Sir Thomas Mede, Kt.

Thomas Mede, of St. Mary Redcliffe, was the sheriff of Bristol in 1446. A brass rubbing in Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: Parish: St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol Inscription: Thomas Mede, thrice mayor (1475) Coat of Arms: Gules a chevron ermine between three trefoils slipped argent. Sir Thomas Mede is probably the father of "Thomas Mede of Somerset" who went to Clavering, Essex, England in about 1470 and died there in 1504. The connection between Sir Thomas Mede of Wraxall, Somerset, and Thomas Mede in Clavering, Essex, England, is based on three pieces of circumstantial evidence.

First, the names. There were three generations of Thomas Mede(s) in Somerset and five or six generations of Thomas Mede(s) or Meade(s) in Essex, England.

Second, the coat of arms. Several Meades in Essex, England used the same coat of arms: a chevron ermine bewteen three trefoils slipped argent.

Third, Clavering. The niece of Thomas Mede of Wraxall, Isabel Mede, married Maurice de Bekeley. Maurice was related to Elizabeth de Berkeley (his father's first cousin), who owned the manor of Clavering, Essex. The manor passed from her to her husband, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and from him to his son-in-law, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.. Thomas Mede of Clavering moved to Clavering, Essex, in about 1470, dying there in 1504. Possibly he was rewarded with land for supporting the Berkeley family at the Battle of Nibley Green, or for supporting the Earl of Warwick in 1470, or simply to help out a cousin.

Source Citation

"Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/3MZT-SPZ : accessed 22 August 2012), entry for Thomas (Sir) /Mede/.