Roundell, Julia Anne Elizabeth; Fletcher, William Younger; Williamson, George Charles; Fletcher, William Younger [Contr.]; Williamson, George Charles [Contr.]: Ham House: its history and art treasures (Band 1) (London: Bell, 1904)

PREFACE

HE Tollemache family originally settled at Bentley, near Ipswich,
in Suffolk, according to the often-quoted distich,
Before the Normans into England came
Bentley was my resting-place and Tollemache was my name.
The spelling of the family surname has undergone several changes;
at one time it was spelt Talemasche, later it became Tallmash, then
Taimash, and finally the name settled into Tollemache. In the United
States the name exists as Talmage.
Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, John Tollemache of
Bentley married Ann Louth, daughter and heiress of Roger Louth of
Sawtrey in Huntingdonshire. Their son, named Lionel, married Edith
Joyce, the heiress of Helmingham, towards the end of the fifteenth
century, and built the tower of Helmingham Church in 1487. About
1512 Lionel Tollemache and his wife Edith built the Hall at Helming-
ham, surrounded by a moat, and approached then, as now, by a draw-
bridge.
The son of Lionel and Edith Tollemache, another Lionel, married
Dorothy Wentworth, daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Wentworth
of Nettlestead in Suffolk. Their son, again a Lionel, married Susannah
Jermyn, daughter of Sir Ambrose Jermyn of Rushbrook in Suffolk, and
died in 1575.
The son of Lionel and Susannah Tollemache, the fourth Lionel in
succession, was among the first baronets created by James I. His creation
was the twelfth in the newly-founded Order, and was dated 22 May,
1612. Sir Lionel Tollemache married Catherine Cromwell, only daughter
of Thomas, Lord Cromwell of Elmham in Norfolk, and erected a curious
mural monument in Helmingham Church. On this monument is the
kneeling effigy of Sir Lionel himself, with that of his father, his grand-
father, and his great-grandfather (Lionel Tollemache of Bentley). The
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