Thomas Whitgrave

Thomas Whitgrave (or Whitgreave) (1618 – 14 July 1702) was the Member of Parliament for Staffordshire for the First, Second and Third Protectorate parliaments who was knighted by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in 1658. He was also considered as a potential recipient Knight of the Royal Oak, a reward to those Englishmen who faithfully and actively supported Charles II during his exile in France. (The knighthoods conferred by the Lord Protector were not recognised after the Restoration.)

Biography Thomas Whitgrave was born in 1618 to Thomas Whitgreave and Alice Shaw and he had seven sisters. They gave Charles dry clothes, food, and a proper bed (his first since Worcester on 3 September). To guard against surprise, Huddleston was constantly in attendance on the king; his three pupils were stationed as sentinels at upper windows and Thomas Whitgrave patrolled the garden. On 9 September, Parliamentary troops questioned Whitgrave while the King and Huddleston were hiding in the priest hole. The troops were persuaded that Whitgrave had not fought at Worcester (though he had fought and been captured at the Battle of Naseby in 1645). The troops left without searching the house.