Thomas Colepeper

- Aft 1309

• Name	Thomas Colepeper  [1]
  Birth	of Brenchley, Kent, England   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Alternate birth	Abt 1230	of Brenchley, Kent, England   [2, 3]
  Death	Aft 1309  [3]
  Person ID	I12371	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2018

  
  

  Children	1. Thomas Colepeper,   b. Abt 1260   d. 1321, Winchelsea, Sussex, England (Age ~ 61 years)   2. Geoffrey Culpepper,   b. of Preston Hall, Aylesford, Kent, England d. 1390
  Family ID	F8066	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Dec 2018

  
  

• Notes

  From History of the Manor and Parish of Saleby, citation details below: "The Colepepers were a Kentish family, and according to John Weaver 'a familie of exemplarie note both here and sometime in the County of Rutland.' Though the only exemplary facts he notices about them are that one member of the family was 'hanged, drawne and quartered at Winchelsey,' and another 'beheaded at Tyborne.' "Their origin is obscure, for the name does not occur in the older records. It was only in the reign of Edward II that they began to obtain a more prominent position, though earlier mention of them is found in the Patent Rolls. "In 1303 Thomas Colepeper of Brenchesle [Brenchley, co. Kent], was pardoned for homicides etc., and his sons Thomas and Walter for breaking the park of the prior of Christchurch, Canterbury, at Westwell; and the park of the prior of Michelham at Michelham; and hunting and carrying away deer, and for felonies etc. In 1305 Thomas Colepepere of Smerehill was found guilty of felonies by a commission appointed to inquire touching vagabonds in Kent and Sussex. "Edward I, owing to the great need of men for his constant wars, was pleased to sweep into the recruiting net a large number of able-bodied evil-doers, giving them a chance to redeem their lives on the field of battle. Whether this system tended to encourage crime or not we cannot say, but many of these turbulent and unruly subjects made excellent soldiers. "It was in consideration of their service in Scotland that Thomas Colepeper and his two sons received pardon; and if this Thomas was an ancestor of the Colepepers of Bay Hall, as seems highly probable, then the Scottish expedition may also have proved a turning point in the family history."

  
  

• Sources

  [S375] Col. F. W. T. Atree and the Rev. J. H. L. Booker, "The Sussex Colepepers." Sussex Archaeological Collections, 47:47, 1904, and 48:65, 1905. [S436] History of the Manor and Parish of Saleby with Thoresthorpe in the County of Lincoln, With Some Owners, by Reginald C. Dudding, Rector of Saleby. Horncastle: W. K. Morton and sons, 1922. [S241] Culpepper Connections: The Culpepper Family History Site.