Thomas Dolman of Seisdon

Thomas Dolman was baptized in All Saints, Trysull on 8 Sep 1611 and was one of a group of minor Staffordshire Gentry and Mercers who supported Parliament in the Civil War. He served on the Parliamentary Committee at Stafford in 1643 and worked closely with William Bendy.

He married Ann Rudge on 27 Nov 1638 in All Saints, Trysull and had a number of children. Ann Rudge’s parents William Rudge and Katherine Mempas were cousins. Ann had two grandmothers who were both from the Barnesley family – Frances Barneseley and Ann Barneseley, the latter the sister of William Barnesley. William Bendy (snr) was married to Mary, William Barnesley’s oldest daughter. Frances Barnesley married William Rudge on 25 Sep 1589 (Claverley) and Ann Barnesley married Thomas Mempas on 5 Oct 1590.

Thomas Dolman had a brother Rev John Dolman, who was the Vicar of Wombourne (1617-1690). It was the grandson of this Rev John Dolman another Rev John Dolman, Rector of Aldridge who married William Bendy III’s daughter Margaret Bendy on 17 Feb 1726, in St Chad Stafford. This branch of the family had acquired the advowson of the Rectorship of Broome and a number of Dolmans duly served as incumbents of this living.

Thomas Dolman’s own grandmother would appear to have been a Wollaston from the Wollastons of Trescott Grange. In a will of 1581 by Thomas Dolman’s putative great Uncle, also Thomas Dolman, a London ironmonger, he talks of his Uncle William Wollaston. This William was the grandfather of Sir John Wollaston, confirmed Staffordshire Parliamentarian and Lord Mayor of London in the 1640’s. In Sir John’s will of 1658, the advowson of Wombourne was granted to the descendants of William Bendy, William Pynson and five others.

The appointment of John Dolman as Vicar of Wombourne was thus governed by these close family ties.

Thomas Dolman’s will has so far proved untraceable but he was alive in 1670 when his father-in-law, William Rudge wrote his will. Here it lists Thomas’s surviving children as Walter, John, Sarah, Ann and Elizabeth. Thomas Dolman clearly led a secular life and this contrasts with the Oxford education of his brother John and his brother’s multiple clerical descendants, fuelled by their control of at least two advowsons.

John Dolman had sons Rev Nathaniel Dolman, Rector of Aldridge and Rev Thomas Dolman, Rector of Tedstone Delamere.

The accounts of the Committee at Stafford in 1644 reads under receipts as follows:

Tho. Dolman of Seisdon, Gent   £25-00-00

hee also advanceth one bay mare valued at 5li-oo-oo

Sources and Notes

  • Will of Rev John Doleman, Vicar of Wombourne, Probate 27 Oct 1690, Lichfield (Brother)
  • Will of Thomas Dolman, London, Probate 21 Mar 1581, PCC
    Great Uncle, has brothers Francis and Walter
  • Will of Thomas Dolman of Trysull, Probate 12 Oct 1577
    Great Grandfather, has sons Thomas and Francis
  • Will of William Rudge, Probate 21 May 1673, Lichfield
    Father-in-law, appoints John Dolman Minister of Wombourne Overseer and a William Barnesley as Executor
  • Will of Thomas Dolman, Mercer of Walsall, Probate 13 May 1712, Lichfield
    This mentions lands in Seisdon – perhaps a son of his brother Walter or even Thomas himself
  • Will of Sir John Wollaston, Lord Mayor of London, Probate 14 May 1658, PCC
  • D H Pennington (Ed): The Committee at Stafford 1643-1645, Manchester University Press, 1957
  • Staffordshire Past Track: Stone House Seisdon
  • CCED – Church of England Database
  • Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714
  • See also senior line of Dolmans ie  Thomas Dolman of Shaw, Berkshire
    Note both Thomas Dolman of Shaw and Rev John Dolman, later Vicar of Wombourne both attended Lincoln College, Oxford in the 1630’s
Last updated on 2 August 2019 by JJ Morgan