Project Introduction

As part of the Tudor Revels project, and to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Sir Thomas Fleming (1544-1613), the Willis Fleming Historical Trust is undertaking a new genealogical study of the early Fleming family in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We will be focussing on the Tudor period, but linking the Flemings' lineages back to earlier times where possible. Tudor Revels: From Records to Revels is designed to highlight the superb original records held in local archives and how they, along with archaeological remains, can be used to interpret Southampton's past and bring it alive to a wider audience.

Key figures from the Fleming family associated with Tudor Southampton include: the merchant and mayor John Fleming (fl. 1496-1531) and his son the MP Sir Francis Fleming (d.1558) of Broadlands, who were descendants of the medieval Southampton merchant and mayor Walter le Fleming (fl.1210-1258); the mariner Thomas Fleming (d.1558); and the recorder and MP Sir Thomas Fleming (1544-1614) of Stoneham and his son Sir Thomas Fleming the younger (1572-1624). Sir Thomas Fleming, the founder of the Stoneham family, was the grandson of the merchant John Fleming (d.1531) of Newport (IOW).

What sources of information are available about these people and their families? 

Where did they live? What property did they own? How did they live their lives? What sort of people were they?

Were all these Flemings part of one extended family? Can we ever know? The project will challenge and pick apart previous pedigrees, and look at current theories around the origins of men named in mediaeval records as 'le Fleming' and 'Flandrensis'.

Please get in touch if you would like to join in!

Harry Willis Fleming