Thomas Legatt de Havering

Citations

1. [S364] Dorothy Wertz, Notes Compiled in County Essex, England on the Leggett Family, Thomas Legat of Havering - After the reference of 1457 there is a break of 27 years in the appearance of the name Legat in the Feet of Fines. In 1484 Thomas Leget appears again, but not as a goldsmith. This may be the son of Thomas Leget the goldsmith. According to the pedigree of 1635, Helmingius' grandson was Lord of the Manors of Cockerills and Dagnams and Gubbins (Gubions), which formed a continuous area near the present Harold Wood railway station about 15 miles east of London. The area in 1971 is a city park, overrun with plain ugly brick London County Council houses, built after World War II. Only the moat of Dagnams remains. A neighboring farm called Gobions after the surname of a former owner went with the manor, which was usually called Dagnams and Cockerills. According to the pedigree of 1635, Thomas Leget was also the lord of a great part of Hornchurch, an area to the south of Dagnams. He lived during the times of Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII, [1461-1509] and died during the 18th year of the reign [1527] of Henry VIII. He was buried at Hornchurch (tomb not visible in 1971). His three sons were Thomas, John, and William.
   According to records in the Essex County Central Library in Chelmsford, Uphavering or Gobions consisted of 200 acres arable, 20 acres meadow, and two acres wood. Thomas Urswyck, the owner, died in the 16th year of Edward IV [1477], leaving as heiress his daughter Anne, wife of John Doreward (was this the same John Doreward to whom Helminglus and Alice Leget granted Black Notley in the Feet of Fines in 1408?). Next Gobions passed to Sir William Roche, who died in the third year of Edward VI [1550]. Next it passed to Thomas Legatt, who died in the fourth year of Edward VI [1551]. (Was this Thomas Helmingius' son?) [No, great grandson. Helmingius died almost a century and a half earlier, in 1412.] The Essex Feet of Fines for this period contain:
   1484 Thomas Leget bought one messuage, one garden, four acres of land and six acres of wood in Lamburne (area east of London).
   1525 Antony Coke (probably Anthony Cooke, founder of the famous Cooke family_of Giddea Hall, a manor near Dagnams), Richard Ogle, and Thomas Leggett, plaintiffs. John Cawston and Agnes his wife, deforciants. One messuage, 30 acres of pasture and two acres of wood in Lachendon. Def. quitclaimed to Pl. and the heirs of Thomas. Consideration 80 lire.
   1528 Thomas Legat and Thomas Page, pl. Richard Stevyns and Joan his wife, def. One messuage, one toft, one garden and one acre of land in Barkyng (Barking, an eastern suburb of London). Def. quitclaimed to pl. and the heirs of Thomas Legat. Consideration 30 lire.
   1531 Hilary and Easter. Thomas Legatt and John Moche, pl. Alice Phillip, widow, Marin Pellys and Henry Phillip, def. One messuage, 40 acres, 20 acres pasture, 10 acres of marsh in Estham (Eastham, an eastern suburb of London). Def. quitclaimed to pl. and the heirs of Thomas.
   1532 Thomas Legat the elder and John Loggesden, pl. Richard St. Stephens and Joan his wife and James Woodland, def. 2 ½ acres land, 2 acres marsh, and ½ of messuage and 12 acres of land in Dagenham. Def. quitclaimed to pl. the heirs of Thomas.
   1544 Thomas Leggat the elder, pl. William Inglysbye alias Baker and Katherine his wife, def. One messuage, one garden, one dovecote, one barn and 3 shillings 4 pence rent in Brendwood (Brentwood).
   Hornchurch Documents, a handwritten manuscript in the Essex County Library in Chelmsford contains: 1503 Grant from Thomas Legatt to William Porter, clerk, warder of the College of St. Mary Winton in Oxford and Fellows of the same, of a croft (a small enclosed field) of land called Bromefield in Havering (not the same Bromfield that was owned by Alice Mandeville), which land he had of the grant of John Turke of Godewyn and Havering.
2. [S763] Harleian Society, Harliean MS, 1398, page 592 - Tho. Legat de Havering d'nus Manerii de Cockerells ac Manerii de Gubbins et magnae partis de Hornchurch et aliar. T'ras infra lib'tatem p'dictam et alibi floruit temporibus Ed. 4, R. 3, H. 7 et elenus annorum obit circa ann. 18 H. 8 [1527][correction: should be Henry VII 1485-1509] iste Tho, p'ch'ras dat. 7 H. 7 [1492] denomiianat. P. nominem Thos. Legat Senior. Children: Thomas, Johannes [filius 2], William [filius 3].