Sir Thomas Walsingham (c. 1589 - April 1669) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1640. He supported the Parliamentarian side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Life

Walsingham was the son of Thomas Walsingham (literary patron) and his wife Lady Audrey Shelton. He was knighted at

Royston Royston may refer to: Places Australia *Royston, Queensland, a rural locality Canada *Royston, British Columbia, a small hamlet England *Royston, Hertfordshire, a town and civil parish, formerly partly in Cambridgeshire *Royston, South Yorkshi ...

on 26 November 1613. In 1614 he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

. He was elected MP for Rochester in 1621 and again in 1628 and held the seat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He was made vice-admiral of Kent in 1627. In April 1640, Walsingham was re-elected MP for Rochester for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

and again in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

when he sat until 1653, surviving Pride's Purge. He sold the family property of Scadbury in around 1655. Walsingham died in 1669 and was buried at

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

on 10 April 1669.

Family

Walsingham married twice, his first wife being Elizabeth Manwood, daughter of Sir Peter Manwood, who died giving birth to a daughter in January 1616. Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, ''Court and Times of James the First'', vol. 1 (London, 1849), p. 388.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsingham, Thomas 1669 deaths English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 Year of birth uncertain