Thomas Walsingham (c. 1526 – 1584)
English politician
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Thomas Walsingham (c. 1526 – 15 January 1584) was an English politician.
He was the only surviving son of Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbury, Lieutenant of the Tower[1] and entered at Lincoln's Inn in 1542.[2] He succeeded his father in 1550.[1]
He was described as a "country gentleman", and was a significant landowner. As well as his main estates near Chislehurst, he had property in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Surrey and London. He was a justice of the peace for Kent from around 1559 and was appointed High Sheriff of Kent for 1563–64.[1] He was a member of parliament (MP) for Maidstone in 1571, probably through the influence of his cousin Francis Walsingham.[3] He was knighted at Rye in 1573, when the queen was on progress through Kent.[4]
Marriage and children
Thomas Walsingham married Dorothy Guildford (died 1584), the daughter of Sir John Guildford of Benenden,[1] and had 5 sons and 8 daughters, including:
- Mary Walsingham, who married Sir Thomas Pelham (1550–1624)
- Anne Walsingham, who married Thomas Randolph (1523–1590)
- Guildford Walsingham, who married Mary Lennard.[5]
- Thomas Walsingham, who married Ethelred Shelton, and was a patron of Christopher Marlowe.[1]
He wrote his will in October 1583[6] and died the following January.[1]
