Richard Cholmondeley
English knight and Lieutenant of the Tower of London
Sir Richard Cholmondeley (or Cholmeley) (c. 1460–1521) was an English farmer and soldier who served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1513 to 1520 during the reign of Henry VIII. He is remembered because of his tomb at the Tower of London and because he is fictionalised as a character in Gilbert and Sullivan's darkly comic opera, The Yeomen of the Guard. Cholmeley's name has frequently been misspelled "Cholmondeley" because of its misspelling in the plaque on his tomb, which led to the misspelling of the character's name in the opera; other branches of Cholmeley's family use the longer spelling.
Knighted in 1497 for valour in battle against the Scots, Cholmeley continued to serve as a soldier until 1513, becoming entrusted with many positions of responsibility for the security of castles and fortifications in England. He was successful as a farmer and a shrewd investor in land, much increasing his family wealth. As Lieutenant of the Tower of London, he drew criticism for his reaction to the Evil May Day riots of 1517, when he ordered the firing of some of the Tower's artillery at the city to suppress rioting. He was also responsible for the rebuilding of the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower. His illegitimate son, Roger Cholmeley, became Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench.
Life and career
Cholmeley (pronounced "Chumley") was born at Chorley, a small settlement approximately six miles south west of Nantwich, Cheshire, near Cholmondeley, the eldest son of Joan Eyton and John Cholmeley, wealthy sheep farmers and land owners. See the heading "Tomb and Family Name" below, regarding the family name.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard Cholmondeley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.