Thomas Berkeley

Sir Thomas Berkeley of Wymondham, Leicestershire (died 1488) was an English lawyer, soldier and politician. He represented Leicestershire in Parliament and served as Sheriff for Rutland, Warwickshire and Leicestershire. Ancestry Berkeley was the eldest son of Laurence Berkeley of Wymondham, Leicestershire, who died in France in 1458, and wife Joan Woodford, sister of the Agincourt veteran Robert Woodford of Sproxton, Leicestershire, Knight Banneret. He was a member of the House of Berkley. Berkeley was the great-great-grandson of Thomas Berkeley of Coston, Leicestershire, second son of Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, and his wife Joan de Ferrers (d. 1309), daughter of William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby. Berkeley moved to Wymondham after marrying Isabel Hamelin, daughter of Sir John Hamelin of Wymondham, and niece of Sir William de Hamelin. Their coat of arms was later transmitted to the Hamlyn baronets.