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appears first in 1310) proved before the justices of Appleby his right to the manor of Querton; it had descended to him from his nephew Robert, to whom it had been given by 'Isabel, daughter of Jordan.' Gilbert had improved his fortunes by marrying Emma Hastings, co-heiress of the manor of Croglin, in Cumberland; and his descendants have ever since borne the 'maunch,' or lady's sleeve, the ensign of the great family of Hastings. In 1304 Gilbert and Emma settled the manor of Croglin on their son Henry and his wife Margaret by service of a rose '-i.e. on condition of his presenting them yearly with a rose. Through Henry, Hugh, William, and John we descend to Sir Thomas Wharton, who attended the Duke of Bedford in France when that prince was regent there,' in 1422-35." This Sir Thomas was father of Henry, whose son, another Thomas, was 'clerk of the wars with Scotland,' died about 1520, and left a son who became the first Lord Wharton.

Other branches of the family settled at Gilling, Kirkby Thore, Crosby Garrett, and elsewhere; and several persons of the name have attained eminence in literary and other pursuits; but of these no account can here be given. The following pages are concerned with the six Barons of Wharton, the first two of whom were named Thomas, the second two Philip, the fifth Thomas (the Marquis), and the sixth Philip (the Duke).

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"He was a masterful man, a 'tyrant lord,' as his deadly enemies, the Maxwells, called him."-E. R. WHARTON.

Thomas Wharton was the eldest son of Thomas Wharton, of Wharton Hall, and his wife Agnes Warcup, of Snydale, Yorkshire, and was born about the year 1495. Throughout his life the relation of England and Scotland was one of hostility-often open

war. The marriage of James Stuart (James IV. of Scotland) with Margaret Tudor (daughter of Henry VII. and sister of Henry VIII.) kept the strife in abeyance for awhile, and when it was renewed James was slain at the decisive battle of Flodden (1514). Young Wharton was early initiated into the methods of border warfare, served on raiding expeditions into Scotland, and by his energy and courage gradually attained distinction.

In 1518 he married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Bryan Stapleton, of an ancient family, whose seat was Wighill, near Tadcaster, on the River Wharfe. She bore him six children, two of whom died in infancy; the others were (1) Thomas, the second Baron, (2) Henry, (3) Joanna, who married William Pennington, of Muncaster, county Cumberland, and (4) Agnes, who became the wife of Sir Richard Musgrave, of Hartley Castle, Westmorland, and had a daughter Eleanor, who married Sir Robert Bowes, of Aske, near Richmond, Yorkshire, and to whom some further reference will be made. Wharton was placed on the Commission of the Peace in Cumberland (1524), and had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him by Henry VIII. at Windsor, on June 20th, 1527.

In that year the Reformation in England is usually said to have begun, inasmuch as Henry VIII. then openly sought to procure from the Pope the divorce of his wife, Catherine of Aragon; which led to his breach with the Pope and the passing of the Act of Supremacy, constituting him "the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England," with power to "repress and extirpate all errors, heresies, and other enormities and abuses." The Reformation was, however, due not merely to the will of the King, but to many other causes, such as the revival of learning and the growing conviction of "the truth, usefulness, sufficiency and excellency of the HOLY SCRIPTURES, and the people's right to have them fully in their own language, and also their duty to read, study, and search the

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Scriptures and take them for their only unerring rule of faith, worship, and manners.'

But Sir Thomas Wharton was not a religious reformer. His chief interest in the Reformation was, like that of his royal master, personal and political; and in his religion he advanced no further than the King, who prided himself to the last on being "Defender of the Faith," hanging Roman Catholics who denied his supremacy, and burning Protestants who rejected the Roman Catholic doctrines he enjoined. Wharton was returned member for Appleby to a Parliament subservient to the wishes of the King in his quarrel with the Pope (1529). In the same year he was made Sheriff of Cumberland, and shortly afterwards appointed one of the Commissioners for the redress of outrages committed on the border, and Captain of Cockermouth. He was also associated as comptroller, with Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the government of the marches towards Scotland, and in this capacity he is said to have done the King great service by his wise counsel and experience.

He acted as a visitor of the monasteries in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Northumberland, the destruction of which, along with all similar strongholds of Papal influence throughout the kingdom, was resolved upon on account of their having become abodes of idleness and corruption, and still more on account of their immense wealth, which was coveted by the King and his hungry courtiers. In the "Pilgrimage of Grace," which followed the dissolution of the lesser Houses in 1536, the rebels gathered at Kirkby Stephen, "the nest of all traitors," and marched to Wharton Hall (October 18th), to compel its owner to take part in their cause. But not finding him at home," they took his eldest son [Thomas], and appointed to meet on the morrow at Kirkby Stephen, which they did, and then went to Lammerside Hall, thinking to find Sir Thomas and other gentlemen with Mr. Warcopp there, but found * Lord Wharton's Instructions (Clause 16).

only servants, so Pulleyne took the keys of the house and appointed a day for Sir Thomas and Mr. Warcopp to come in, or else to lose their goods." Sir Thomas had prudently fled to the Duke of Norfolk, and served under him in putting down the insurrection. William Stapleton made the confession at York (October 25th) that "he was moved by a letter from Sir Thomas Wharton, who had married his sister [Eleanor Stapleton, of Wighill], of the continued danger he was in among the commoners of Westmorland of loss both of life and substance, and thought that by reason of his wife's friends he should live more quietly in Yorkshire" [where he had purchased the manor of Healaugh, adjoining Wighill]. Wharton was one of the King's representatives at the conference with Aske and his followers, at York (November 24th), and was present at Appleby (December 20th) at the reading of the King's proclamation of pardon to the northern insurgents. At a later date he was a Commissioner under the Act for the dissolution of Chantries, which had been founded for the maintenance of priests to say mass for the souls of the founders; but he was not in favour of further ecclesiastical reform, and voted in Parliament against several measures proposed in that direction.

In 1542 war with Scotland broke out afresh; and James V. sent an armed force of 13,000 Scots across the Cumberland border, under the command of his favourite, Oliver Sinclair. Sir Thomas Wharton, then Captain of Carlisle Castle, received intelligence of their approach, summoned the cavalry of the West Marches, and at the head of 2,000 men advanced to intercept them. Having carefully watched their movements, he suddenly attacked them at Solom, or Solway Moss, on November 24th; and, being entangled between the River Eske in front and an impassable morass on the left, they fell into a panic and suffered a terrible disaster. Twelve hundred Scotsmen, including "the chiefest of all the nobility," among whom were Oliver Sinclair and Lord Maxwell, Admiral of Scotland, were taken prisoners, and many

seven men.

were slain or drowned; whilst the English lost only On hearing the fatal news at Lochmaben, James was distracted with grief and died soon afterwards, leaving the Crown to his infant daughter Mary (Queen of Scots and mother of James VI. and I.). In his "History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland," John Knox wrote of this event ::

"His constant complaint was, 'Oh, fled Oliver? Is Oliver taken ? Oh, fled Oliver?' And these words in his melancholy, and as it were carried away in a trance, repeated he from time to time to the hour of his death [December 18th]. In the meantime was the Queen delivered, the 8th day of December, of Mary, that then was born and now does reign for a plague to this realm, as the progress of her whole life had to this day declares. [Mary fled to England in 1568, and was executed in 1587.] The certainty that a daughter was born to him coming to his ears, he turned from such as spake with him and said [in allusion to the Crown coming to the Stuarts by marriage with a Bruce]: 'The devil go with it; it will end as it began: it came from a woman, and it will end in a woman [a prediction not fulfilled, inasmuch as Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, by whom she had a son, James I.].

The overthrow of the Scots at Solway Moss contributed greatly to Sir Thomas Wharton's advancement. He received from Henry VIII. a letter of thanks for his signal service; and on March 18th, 1543-4, his Majesty's Letters Patent creating him Baron of Wharton. He was summoned to Parliament January 30th, 1545, and took his place among the peers, being about fifty years of age. In the same year his elder son Thomas was knighted by the Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset, Protector, at Norham Castle, when carrying on war with Scotland. Lord Wharton continued his activity on the borders for many years. He was appointed Warden of the West Marches, and at a later date of the Middle and East Marches.

At the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. (1547) we find Lord Wharton writing, in one of his numerous letters preserved among the State Papers: "My son Henry and John Musgrave, with 300 men, overthrew the Scots at Wamphrey near Lockwood." In the same year, along with the Earl of Lennox,

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