Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameThomas Walsingham 
[54, His own co-article], [54, Surrey of 1530-1623, pub Harleian 1899, Walsingham p. 11]
[54, His own co-article], [54, Surrey of 1530-1623, pub Harleian 1899, Walsingham p. 11]Birth1568
Death1630
GeneralMP. Patron of literature, particularly poets.
FatherThomas Walsingham (1526-1584)
MotherDoratey Guildford
DNB Main notes for Thomas Walsingham
Co-subject: Walsingham, Sir Thomas
Dates: 1568-1630
Active Date: 1608
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Philanthropy
Occupation: Patron of the poets
Article
Sir Thomas Walsingham 1568-1630, Sir Edmund's grandson, was third son of Sir Thomas Walsingham (1526-1584), Sir Edmund's only surviving son, who was sheriff of Kent in 1563, and was knighted ten years later. His mother was Dorothy, fourth daughter of Sir John Guldeford of Hempstead in Benenden, Kent. He succeeded to the family estates at Chislehurst in 1589 on the death of his elder brother, Edmund, and rapidly acquired a high position as a country gentleman, a courtier, and a patron of literature. He became a justice of the peace for Kent in 1596, and was favourably noticed by Queen Elizabeth, who visited him at Scadbury in 1597, and afterwards knighted him. In 1599 he was granted the reversion of the keepership of the great park at Eltham in succession to Lord North. He married Ethelred or Awdrey, daughter of Sir Ralph Shelton. On Elizabeth's death his wife, who was said to be a great favourite of Sir Robert Cecil, went to Scotland to attend James I's queen (Anne of Denmark) on her journey to London. Subsequently Walsingham and his wife were appointed chief keepers of the queen's wardrobe. Lady Walsingham received a pension of 200l. a year from James in 1604, and took a foremost part in all court festivities, frequently acting in masques with the queen (Nichols, Progresses of James I, passim). She remained on intimate terms with the queen until the queen's death in 1619. Sir Thomas represented Rochester in six parliaments between 1597 and 1626, and was knight of the shire for Kent in 1614.
Walsingham's relations with literature, by which he best deserves remembrance, date from 1590, when Thomas Watson [q.v.], the poet, dedicated to him his ‘Melibeus,’ a Latin pastoral elegy on the death of his cousin Sir Francis Walsingham, and introduced him into the poem under the name of Tityrus. In 1593 he offered an asylum at his house at Chislehurst to Christopher Marlowe [q.v.], and it was to him that the publisher Edward Blount dedicated in 1598 Marlowe's posthumously issued poem of ‘Hero and Leander.’ Upon the poet in his lifetime (Blount then wrote) Walsingham ‘bestowed many kind favours, entertaining the parts of reckoning and worth which [he] found in him with good countenance and liberal affection.’ George Chapman was another literary client to whom Walsingham proved a constant friend. To him Chapman dedicated in affectionate terms his plays called ‘All Fools’ (1605) and ‘Biron's Conspiracy and Tragedy’ (1608). Walsingham died in 1630, and was buried on 19 Aug. in Chislehurst church. A eulogistic epitaph was inscribed by his son on his tomb. His widow was buried beside him on 24 April 1631. He was succeeded by his son, also Sir Thomas Walsingham (d. 1669), who was knighted on 26 Nov. 1613; was vice-admiral of Kent from 1627 onwards; represented Poole in parliament in 1614, and Rochester in 1621, 1628, and in both the Short and Long parliaments; sold the family property of Scadbury about 1655; and was buried at Chislehurst on 10 April 1669, having married twice (Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Peter Manwood [q.v.], was his first wife). His son Thomas (1617-1690) married Anne, daughter of Theophilus Howard, second earl of Suffolk, and was buried at Saffron Walden. This Thomas's son James (1646-1728) was master of the buckhounds in 1670 and master of the beagles in 1693; he died, unmarried, and was the last male representative of the chief branch of the Walsingham family.
Dates: 1568-1630
Active Date: 1608
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Philanthropy
Occupation: Patron of the poets
Article
Sir Thomas Walsingham 1568-1630, Sir Edmund's grandson, was third son of Sir Thomas Walsingham (1526-1584), Sir Edmund's only surviving son, who was sheriff of Kent in 1563, and was knighted ten years later. His mother was Dorothy, fourth daughter of Sir John Guldeford of Hempstead in Benenden, Kent. He succeeded to the family estates at Chislehurst in 1589 on the death of his elder brother, Edmund, and rapidly acquired a high position as a country gentleman, a courtier, and a patron of literature. He became a justice of the peace for Kent in 1596, and was favourably noticed by Queen Elizabeth, who visited him at Scadbury in 1597, and afterwards knighted him. In 1599 he was granted the reversion of the keepership of the great park at Eltham in succession to Lord North. He married Ethelred or Awdrey, daughter of Sir Ralph Shelton. On Elizabeth's death his wife, who was said to be a great favourite of Sir Robert Cecil, went to Scotland to attend James I's queen (Anne of Denmark) on her journey to London. Subsequently Walsingham and his wife were appointed chief keepers of the queen's wardrobe. Lady Walsingham received a pension of 200l. a year from James in 1604, and took a foremost part in all court festivities, frequently acting in masques with the queen (Nichols, Progresses of James I, passim). She remained on intimate terms with the queen until the queen's death in 1619. Sir Thomas represented Rochester in six parliaments between 1597 and 1626, and was knight of the shire for Kent in 1614.
Walsingham's relations with literature, by which he best deserves remembrance, date from 1590, when Thomas Watson [q.v.], the poet, dedicated to him his ‘Melibeus,’ a Latin pastoral elegy on the death of his cousin Sir Francis Walsingham, and introduced him into the poem under the name of Tityrus. In 1593 he offered an asylum at his house at Chislehurst to Christopher Marlowe [q.v.], and it was to him that the publisher Edward Blount dedicated in 1598 Marlowe's posthumously issued poem of ‘Hero and Leander.’ Upon the poet in his lifetime (Blount then wrote) Walsingham ‘bestowed many kind favours, entertaining the parts of reckoning and worth which [he] found in him with good countenance and liberal affection.’ George Chapman was another literary client to whom Walsingham proved a constant friend. To him Chapman dedicated in affectionate terms his plays called ‘All Fools’ (1605) and ‘Biron's Conspiracy and Tragedy’ (1608). Walsingham died in 1630, and was buried on 19 Aug. in Chislehurst church. A eulogistic epitaph was inscribed by his son on his tomb. His widow was buried beside him on 24 April 1631. He was succeeded by his son, also Sir Thomas Walsingham (d. 1669), who was knighted on 26 Nov. 1613; was vice-admiral of Kent from 1627 onwards; represented Poole in parliament in 1614, and Rochester in 1621, 1628, and in both the Short and Long parliaments; sold the family property of Scadbury about 1655; and was buried at Chislehurst on 10 April 1669, having married twice (Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Peter Manwood [q.v.], was his first wife). His son Thomas (1617-1690) married Anne, daughter of Theophilus Howard, second earl of Suffolk, and was buried at Saffron Walden. This Thomas's son James (1646-1728) was master of the buckhounds in 1670 and master of the beagles in 1693; he died, unmarried, and was the last male representative of the chief branch of the Walsingham family.