St Thomas of Acre Church, Gresham Street, Castle Baynard, City of London, England, British Isles

Chronicle of Edward Hall [1496-1548]. 13th November 1536. [Note. This entry appears after Feb 1537 in the original text as if an afterthought; we have moved it to be chronological] In this year one Robert Packington (age 47), Mercer of London, a man of good substance, and yet not so rich as honest and wise, this man dwelled in Cheapside at the Sign of the Leg, and used daily at four of the clock Winter and Summer to rise and go to masse at a Church then called Saint Thomas Acres (but now named the Mercers chapel) and one morning among all other, being a great misty morning, such as has seldom be seen, even as he was crossing the street from his house to the church, he was suddenly murdered with a gun, which of the neighbours was plainly heard, and by a great number of laborers at the same time standing at Soper Lane end, he was both seen go forth of his house, and also the clap of the gun was hard, but the deed doer was never espied nor known, many were suspected, but none could be found faulty; howbeit, it is true, that forasmuch as he was known to be a man of a great courage and one that both could speak and also would be heard and that the same time he was one of the burgesses of the parliament, for the City of London, and has talked somewhat against the covetousness and cruelty of the clergy, he was had in contempt with them, and therefore most like by one of them thus shamefully murdered, as you perceive that Master Honne was in the sixth year of the reign of this King.

In 1544 John Alleyn died. He was buried at a chapel which he commissioned at St Thomas of Acre Church.

On 24th August 1550 William Locke (age 64) died at Merton, Surrey. He was buried at St Thomas of Acre Church.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 27th August 1550. The xxvij day of August was bered sir Wylliam [Locke knight] (deceased) and alderman and late shreyfF of London, and bered [at St.] Thomas of Acurs, and a-ffor hym whent a Ix pore men in mo[urning] gowns and whytt stayffes in ther handes ij and ij to-gether; [after] them the standard, and then mornars, and then came a .. with odur mornars, and then the clarkes and prestes, and then [a herald] with ys cott armour, target, elmet, sword, and then the corse [with] penons of armes borne a-bowt hym, and the stret [was] hangyd with blake and armes a-pone the cloth, and ther [was a] dolle of monay, and a grett denner as I have be hat.

Note. Funeral of alderman sir William Locke. He was a member of the Mercers' company, and sheriff of London in 1548. Not living to be lord mayor, he died "in his howsse in Bow lane the xxiiij^th of August in the 4. of Edward the 6, and buryed 27. day of the same mounth in the Mercers' cherche St. Thomas of Acres." MS. Harl. 897, f. 15. Stowe notes "Locke his armes in the windowes" of that church. Lady Locke died on the 5th Dec. 1551; and the imperfect funeral in p. 12 perhaps belongs to her. See an historical account of the Locke family in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1792, vol. LX. p. 799; also Lord King's Life of Locke, and the Autobiography of sir John Bramston, where at p. 9 are some traditional anecdotes of sir William Locke (but for 1530 read 1533).

Henry Machyn's Diary. 17th February 1555. The xvij day of Feybruary at bowt mydnyght ther wher serten lude feylous cam unto sant Thomas of Acurs, and over the dore ther was set the ymage of sant Thomas, and ther thay brake ys neke and the tope of ys crosier, the wyche was mad of fre-ston; with grett sham yt was done.

Note. P. 82. The image of St. Thomas pulled down. It had been erected only two days before. One Barnes a mercer, who lived opposite to the chapel, was suspected of being accessary to its destruction. He, therefore, was committed with some of his servants, and afterwards bound in recognizance to watch it, and make it good if defaced. The 2d of March it was restored at his charge; but on the 14th (as Machyn records) again broken.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 30th October 1556. The xxx day, a' for-none, was bered at sant Thomas of Acurs, by ys father, master Loke the sune of ser Wylliam Loke, the wyche he ded at ys plasse in Walbroke, and bered at sant Thomas of Acurs; and alle the qwyre hangyd with blake, and armes, and iiij grett tapurs, and ij whyt branchys and xij torchys; and master doctur Pendyltun (age 32) dyd pryche.... torchys and iiij grett tapurs and [there were at his] ... bereng the felowshype of the Drapers, master Cha[ster herald and] odur, and greet mon mad for hym at ys berehying.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 7th April 1559. The vij day of Aprell was browth unto [saint Thomas] of Acurs in Chepe from lytyll sant Barthellmuw [in] Lothbere masteres ...., and ther was a gret compene of pepull, ij and ij together, and nodur prest nor clarke, the nuw prychers in ther gowne lyke ley[-men,] nodur syngyng nor sayhyng tyll they cam [to the grave,] and a-for she was pute into the grayff a [collect] in Englys, and then put in-to the grayff, and after [took some] heythe [earth] and caste yt on the corse, and red a thynge ... for the sam, and contenent cast the heth in-to the [grave], and contenent red the pystyll of sant Poll to the Stesselonyans the (blank) chapter, and after thay song pater-noster in Englys, boyth prychers and odur, and [women,] of a nuw fassyon, and after on of them whent in-to the pulpytt and mad a sermon.

Henry Machyn's Diary. After 7th April 1559. The (blank) day cam from Franse my lord chamburlayn Haward (age 38) and my lord bysshope of Elly (age 53) and master doctur Wotton, and (unfinished) .... ye Tempull, and ix .... dener, and ther dynyd the consell and dyvers notabyll .... and juges, and my lord mayre (age 50) and the althermen, and the [officers of the] Chansseres [Chancery] and the Flett [Map], and the Kyngesbynshe [Map], and the Marshalsea [Map]; [and they] gayff gownes of ij collers, morreys and mustars, and ... ij collers ... hondered; and at v of cloke at after-non [the new] serganttes whent unto sant Thomas of Acurs in a ... gowne and skarlette hodes a-bowt ther nekes, and whyt [hoods on] ther hedes, and no capes [caps]; and after they whent unto Powles [Map] with typstayffes and offesers of the Kyngbynche [Map], and odur plasses, and [they were] browth be ij old serganttes, one after a-nodur in skarlett ... of north syd, and ther thay stod tyll thay had brou[th them] unto ix sondre pellers [pillars] of the north syd, and after the ... cam unto the furst, and after to the reseduu; and thay whe[nt back] unto the Tempull on a-lone [one-by-one], and a-for whent the ... and the rulers and the Chansere and of the Kyngbynche [ij and ij to]gether, and after cam a hondered in parte cottes of ...

Note. P. 195. The serjeants' feast. This took place at the Inner Temple on the 19th of April. In the second line read, "and ix. [serjeants made]." Dugdale, indeed, gives the names of ten as having been called to the degree by writ tested by the queen on the 12th Dec. namely, Thomas Carus, Reginald Corbet, John Welsh, John Southcote, William Simmonds, George Wall, Richard Harper, Ranulph Cholmley, Nicholas Powtrell, and John Birch; and to these was added Richard Weston by writ dated 24 Jan. making in all eleven. Dugdale's Chronica Series.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 24th August 1559. [The xxiiij day of August, the lord] mare (age 50) and the althermen and the [sheriffs? w]her at the wrastelyng at Clarke-in-well [Map], and it was the fayre day of thynges kept in Smyth-feld [Map], [being] sant Bathellmuw (day), and the same day my lord [mayor] came home thrugh Chepe, and a-gaynst Yrmonger [lane] and a-gaynst sant Thomas of Acurs ij [2] gret [bonfires] of rodes and of Mares and Johns [sculptures of Saint Marys and Saint Johns] and odur emages [images], ther thay wher bornyd [burned] with gret wondur.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 24th April 1560. The xxiiij day of Aprell was bered good mastores Malere (age 40), the wyffe of master Malore (age 60) altherman and latt shreyff of London, the wyche she ded in chyld-bed of xvij chyldern, and bered with-in sant Thomas of Acurs; the wyche she gayff [to the] pore (blank) gownes, and ther was the clarkes syngyng; master (blank) dyd pryche; and mony mornars, and gret mone mad [great moan made] for her.

Note. P. 232. Funeral of mistress Malory. "April 26. Mrs. Anne Malory, wife of Richard Malory alderman, in the chapel of St. Thomas de Acre." Register of St. Pancras, Soperlane. (Malcolm, ii. 177.) Our diarist seems to say that she died in childbed with her seventeenth child. The alderman was remarried on the 8th April following to Mrs. Lane at St. Benet Fink. (Ibid. p. 463.)