| Notes |
--- "Nelson's Handbook to the Isle of Wight" by William Adams, pub. T. Nelson, 1873, page 181-2:
Thomas Fleming, Knight, and Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was born at Newport. His father was a mercer and general trader, occupying "a house on the east side of the entrance to the Corn Market from the High Street, on the site where the house now occupied by Mr. Avery stands." The family was of respectable extraction, and had long been connected with the Isle of Wight.
. . . In 1497 (12 Henry VII.), a John Fleming is recorded as bailiff of Newport --- an office he again filled twenty-three years later (1520). In the "hampshire Visitation" made by the heralds in this reign, his name occurs --- a proof of the excellence of his position. He died in 1531, leaving a son, by his wife Isabell, also named John, who married Dorothy Harris in 1543, and had a son Thomas, born in April in the following year.
He received his education in the school at Godshill, then the principal resort of the sons of the opulent, and afterwards proceeded to Oxford. In 1570 (Feb. 13) he was married at St. Thomas's, Newport, to Mary James,* his cousin, the daughter of Dr. Mark James, physician-in-ordinary to Queen Elizabeth.
. . . In 1607, on the death of Sir John Popham, this able lawyer was elevated to the post of Lord Chief Justice of England. He enjoyed his high dignity, however, but six years, dying suddenly on the 7th of August 1613. On his return from the Northern Circuit, he had given to his servants and farm-labourers what is called in Hampshire a "hearing day." After joining in the blithesome revels, he went to bed, apparently in sound health, but was taken suddenly ill, and died before morning. He was buried in the parish church of North Stoneham, where a stately monument records the numerous successes of his career. It is ornamented with recumbent whole-length figures of the Chief Justice in his robes, with his official insignia; and his wife, with ruff and hood, and the singular waist favoured by ladies of the Tudor era.**
* "Thomas Fleming & Marie James married ye 13 of February 1570." --- From the Registers.
** His children were--- Sir Thomas; Philip, Steward of the Isle of Wight; Walter; Joh; James; Sir Francis, master of the horse to Oliver Cromwell; and William; and Elizabeth, Mary, Jame, Eleanor, Dowsabell, Mary, and another. --- Berry's Genealogies, Burke's commoners, &c.
--- "Sketches of Hampshire" by John Duthy, 1839, page 383:
John Fleming, of that place [Newport], the son of John Gleming and Isabel, his wife, married Dorothy Harris; and their son, Thomas Fleming, who was born at Newport in April, 1554, became the founder of the present family. He practised at the bar, and after having taken the degree of sergeant-at-law, was chosen recorder of London; and subsequently, in the year 1595, was made solicitor general to the queen Elizabeth, which office he also held for a short time under James I. According to the usual custom, his legal honours were accompanied by that of knighthood, which was conferred on him in the year 1583. In the year 1601, sir Thomas Fleming was returned to parliament as one of the members for Southampton; and again in the year 1603. In the year after this second return, he was made lord chief baron of the court of exchequer, by James I.; but, by a vote of the House of Commons, it was resolved that, nothwithstanding his elevation to the bench, he should still continue a member that house. When it is considered that the judges were then dependent on the crown, and that the affair of sir Francis Goodwin, which had just occurred, had roused the jealousy of the House of Commons on the question of the royal prerogative, which the king seemed determined to exert to the utmost, this resolution must be regarded as one of the highest testimonies which could have been borne to the integrity of Sir Thomas Fleming. In the year 1607 he was raised to the dignity of lord chief justice of England, being "in especial grace and favour" with James I. as he had been with Elizabeth. He was succeeded in the representation of Southampton by his son; who, on one occasion, had for his colleague a judge, though of an inferior jurisdiction --- Henry Sherfield, esq. the recorder of the borough, having been returned with him to parliament in the year 1620.
. . . The lord chief justice Fleming purchased Stoneham of the earl of Southampton, and made it his occasional residence. After returning from the northern circuit in the summer of the year 1618, he gave "a hearing day" to his tenants, which was spent with the customary hospitable festivities. He went to bed in health, but died before the morning. He was buried in North Stoneham church, where a stately monument was erected to him. A whole length figure of his lordship, in his robes with the insignia of his office, reclines on the monument; and his lady is represented in the same attitude beneath, with the hood and ruff and extravagant waist of the age. This monument is kept very carefully in a state of great preservation, and the aid of the painter is frequently put in requisition, to preserve a truth in the appearance of the ornaments of the figures beyond the reach of the sculptor's art. The following is a copy of the inscription on the monument:---
In Most Assured Hope Of A Blessed Resurection
Here Lyeth Interred ye Bodie of Sr Thomas Flemyng Knighte
Lo: Chief Justice of England; Great Was His Learning. Many Were
His Virtues He Allwayes Feared God & God Still Blessed Him & ye
Love & Favour Both of God And Man Was Daylie Upon Him He Was
In Especiall
Grace & Favour Wth 2 Most Worthie & Vertuous Princes Q. Elizabeth
& King James. Many Offices & Dignities Were Confered Upon Him. He
Was First Sargeant At Lawe Then Recorder Of London Then
Solicitor Generall To Both ye Said Princes. Then Lo: Chief Baron Of
ye Exchequer & After Lo: Chief Justice Of England. All Which
Places He Did Execute Wth So Great Integrity Justice & Discretion
yt His Life Was Of All Good Men Desired His Death Of All Lamented.
He Was Borne At Newporte In ye Ille of Wight Brought Up
In Learning & ye Studie Of ye Lawe In ye 26 Yeare Of
His Age He Was Coupled In ye Blessed State Of Matrimony
To His Virtuous Wife ye La: Mary Fleming Wth Whom He
Lived & Continewed In yt Blessed Estate By ye Space Of 43
Yeares Having By Her In yt Tyme 15 Children 8 Sonnes and 7
Daughters Of Whom 2 Sonnes & 5 Daughters Died In His Life Tyme
And Afterwards In Ripenes Of Age & Fullnes of Happie Years
yt Is To Saie ye 7th Day of August 1613 In ye 69 Yeare Of His
Age, He Left This Life For A Better Leaving Also Behinde Him
Liveinge Together Wth His Vertuous Wife 6 Sonnes & 2 Daughters.
The lady of the lord chief justice Fleming was Dorothy, otherwise Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Cromwell, of Hitchinbroke, and aunt to the protector. She survived her husband, and died in the year 1623.
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1554 - 1613 (59 years)
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Occupation