Thomas Northmore (c.1643-1713) of CleveVivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.852, pedigree of Northmore of Cleve in the parish of St Thomas, Exeter, in Devon was a Barrister-at-Law, a Master in ChanceryVivian, 1895, p.852 and a Member of Parliament for Okehampton in Devon 1695–1708.Eveline Cruickshanks / Andrew A. Hanham, biography of Northmore, Thomas (c.1643-1713), of St. Thomas Nigh, Exeter, Devon and the Inner Temple, published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Origins He was the 4th son of John Northmore (d.1671) of Well in the parish of South Tawton and of Okehampton and East Ash,Cruickshanks all in Devon, an Attorney of the Court of King's Bench and Forester of Dartmoor, by his wife Joan Stronge (d.1686) a daughter of John Stronge of Torr HillVivian, 1895, p.852 (alias ThornhillCruickshanks). Thomas's eldest brother was John Northmore (1635/6-1713) who in 1684 was appointed as the first town clerk of Okehampton.Vivian, 1895, p.852; Cruickshanks Thomas's younger brother was Jeffery Northmore (1643-1724) of Well, whose descendants by his second wife Grace Risdon continued at Cleve and Well. Jeffery's great grandson was Thomas Northmore (1766–1851),Vivian, 1895, p.853 writer, inventor, geologist and antiquary.
Career In 1705 he purchased the manor of Cleve in the parish of St Thomas, Exeter.Cruickshanks In 1695 Northmore was elected as one of the two Members of Parliament for Okehampton. As a lawyer of the Inner Temple he acted as a business agent to various members of the Devonshire gentry, including Richard Coffin (1623-1700) of PortledgeVivian, 1895, p.210 in the parish of Alwington, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1685,Cruickshanks; Sheriff in 1683 per Vivian, p.210 to whom he acted as Sheriff-Deputy.Cruickshanks Following the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion, he supervised the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys, commencing on 25 August 1685. He was ordered by Jeffreys to arrange for the whipping of prisoners "only in the greater and more general markets", to economise on expenditure. He informed Coffin that about 400 rebels had been condemned at Taunton and 700 at Wells, of whom 100 were to be executed and the rest transported. He added: "another such year's trouble I will not undertake for £500".Cruickshanks
Marriages and children He married three times:Vivian, 1895, p.852 Firstly to Anne Pridham (d. 8 April 1686), whose monument survives in St Thomas's Church, Exeter,Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.396 by whom he had two daughters: Elizabeth Northmore (1680-1683), died in infancy; Anne Northmore (died 1717), eldest surviving daughter and heiress, who married, in 1711, her cousin William Northmore (1690-1735), later Member of Parliament for Okehampton. She died 6 years later without children.Vivian, 1895, p.852 Secondly in 1686/7 he married Elizabeth Andrew (died 1689), a daughter of Soloman Andrew of Lyme Regis in Dorset, Sheriff of Dorset in 1697. Without children. Thirdly in 1690 to Elizabeth St Aubyn (d.1735/6), a daughter of John St Aubyn of Clowance in Cornwall. Without children.
Death, burial & succession He died on 25 July 1713, leaving no sons, and was buried in St. Thomas's Church, Exeter, where survives his monument,See imagePevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.396 displaying the arms of Northmore, of his first wife, of Andrew of Dorset (Sable, a saltire argent between four crosses crosslet or) and of St Aubyn of Clowance (Ermine, on a cross gules five bezants).Arms of St Aubyn of Combe Raleigh, Devon, per Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.500 He named as his heir his nephew and son-in-law William Northmore to whom he bequeathed the manor of Cleve and several other properties in Devon and elsewhere, mortgages on the estates of Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, a fellow Devonian, and two-thirds of Topsham Quay in Exeter.Cruickshanks
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