See also
| Husband: | Thomas de NEEDHAM (1329-1363) | |
| Wife: | Maud MELLOR ( - ) | |
| Children: | Robert de NEEDHAM (1362- ) | |
| Name: | Thomas de NEEDHAM | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Thomas de NEEDHAM (c. 1308-aft1339) | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 1329 | Needham, Derbyshire |
| Death | 1363 (age 33-34) | Thornsett Hall, Derbyshire |
| Name: | Maud MELLOR | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | Roger MELLOR ( - ) | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Name: | Robert de NEEDHAM | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1362 | Needham, Staffordshire |
Thomas and his brother William, having survived the Black Death, acquired additional manors through marriage around 1350. William obtained Cranage in Cheshire. Thomas, the elder, obtained Thornsett, part of the vast manor of Thornsett and Longdendale (19) in the High Peak Hundred, and his family became centred there. From then until the 16th century, they were Foresters, officials acting for the King, in the Campana, a part of the Royal Forest of the High Peak, and this is reflected in the bucks' heads on the various Needham coats of arms (14, 20). Needhams of Thornsett are listed among the gentry of Derbyshire in 1360, 1465 & 1603.
Some of Thomas's descendants stayed in Derbyshire and variously owned properties at Thornsett, Cowley, Snitterton and of course Needham. However, some of Thomas's descendants left the county and moved to Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, East Anglia and Lincolnshire. It is these links I'm trying to establish. Eventually Thomas's descendants sold the Derbyshire properties around the beginning of the 17th century
Thornsett came to the Needham family by the marriage of Maud, daughter of Roger Mellor, to Thomas de Nedeham, elder son of Thomas, sometime around 1350. She brought with her part of the manor, which at that time was about 1300 acres.