lord privy seal in favour of this bill, which nevertheless failed. (7)

After his second mayoralty in 1514, when he replaced William Brown who had died in office, Tate asked the court of aldermen what his ‘ancienty or preeminence’ should be as the oldest alderman and the youngest to have been mayor twice. He did not long enjoy the distinction. In a long will, dated 3 Jan. 1515 and proved 18 days later, he asked to be buried in the collegiate church of St. Antholin, which he had rebuilt at his own cost, directed that 1,000 requiem masses should be said for him within two months of his death, and made charitable bequests totalling £1763 to religious houses in Coventry and London and to prisoners, the sick and the poor. He left to his wife, his executrix, the residue of his goods and all his lands in Berkshire, Calais, Essex and London, with remainder to his younger surviving son Bartholomew Tate. The exclusion of the elder son, to whom he left ‘little or nothing’, gave rise to contention and was criticized by the widow in her own will. Bartholomew Tate was the father of the Elizabethan Member of that name. (8)

Sources

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558 Author: Helen Miller Notes 1. City of London RO, Guildhall, rep. 1, f. 150. 2. City of London RO, jnl. 11, f. 90. 3. Date of birth estimated from admission to freedom of Mercers’ Co. Harl. 1504, f. 116; 1546, f. 64 (the first marriage ascribed to Tate in HP, ed. Wedgwood 1439-1509 (Biogs.), 841, was his nephew’s); Gt. Chron. of London, ed. Thomas and Thornley, 277. 4. Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co. ed. Lyell and Watney, 138, 229, 244, 294, 316, 344; City of London RO, jnl. 9, f. 71; 10, f. 79; 11, f. 190; letter bk. L, 225, 281, 289; CPR, 1494-1509, p. 447; LP Hen. VIII, i; Statutes, iii. 83, 118. 5. Coventry Leet Bk. (EETS cxxxiv), i. 246; PCC 4 Holder; List of mercers (T/S Mercers’ Hall); CPR, 1467-77, p. 315; Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co., 79; Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland, ed. Smit, ii. 1847; E122/79/9; CCR, 1485-1500, no. 992; C1/272/12-14. 6. Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co., 138, 147; City of London RO, jnl. 9, ff. 21v, 71, 82, 150v; 10, ff. 281, 285v; rep. 1, ff. 129, 147v; Gt. Chron. of London, 277. 7. Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co. 346 seq.; City of London RO, rep. 2, ff. 146, 148. 8. City of London RO, rep. 1, f. 136v; 2, ff. 178v, 197v; PCC 4, 35 Holder; W. K. Jordan, Charities of London, 1480-1660, p. 352. Ref: http://www.geni.com

Biography

John Tate was the son of a Coventry mercer, himself a near relative of the John Tate, mercer and alderman of London, to whom his young namesake was apprenticed. Tate was admitted to the freedom of the company in 1465 and seven years later sued out the general pardon offered to Merchants of the Staple of Calais.

In 1475 he and his elder brother, Robert Tate, both living in Tower ward, were among the London merchants said to be worth £10 a year in lands or £100 in goods: at this time the two were trading jointly into the Netherlands.

John Tate became an important stapler, exporting wool and wool fells in nine different ships bound for Calais in March 1502 in preparation for the Easter mart. In 1497 he bought a tenement in St. Nicholas parish, Calais, and the moiety of a hospice in Maisondieu Street; he acquired further property when his factor at Calais, his wife’s half-brother, fell into debt and appealed to him for assistance, offering in return lands and tenements in Calais and four small houses in Faringdon, Berkshire. In London he lived first in the parish of All Hallows by the Tower and later in the parish of St. Dionis Backchurch.

As a warden of the Mercers, Tate was chosen on 24 Apr. 1483 to ride to meet King Edward V on his entry into London, and two days later, was elected by the common council of the City to assist the chief butler at the coronation, which in the event became the coronation of Richard III.

An alderman of London from March 1485, he was among those charged with defence precautions in July 1485; two years later, after Henry VII had overcome the first rebellion of the reign, Tate was sent on a deputation to the King at Kenilworth. The Cornish uprising of 1497 touched London more nearly, and when Henry VII rode into the City after Blackheath, he knighted Tate, then mayor, for his services in the ‘well guiding’ of the City and the victualling of the royal army. Thereafter Tate was frequently employed on city business.

Thus in March 1503, he reported to the King the widespread opposition to the new charter granted to the Merchant Taylors, and in May was one of those appointed to negotiate with the monarch for the confirmation of London’s charter, which the City hoped to see accompanied by the withdrawal of the Merchant Taylors. In the same year, he was empowered to discuss with the corporation of Exeter, a dispute over scavage, and in December he was directed to take evidence on the subject.

Both these issues were to come up in the next Parliament, to which Tate was elected on 30 Dec. 1503, after the death of Sir John Shaa. The first issue was, by implication, decided in favour of the Merchant Taylors by an Act (19 Hen. VII, c.7) removing from the mayor and aldermen control over all companies’ ordinances. The second issue was dealt with by an Act (19 Hen. VII, c.8) restricting scavage to goods sold by foreigners, but with the proviso that the City might levy the duty on denizens’ goods with the assent of the King and Council.

In 1510, when Tate was again a Member, his company made a determined attempt to limit the new Act (I Hen. VIII, c.20) of tonnage and poundage made necessary by the accession of Henry VIII. Although this passed without the desired amendments, it did contain a special proviso for merchants of the staple.

Tate was not re-elected in 1512, but he presided over the court of aldermen which approved the sending of a deputation, in which all the companies, except the Merchant Taylors, had agreed to take part, in support of a bill then before Parliament, ‘that all crafts shall hereafter be under the rule of the mayor and aldermen.’ During the second session he was assigned to speak to the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and the lord privy seal in favour of this bill, which nevertheless failed.

John Tate Final Will

In a long will, dated 3 Jan. 1515 and proved 18 days later, he asked to be buried in the collegiate church of St. Antholin, which he had rebuilt at his own cost, directed that 1,000 requiem masses should be said for him within two months of his death, and made charitable bequests totalling £1,763 to religious houses in Coventry and London and to prisoners, the sick and the poor.

He left to his wife, his executrix, the residue of his goods and all his lands in Berkshire, Calais, Essex and London, with the remainder given to his youngest surviving son Bartholomew Tate. The exclusion of the elder son, to whom he left ‘little or nothing’, gave rise to contention and was criticized by the widow in her own will. Bartholomew Tate was the father of the Elizabethan Member of that name.

Will-Ref Volumes: 1509-1558 Author: Helen Miller

Footnotes:

1. City of London RO, Guildhall, rep. 1, f. 150.
2. City of London RO, jnl. 11, f. 90.
3. Date of birth estimated from admission to freedom of Mercers’ Co. Harl. 1504, f. 116; 1546, f. 64 (the first marriage ascribed to Tate in HP, ed. Wedgwood 1439-1509 (Biogs.), 841, was his nephew’s); Gt. Chron. of London, ed. Thomas and Thornley, 277.
4.Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co. ed. Lyell and Watney, 138, 229, 244, 294, 316, 344; City of London RO, jnl. 9, f. 71; 10, f. 79; 11, f. 190; letter bk. L, 225, 281, 289; CPR, 1494-1509, p. 447; LP Hen. VIII, i; Statutes, iii. 83, 118.
5.Coventry Leet Bk. (EETS cxxxiv), i. 246; PCC 4 Holder; List of mercers (T/S Mercers’ Hall); CPR, 1467-77, p. 315; Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co., 79; Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland, ed. Smit, ii. 1847; E122/79/9; CCR, 1485-1500, no. 992; C1/272/12-14.
6.Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co., 138, 147; City of London RO, jnl. 9, ff. 21v, 71, 82, 150v; 10, ff. 281, 285v; rep. 1, ff. 129, 147v; Gt. Chron. of London, 277.
7.Acts Ct. of Mercers’ Co. 346 seq.; City of London RO, rep. 2, ff. 146, 148.
8. City of London RO, rep. 1, f. 136v; 2, ff. 178v, 197v; PCC 4, 35 Holder; W. K. Jordan, Charities of London, 1480-1660, p. 352.

Generation No. 3

SIR BARTHOLOMEW TATE of Laxton, Northants

Bartholomew Tate, (1486-1532), born in Laxton, Northants,
Northamptonshire , England, son of Sir John Tate and Magdalen (Maud) Harpenden, married Anne Saunders (d.1564), daughter of Laurence Saunders of Harrington, Northamptonshire, and they had six children together. He also had two sons and four daughters from another relationship. He died in 1533 at the age of 47.

In 1475 John and his elder brother Robert Tate, both living in Tower ward, were among the elite London merchants said to be worth £10 tax a year in lands or £100 in goods The Tates were well known at the social level of the royal families. Bartholomew’s father was chief butler at the coronation of Richard III; he was chosen on 24 Apr. 1483 to ride to greet king Edward V on his entry into London; Henry VII rode into London after the battle of Blackheath and knighted Tate, then Lord Mayor,

Sir Bartholomew Tate became a member of the royal household and held office in Calais, probably as vice-marshal or marshal. Tate himself must have been employed by Elizabeth before her accession to the throne, as she gave him a grant ‘for his service’ in the reign of Queen Mary.

Generation No. 4

BARTHOLOMEW TATE of De la Pré Abbey

Bartholomew Tate, Esquire, born April 1529 in De la Pré Abbey, Northamptonshire, England, served as a Member of Parliament representing Coventry, Warwickshire and De la Pré. He married (1) Elinor or Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Pauncefote circa 1557, and (2) Dorothy, daughter of Francis Tanfield of Gayton, Northamptonshire.

Notes for Bartholomew Tate b 1529

From the History of Parliament, Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: S. M. Thorpe:

Family and Education

Bartholomew Tate b 1529, first son, and heir, of Sir Bartholomew Tate of Laxton, Northamptonshire, by Anne Saunders (died 1564), daughter of Laurence Saunders of Harrington, Northamptonshire, probably the widow of one Befford. Bartholomew was married by 1550, (1) Elinor or Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Pauncefote; circa 1557, married (2) Dorothy, daughter of Francis Tanfield of Gayton, Northamptonshire; they had 3 sons, including Francis and William, and 3 or 4 daughters.

Offices Held: Freeman, Northampton; Escheator, Northamptonshire. 1560-2, Justice of the Peace. by 1582, “q.” 1584-d.; Sheriff 1585-6.

Biography

In the fifteenth century the Tates were London merchants. Tate’s father became a member of the royal household and held office in Calais, probably as vice-marshal or marshal. Tate himself must have been employed by Elizabeth before her accession, as she gave him a grant ‘for his service’ in the reign of Queen Mary.

After his father’s death, his mother married Sir Thomas Longueville, but the latter died without surviving issue in 1536 and Tate was probably brought up either on his father’s Coventry manor, Whitley, or by his mother’s family, the Saunders.

Some time between 1544 and 1548 his mother married Andrew, a younger son of Nicholas Wadham of Merrifield, Somerset, and on 13 Feb. 1548 they bought De la Pré Abbey from John Mershe with remainder to Bartholomew. The following day Mershe obtained a licence to alienate the property to Tate’s two Saunders uncles, probably by way of a settlement. Tate and his mother immediately built a range of rooms on the site of the old nunnery and it may have been to these that he brought his first wife, his cousin Elizabeth Pauncefote, granddaughter of Robert Tate, and her father’s heir.

She evidently died young, for in 1557 Tate enfeoffed his Kent manor of Stokebury to a group of Tanfield feoffees; and his eldest son, William, was baptized in 1559. Elizabeth Pauncefote has been described as dying without issue, but for two reasons it seems probable that she left a daughter: in the first place Tate retained the Pauncefote estates, and secondly in about 1576 his eldest daughter, Dorothy, married Robert Tanfield, his second wife’s brother.(4)

Tate had many relatives who might have assisted him to obtain advancement: his cousin, Richard Tate, the ambassador, who left Tate’s brother Anthony a £20 annuity; his second wife’s family, the Tanfields, prominent in legal circles; her cousins the Caves, royal officials; and above all his cousin, Sir Christopher Hatton.

His friends, and the marriages arranged for his children show him to have been a member of Hatton’s circle, yet Tate does not himself appear to have derived any benefit from his relatives. The Tanfields undoubtedly promoted the legal career of his son Francis and the connexion with the Hattons probably helped his son William to a seat in Parliament.

In the late 1550s and the 1560s Tate was occupied in reorganizing his Northamptonshire estates, dividing his time between his Coventry manor of Whitley and the abbey at Delapré. In 1564 he was recommended by the bishop of his diocese for inclusion on the commission of the peace as ‘an earnest furtherer’ of religion, a claim which receives no confirmation from the Catholic sympathies of the husbands he chose for his daughters. He does not appear on the commission until the eighties, and then played only a minor role in county affairs. He served the usual term as sheriff and was occasionally called upon to act on special commissions.

In Coventry, Tate was a well known figure as the owner of one of the principal manors within the city boundaries, and the descendant of prominent benefactors of the borough. A dispute over commons was settled by arbitration in 1569, and there was no quarrel outstanding in April 1573 when Tate was elected to replace Edmund Brownell, deceased, who had represented Coventry in the first session of this Parliament.

In 1581 he was named one of the trustees, under Thomas Dudley’s will, of property left for charitable uses. By 1593 there was a further dispute: a reference in the council book to £23 in gold sent to London for Mr. Tate’s suits is presumably the prelude to the agreement in 1594 between Tate and the city concerning lands and tithes at Stivichall and Stretton.(6)

In Parliament Tate has only one recorded committee, 11 Feb. 1576, on the poor law. It may have been he who, about this time, wrote a treatise, wrongly ascribed to his son Francis, offering advice on the management of the House of Commons to a Privy Councillor—possibly the comparatively inexperienced Hatton, who is known to have been seeking advice.(7)

Tate died 23 Apr. 1601, and was buried at Hardingstone. He had expanded his estates shortly before his death by the acquisition from the Crown of the manor of Cotton and the purchase of Byfield rectory from Valentine Knightley. The bulk of his estates descended to his eldest son William, for whom in 1597 he had negotiated a splendid match with the eldest daughter, and presumptive coheir, of Edward, Lord Zouche of Harringworth.(8)

Notes

1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
2. PCC 24 Thower, 29 Tashe; Vis. Northants. ed. Metcalfe:, 45, 198; Vis. Notts. (Harl. Soc. iv), 84; the pedigrees are confused about the numbering and names of his mother’s husbands, Wadham being generally given as her second.
3.Northampton Recs. ii. 45.
4. W. K. Jordan, Charities of London, 137, 271, 299, 300, 352, 405; S. Thrupp, Merchant Class of Medieval London, 369; Chronicle of Calais (Cam. Soc. xxxv), xxxix. 100, 163; PCC 16 Pynnyng; Baker, Northants. i. 27; Lipscomb, Bucks. iv. 315; Wards 7/26/44; R. M. Serjeantson, Hist. DelaprÃ©;, 33; J. Wake and W. A. Pantin, Northants. Past and Present, ii. no. 5, 230; CPR, 1547-8, p. 332; 1555-7, p. 434; 1556-9, p. 321.
5.CPR, 1558-60, pp. 12, 405; 1560-3, p. 326; Wards 7/26/44; Bridges, Northants. i. 363, 364, 365, 392; ii. 35; E. St. John Brooks, Sir Christopher Hatton, 68-70, 159; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 36; APC, xix. 68; xxii. 546; xxiv. 41; Lansd. 49, f. 171.
6. Jordan, loc. cit.; Coventry Bk. of Payments, ff. 17, 44, 69; Coventry Loans, Benefactions and Charities (1802), p. 61; T. W. Whitley, Parl. Rep. Coventry, 59.
7.CJ, i. 105; Harl. 253, ff. 32 et seq.; Neale, Parlts. i. 422-4; Sir Harris Nicholas, Sir C. Hatton, 216-18, 226.
8. C142/265/58; PRO, cal. and index pat. rolls 31-7 Eliz. 32 (17), p. 24, 37-43 Eliz. 41(11); Baker, ii. 276; CP, xii. 951-2.

9. Bartholomew Tate died in 1601, and was survived by his eldest son, Sir William Tate, knight of De la Pré Abbey, and of Whitley Castle, in the county of Warwick. M.P. for Corfe Castle. Retrieved from: A Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain And Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank: But Uninvested With Heritable Honours. History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Tate, of Burleigh Park. Lineage.

Generation No. 5

SIR WILLIAM TATE of Corfe Castle

Sir William Tate, knight, was born 1559 at De la Pré Abbey. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche of Haryngworth, and Eleanor _____, of Eversley, Hampshire, England. They had four sons and three daughters, of whom the eldest son, and heir, was Zouch Tate. Sir William died at the age of 58 in 1617.

Notes for William Tate b 1559

SIR WILLIAM TATE (1559–1617) was an English Member of Parliament. He was the son of Bartholomew Tate of De la Pré Abbey, and brother of Francis Tate. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, and entered the Middle Temple (of law), one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn. It is located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London.

He was first in Parliament as member for Corfe Castle, in 1593. He succeeded his father in 1601, inheriting De la Pré Abbey. (http://historyofparliamentonline.org/, Tate, William (1559-1617), of De la Pré, Northants.)

Tate was an associate of Richard Knightley. He used De la Pré Abbey as a centre for local Puritans. (REF: Andrew Cambers, Godly Reading: Print, Manuscript and Puritanism in England, 1580-1720 (2011), p. 180; Google Books.)

He brought the physician John Cotta to the area, from the University of Cambridge, in 1603. (Dictionary of National Biography, Cotta or Cottey, John, M.D. (1575?–1650?), physician and author, by Alsager Vian. Published 1887.)

He was appointed High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1603-04. and was knighted in 1606, and elected to Parliament for Northamptonshire in 1614. (Roger Kenneth French, Andrew Wear (editors), The Medical Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (1989), p. 14 note 12; Google Books.)

Sir William Tate married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Oliver Beecher and was mother to the M.P. Sir William Beecher. They had four sons and three daughters. Their daughter, Elizabeth married Sir William Beecher, (1628-94).

Family and Education

He was born the second son, but first surviving son of Bartholomew Tate of De la Pré Abbey and his second wife Dorothy Tanfield. He had one other brother, Francis. Educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford in 1576, at the age of 17. He married in 1597, Elizabeth Zouche, (d.1617), daughter and coheir of Edward, 11th Lord Zouche. He was knighted 2 Feb. 1606, and died 14 Oct. 1617.

Biography

Originally from Coventry, Tate’s forbears made their fortune as London brewers: three served as lord mayor between 1473 and 1515, one of whom, Sir John Tate, represented the City in the 1504 and 1510 parliaments. The family bought De la Pré Abbey, Northamptonshire in 1548. Educated with his younger brother Francis Tate, he was probably intended for a legal career until the death of his elder brother in 1580 left him as heir.

Tate represented Corfe Castle in 1593 in the interest of the manorial lord, his cousin, Sir William Hatton, alias Newport. When the latter’s estates were seized by the Crown in the following year, for payment of debts of £42,000 owed by the late Sir Christopher Hatton, Tate and his brother were granted a lease of the extent.

Despite the parliamentary patronage thus placed at his disposal, he did not sit again until 1614; in any case, his tenure as sheriff of Northamptonshire rendered him ineligible in 1604. In February 1605 he signed the petition against the deprivation of ministers who refused to subscribe to the new ecclesiastical canons, but quickly submitted when summoned before the Privy Council.

He was otherwise a conspicuously loyal Crown servant: in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot he conducted a rigorous search at Harrowden, seat of the Catholic Lord Vaux; and when a controversy arose over purveyance in 1613, he urged co-operation with the purveyors, ‘lest we should seem wholly opposite to give respect in extraordinary necessities to supply of His Majesty’s wants’.¹⁶

Appointed a deputy lieutenant in 1607, Tate gradually took over the leadership of Northamptonshire’s western division from Sir Richard Knightley, and despite health problems, he succeeded the latter as Knight of the Shire in 1614.¹⁷

He made no recorded speeches in the Commons, but was named to several committees: he was one of the delegation appointed to confer with the Lords about the bill settling the succession rights of Princess Elizabeth’s children (14 Apr.), and was also appointed to the committee drafting a petition which condemned the new order of baronetcy as ‘dishonourable to the state’ (23 May).

Towards the end of the session he was included on three committees appointed to consider what action to take in the escalating privilege dispute with the Lords over Bishop Neile’s criticism of the Commons’ debates on impositions (27 May, 30 May, 1 June).¹⁸

Tate died at De la Pré on 14 Oct. 1617. He bequeathed £1,500 apiece to his younger brother Edward, 11th Lord Zouche, both his executor and guardian of his heir, Zouche Tate, who sat for Northampton in the Short and Long Parliaments until his exclusion at Pride’s Purge.¹⁹

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629. Authors: Virginia C.D. Moseley / Simon Healy

Notes:

1.Vis. Northants. ed. Metcalfe, 199. Bartholomew was clearly the eldest: Al. Ox.
2.Al. Ox.; M. Temple Admiss.; MTR, 292.
3. C142/265/58.
4. Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 139.
5. C142/365/149.
6.Musters, Beacons, Subsidies ed. J. Wake (Northants. Rec. Soc. iii), 83; E179/157/398.
7. C181/1, ff. 24, 117.
8.List of Sheriffs comp. A. Hughes (PRO, L. and I. ix), 94.
9. Northants. RO, Northampton Bor. Recs. 3/1, f. 307v.
10. Ibid. f. 130v; Musters, Beacons, Subsidies, 119-21.
11. Northants. RO, W(A)4/VII/11J.
12. C181/2, f. 30v.
13. E359/5; E401/2409, 401/2419, 401/2420.
14. C181/2, ff. 90v, 117v, 260v.
15. Bridges, Northants. i. 365; MTR, 227; Vis. Northants. 141, 198-9.
16. C66/1442/15; SP14/12/69; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 491, 496; CSP Dom. 1603-11, p. 256; HMC Buccleuch, iii. 154.
17.HMC Buccleuch, iii. 160, 164; Northants. Ltcy. Pprs. ed. J. Goring and J. Wake (Northants. Rec. Soc. xxvii), pp. xiii-xiv.
18.Procs. 1614 (Commons), 82, 322, 365, 381, 405; Add. 34218, f. 120.
19. PROB 11/130, ff. 479v-82v; WARD 9/162, f. 273v.

Generation No. 6

WILLIAM TATE of Northumberland, England

WilliamTate, son of Sir William Tate, was born about 1585 in Northumberland, England. He married the widow of David Bowerman Tate, Katherine ______, born in 1585. William Tate died about 1650 in Northumberland, London, England. Katherine’s demise is unknown, although death is believed tohave occurred in Northumberland, London, England.

Notes for William Tate b 1585

William had three brothers and three sisters. His brother Zouche was the heir apparent for the estate at De la Pré. It is possible that he relocated elsewhere to pursue his own interests, since few people desired to be under the Lordship of a younger brother. William and Katherine had one known child christened at St, Katherine, London, England in 1618.

Generation No. 7

JAMES TATE of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England

James (1) Tate, son of William, was born 1 Aug. 1615 at Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. He was christened on 1 Sept. 1615 at All Saints church, Newcastle Upon Tyne. He emigrated to America via Barbados in 1635, age 17. In 1636 he married Mary Evans, born about 1618 in England, daughter of William and Katherine Evans.

Their son, James (2), was born in York Co., Va. in 1638, married in 1685 and died in 1727 in York County, Virginia Colony. Son of James (2), Robert, had a son John.
REF: Ancestry Message Board Tates of Northumberland

Mary Ann’s father, also an emmigrant, was born circa 1595 in Yorkshire, England, died October 21, 1657 in Elizabeth City, Colony of Virginia. Mary Ann died August 1665 in York County, Colony of Virginia. James and Mary Ann were parents of James (2) Tate, Ann Tate, and Elizabeth Tate.

Recommended next page: Colonists (Tate generations in Colonial America)