He was a friend and kinsman of Lord William Cecil of Burghley House, which may have afforded him his introduction to the court of King Edward VI. Parry was initially known as Thomas ap Harry (Thomas, son of Harry), later modified to Thomas Parry. He is first noticed attending Thomas Cromwell in 1536, having been employed with various tasks and responsibilities attached to the dissolution of monastic properties.
Further on he was one of the Protestants that were allowed to attend Princess Elizabeth when Mary confined her to Hatfield House. Parry's account of Elizabeth's household expenses at Hatfield from October 1551 to September 1552 survives.[1]
Elizabeth was quick to acknowledge his service and loyalty and conferred a knighthood to him upon her accession in 1558 and he was also made a privy counsellor. The following year, he acquired lands in Berkshire, centred on Hamstead Marshall. Although Elizabeth was fond of his services, he was not particularly popular at court and is noted to have "died on 15 December 1560, of 'mere ill-humour' according to popular report (ib. vii. 313; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598–1601, p. 204), and was buried in Westminster Abbey (Registers, ed. Chester, p. 113)."[2]
Lady Parry, who was one of the ladies of the privy chamber, was granted, about 1566, an annuity of £50 for thirty-three years (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1566–1579, p.25). She retired to Welford Park and is buried beneath a fine monument in the adjoining church.
Cornwall, Julian. “The Early Tudor Gentry.” The Economic History Review, vol. 17, no. 3, 1965, pp. 456–75. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2592622. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.
Sources
David Nash Ford, 'Sir Thomas Parry Senior' in Royal Berkshire History, Nash Ford Publishing 2001
Gordon Goodwin, Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press 1895
Jonathan Hughes, 'Parry, Sir Thomas (b. in or before 1515, d. 1560)' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, October 2005 accessed 11 May 2006