Thomas Hammond

Biography

Life summary. Thomas Hammond was a shearman in Lavenham, Suffolk, finishing woollen cloth for sale. His 1589 will combined provisions for his wife Rose with future interests for their children, connecting his trade, household goods and land to the family’s continuing support.

Thomas Hammond worked at a demanding stage of cloth production: turning a raised, uneven woollen surface into finished fabric. A shearman handled cloth over a board and trimmed it with large shears. The material had already passed through spinning, weaving and fulling before it reached this finishing work. Thomas’s skill belonged to a chain of specialized labor that made Lavenham, in Suffolk in eastern England, a cloth-producing town. ^695-1695-2

He married Rose Trippe there on May 14, 1573. Their children included Elizabeth, William, Rose, Martha, Marie and Susanna. Alongside his trade, Thomas held property whose future use required careful arrangements: a house, fields and the lanes connecting them. ^695-1

When Thomas made his will on October 2, 1589, he arranged for Rose to use a house occupied by Thomas Westlie, the field called Great Lyverdowne and the lanes needed to reach it for the rest of her life. William was to receive those holdings afterward. The will expressly protected a route for driving and carrying through Little Lyverdon to Great Lyverdowne. Rose’s use of the field therefore included the access needed to work it; both field and route were afterward to pass to William. ^695-1

A second field, Little Lyverdon, was also assigned for Rose’s lifetime. Elizabeth was to succeed to this field and its lane. If she outlived Rose, both were to pass to her and her heirs; if she died before Rose without children, the will redirected the lane to William. ^695-1

Daughters Rose, Martha, Marie and Susanna were each to receive forty shillings when they reached twenty-one. Those deferred portions placed the younger women’s provision on a different footing from the lifetime use of land given to their mother. ^695-1

Thomas also remembered his sister Margaret Jollye with a feather bed and a ship chest. Rose was appointed sole executrix and was to receive what remained after debts and legacies. Her appointment entrusted her with settling claims on the estate and the children’s portions while retaining the property rights assigned for her own support. ^695-1

The will was proved on December 11, 1589. Thomas had arranged for resources from his working life to support Rose immediately, while the children’s access to their portions depended on age, survival and her prior rights. ^695-1