He was the son and heir of Sir Thomas Grenville I, by his second wife Elizabeth Gorges, daughter of Sir Theobald Gorges, K.B., lord of Wraxall, Somerset, and Braunton Gorges, co. Devon by his wife, Jane Hankford. Although little if anything at all survives in historical records concerning his biography, he was the descendant of a notable ancestor who took part in the Norman Conquest of Glamorgan, namely Sir Richard Grenville, one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan who won for himself the Welsh lordship of Neath and in 1129 founded there Neath Abbey. Grenville was himself ancestor to famous descendants, most notably his great-great-grandson Sir Richard Grenville, the valiant captain of "The Revenge" and of Sir Bevil Grenville, MP and famous Civil War commander, father of John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath. He was also the ancestor of the Grenville Marquesses of Buckingham, title created in 1784, and the Grenville Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, a title created in 1822.
Marriages and children
Grenville married twice. His first wife was Isabel Gilbert, daughter of Sir Otes Gilbert of Compton Castle by his wife Elizabeth Hill, daughter of Robert Hill, Esq., of Shilston. By Isabel Gilbert, Grenville had two sons and six daughters:
Sir Roger Grenville, eldest son and heir, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1510–11, 1517–18, 1522, who was present within the Cornish contingent at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He married Margaret Whitlegh the daughter and co-heiress of Richard Whitlegh of Efford, about three miles from Stowe. His sons were:
*Sir Richard Grenville, eldest son and heir. Entered the Inner Temple, with his brother John, in 1520; MP for Cornwall in 1529. He married Matilda Bevil, daughter and co-heiress of John Bevil of Gwarnock, St Allen, Cornwall. He was pre-deceased by his eldest son Roger Grenville, captain of the Mary Rose when it sank in Portsmouth Harbour in 1545, whose son was the heroic Admiral Sir Richard Grenville, Captain of the Revenge, MP for Cornwall, Sheriff of Cork from 1569 to 1570, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1576–77, Armed Merchant Fleet Owner, privateer, coloniser, and explorer.
*John Grenville, second son. Entered the Inner Temple, with his brother Richard, in 1520. three times MP for Exeter, in 1545, 1554 and 1558. In 1534 he purchased the reversion of the office of a Serjeant-at-Arms, which office he performed for King Henry VIII from 1535. He was a servant successively of Sir Thomas More and Lord ChancellorThomas Audley. He married Lettice Lucas, daughter of Thomas Lucas of Suffolk.
*Diggory Grenville, third son, some of whose correspondence, in connection with his management of his aunt Honor Grenville's manor of Umberleigh, survives in the Lisle Papers.
Richard Grenville, pre-deceased his father, unmarried.
Mary Grenville, married firstly Richard Bluett of Holcombe Rogus in Devon and Cothay Manor, which he rebuilt, in Somerset. His monumental brass exists in St Nicholas' Church in Kittisford, Somerset; secondly to Thomas St Aubyn.
Agnes Grenville, married John Roscarrock of Roscarrock near Port Isaac.
Phillipa or Philipa Grenville, married firstly Francis Harris of Radford, Devon; secondly Humphry Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall, younger brother of Sir John Arundell, her brother-in-law.
Grenville's second wife was the widow of a certain "Hill de Taunton". By her he had two further children: John, who was appointed by his father rector of Kilkhampton in 1524, in which office he remained until 1580; and Jane.
Residences
Bideford was the residence of the Grenville family from shortly after the Norman Conquest and Stowe in Cornwall was also a seat. Grenville's descendants made Stowe their chief seat, whilst retaining ownership of Bideford until the family died out in the senior male line.
Hic jacet Thomas Graynfyld miles patron eccle q obiit XVIII die mesis Marcii A D MCCCCCXIII cui aie ppiciet D Amen
His recumbent effigy is shown fully armed in a suit of Almain rivets and his feet rest on a dog. His hair is of chin-length and his hands are clasped in prayer holding a ball shaped object, his heart according to Roger Granville, Rector of Bideford and the family's historian, who described the monument in detail in 1895. There are several heraldic escutcheons on the monument displaying the arms of Grenville: Gules, three clarions or. The monument is an important early source for use in deciphering the form of these mysterious and unexplained charges that are still borne by distant relatives, Baron Grenfell, and are borne in the 3rd quarter by Earl Granville.
