Meade, Thomas

[Mead8.FTW]

The information about Thomas, his mother, and children is from his will, dated 1585. Thomas Meade''s tomb is in St Nicholas Church, in Elmdon, Essex. His coat of arms, on his tomb, is a chevron between three pelicans. The Mead family of Connecticut has the same coat of arms.

On Thomas''s tomb is the inscription:
THOME MEADE ARMIGERO SECVNDO IVSTICIARIO DE BANCO HIC HVMATO FIDELISSIMA SVA CONIVX IOHANNA POSVIT OBIT 20 MAII 1585

Translation: To Thomas Meade, second bearer of his arms, Justiciar of the Bench, buried here. His most faithful wife Johanna (Joan) placed (this monument). Died 20th May 1585.

A Justiciar was a fairly high-level official in Elizabethan England. He presided over one of the Queen''s superior courts. He was the second person, after his father, to bear the chevron and three pelicans coat of arms.

Entered Clement Hostel, Cambridge, in 1544. Barrister of Middle Temple. Counsel for the town of Cambridge. Serjeant-at-Law in 1567.