It is unclear who Fulmerston's parents are, but his father may also have been named Richard Fulmerston. It is thought the family probably originated from Fulmodeston, Norfolk.[1] Fulmerston married Alice, the daughter of 'Lonzam' of Suffolk and widow of Ipswich merchant and MP, Thomas Hayward, who had died in 1534. Fulmerston had married Alice by March 1539. They had at least one daughter, Frances, who married Edward Clere.
Fulmerston was a servant of Thomas, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, a family with whom the Fulmerstons of Norfolk had a long-standing connection.
St. George's Priory, a house of Benedictine nuns, and a dependency of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, was dissolved In 1537 and the buildings and land were granted to Fulmerston. The buildings were converted to a house, but in the early seventeenth century a new house was built, known as Nunnery Place. The church was converted into a barn.[2] As of 1991, the British Trust for Ornithology occupies the site.
In 1538, he was under-steward to the former Lady Mary Howard, then Duchess of Richmond.
He re-founded The Grammar School in Thetford, the original school having been a pre-conquest monastic foundation until the Dissolution. By the terms of his will, Fulmerston directed his heirs to establish a free grammar school in Thetford. Soon after his death, they erected a school-house upon part of Blackfriars Yard.[5] The 16th century school building incorporates part of the church of the Dominican Friary and is still is use by Thetford Grammar School.[6]
^http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/norf/vol2/pp458-460 "Colleges: Rushworth." A History of the County of Norfolk, Volume 2. Ed. William Page. London: Victoria County History, 1906. 458-460. British History Online. Web. 7 September 2022]
