PELLOUR, Thomas, of Helston, Cornw.

Thomas was probably related to John Pellour, who in 1371 had been granted, at the assession court of the duchy of Cornwall, a lease of certain lands on the manor of Helston-in-Kerrier. By 1405 the same lands had been taken over by a more prominent kinsman, Martin Pellour, the under steward of the duchy estates in Cornwall. It was this relation who, at the elections to the Parliament of 1411 (when Thomas was returned for Helston), stood surety both for one of the knights of the shire, the duchy steward, (Sir) John Arundell I, and for one of the burgesses-elect for Liskeard, John Penrose of Methleigh.CIMisc. vii. 520; C219/10/6; E360/2/2, 7. Thomas Pellour was also a friend of Penrose’s: only in the previous year he had appeared as his mainpernor in Chancery. Some time in the reign of Henry IV (perhaps during his time as deputy to the sheriff, Nicholas Arundell), Pellour was instructed to receive a sum of 200 marks which had originated in a bond to Sir John Beauchamp of Holt and, as a result of Beauchamp’s forfeiture under Richard II, should have been paid to the Crown.CCR, 1409-13, p. 58; Reg. Lacy ed. Hingeston-Randolph, ii. 15. It was not until Henry V’s reign, however, that he was appointed to any royal commissions of importance.

It seems likely that Pellour held lands in the neighbourhood of Helston, for in 1423 he witnessed a deed at Chenhall in St. Martin’s, relating to premises in the town. He was asked to act as a feoffee of the estates of Sir John Trevarthian’s widow, Joan, and as such in 1429 he appeared as co-patron of Landewednack church. He died before 1438 when his heirs, his sister Joan and his niece Margaret, were being sued for a large debt of £107 owing to Hayles abbey, Gloucestershire, a wealthy Cistercian house which possessed property in Helston.CAD, iv. A10398; CCR, 1422-9, p. 372; Reg. Lacy, i. 121; CPR, 1436-41, p. 113.