Vice-Admiral Thomas Wyndham (1508–1554) was an English naval officer, naval administrator, explorer, and navigator.
[ODNB 2004] He was appointed a member of the
Council of the Marine
The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...
as one of the Chief Officers of the Admiralty in 1552 and given the title of
Master of Naval Ordnance
The Master of Naval Ordnance was an English Navy appointment created in 1546 the office holder was one of the Chief Officers of the Admiralty and a member of the Council of the Marine and a member of the Office of Ordnance until the post was abo ...
and was simultaneously a member of the
Board of Ordnance
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...
until 1553.
Family and early life
Wyndham was born around 1510,
[Howgego 2003] the son of Sir
Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg (c.1466 – c.1522) was an English sea captain and Vice-Admiral of England.
He was born in Bolton, Yorkshire, the son of Sir John Wyndham and Margaret, daughter of Sir John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk.
Career
He beca ...
and Elizabeth Wentworth. His grandfather, Sir John Wyndham, was implicated in the conspiracy of
Edmund de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, and executed for treason in 1502. When his father died in 1522, Wyndham was left in the general care of his father's executors, Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, and "my moost singuler good Lord" Cardinal Wolsey. Arrangements were made for his education at the University of Louvain and possibly in Italy. His father also left his son substantial properties "to bye a marriage for him of Inheritaunce". Wyndham later married and had one son, Henry, and two daughters.
[
]
Career
From 1536 to 1540, Wyndham was employed in Ireland as a servant of Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
. In 1539, he was appointed captain of one hundred soldiers and experienced heavy fighting in Ireland under the leadership of James Butler, earl of Ormond. In 1540, ill health forced his return to England where he was awarded the former monastery of Chicksand, Bedfordshire.[
The first known instance of his service at sea occurred in 1542 when he commanded a vessel fighting against Scotland in the North Sea. In 1545 Wyndham and William Hawkins seized the Spanish ship ''Santa Maria de Guadeloupe''. Judged an act of piracy, they were ordered by the privy council to pay compensation. Additional allegations of piracy were made against Wyndham over the next several years.][
During the Anglo-Scottish war of the ]Rough Wooing
The Rough Wooing (December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Roman Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the ...
, Wyndham commanded a ship at the landing at Edinburgh in 1544.[ In December 1547 he sailed two ships to ]Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
to support the English garrison at Broughty Castle
Broughty Castle is a historic castle on the banks of the River Tay in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. It was completed around 1495, although the site was earlier fortified in 1454, when George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus, received permission t ...
commanded by Andrew Dudley
Sir Andrew Dudley, KG (c. 1507 – 1559) was an English soldier, courtier, and diplomat. A younger brother of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, he served in Henry VIII's navy and obtained court offices under Edward VI. In 1547&n ...
. He investigated the River Tay
The River Tay ( gd, Tatha, ; probably from the conjectured Brythonic ''Tausa'', possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing') is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in Great Britain. The Tay originates ...
towards Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
looking to rob church roofs to make lead bullets. On Christmas Day 1547 he burnt Balmerino Abbey
Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastic community which has been ruinous since the 16th century.
History
It was founded from 1227 to 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronage ...
and on 29 December he burnt Elcho Nunnery
Elcho Priory was a medieval Cistercian priory in Perthshire, Scotland, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Location
Elcho Priory was located in the parish of Rhynd about three miles southeast of Perth on the south bank of the River Tay. It was the only ...
. On land, in January he placed a garrison of 20 men with cannon and hand guns on the steeple of St Mary's at Dundee, with the help of Andrew Dudley
Sir Andrew Dudley, KG (c. 1507 – 1559) was an English soldier, courtier, and diplomat. A younger brother of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, he served in Henry VIII's navy and obtained court offices under Edward VI. In 1547&n ...
and the Scottish Lord Gray
Lord Gray is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The Barony of Gray was created circa July 1445 for the Scottish diplomat and politician Sir Andrew Gray. The first Lord Gray was a hostage in England for the good conduct of James I of Scotland ...
. He constructed a battery at Haddington called "Wyndham's bulwark". With James Wilford
Sir James Wilsford (about 1516–1550) was an English soldier and politician, who was commander at the Siege of Haddington in the war known as the Rough Wooing and also sat as Member of Parliament for Barnstaple.
Origins
James Wilsford was bo ...
on 3 June 1548, he captured Dalkeith Palace
Dalkeith Palace is a country house in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It was the seat of the Dukes of Buccleuch from 1642 until 1914, and is owned by the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust. The present palace was built 1701–1711 on the site of the ...
(and with it, James Douglas, the future Regent Morton
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1516 – 2 June 1581, aged 65) was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he won the civil war that had b ...
), and razed the town by fire.
However, near the end of the war, the English commander, the Duke of Rutland
Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in who ...
, was required to investigate Wyndham's activities capturing foreign merchant vessels in the Firth
Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to ''fj ...
. These disputed prizes included a coal-ship, seven Norwegian vessels laden with meal, pitch and timber, 4 French ships, a small warship he gave to his nephew, John Luttrell, another ship laden with soap and madder
''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...
, and others. On 29 March 1550, the day peace was declared in England, Wyndham was sent to Scotland with two post horses and five Scottish hostages to exchange for Luttrell, who had been captured at Broughty.
Around 1550, Hans Eworth
Hans Eworth (or Ewouts; ) was a Flemish painter active in England in the mid-16th century. Along with other exiled Flemings, he made a career in Tudor London, painting allegorical images as well as portraits of the gentry and nobility.''Concise ...
painted Wyndham's, Wilford's, and John Luttrell's portraits. Wyndham wears a powder flask
A powder flask is a small container for gunpowder, which was an essential part of shooting equipment with muzzle-loading guns, before pre-made paper cartridges became standard in the 19th century. They range from very elaborately decorated works o ...
at his neck and a gun over his shoulder inscribed, "TW, aetatis XLII.MDL," indicating he was 42 in 1550. In 1590, the picture was called, "Of Mr Thomas Wyndham drowned in the Sea returninge from Ginny."
"Ginny", meaning ''Guinea'', was the name used for the western part of Africa now including Nigeria. The voyage to Guinea was backed by George Barnes of London. The planned voyage was noted by the Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texa ...
ambassador Jean Scheyfve
Jean or Jehan Scheyfve, (c.1515-13 July 1581), Lord of Sint-Agatha-Rode, was Chancellor of Brabant, head of the civilian administration of the Duchy of Brabant, from 1557 to 1579. He had earlier served as the ambassador of Charles V, Holy Roman E ...
. In May 1553 Scheyfve thought Wyndham might employ a Portuguese pilot called Pinteado and sail in July.[Royall, Tyler, ed., ''Calendar State Papers Spanish'', vol.11 (1916), pp.38-39.] Thomas Wyndham's crew for this 1553 expedition included a future noteworthy explorer in his own right, Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher (; c. 1535 – 22 November 1594) was an English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada ...
. Wyndham and his crew were received in person by the Oba (king) of Benin City
Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano (city), Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of ...
, who in turn traded with them. Wyndham died in 1554 at sea off Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
, on the return leg of his voyage. He left John Luttrell £100 in his will.
References
Bibliography
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* Historical Manuscripts Commission, ''12th report, Appendix, part 4, The Manuscripts of the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle'', vol. 1, (1888)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyndham, Thomas
1510 births
1554 deaths
16th-century Royal Navy personnel
English admirals
English sailors
English people of the Rough Wooing
Old University of Leuven alumni
People from Felbrigg