Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount Fanshawe KB (1596 – 30 March 1665) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

at various times between 1621 and 1661. He supported the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. Following the Restoration he was raised to the peerage.

Background

Fanshawe was the son of Sir Henry Fanshawe, of Ware Park,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

and his wife Elizabeth Smythe, daughter of

Thomas Smythe Sir Thomas Smythe (or Smith, c. 1558 – 4 September 1625) was an English merchant, politician and colonial administrator. He was the first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 until envelo ...

, of Ostenhanger Kent. His father was Remembrancer of the Exchequer.George Edward Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage Volume III, 1649-1664'' 1902
/ref>

Public life

Fanshawe succeeded as remembrancer of the exchequer on the death of his father in 1616, the post being held in trust for him until he was able to take up his duties in 1619. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

. He was re-elected for Hertford in 1624 and 1625, and for Preston in 1626.History of Parliament Online - Fanshawe, Sir Thomas
/ref> At the coronation of Charles I, on 2 February 1626, he was made a

Knight of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

. In 1628 he was re-elected MP for Hertford and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640, Fanshawe was re-elected MP for Hertford for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

and was re-elected MP for Hertford for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

in November 1640. He was

commissioner of array A commission of array was a commission given by English sovereigns to officers or gentry in a given territory to muster and array the inhabitants and to see them in a condition for war, or to put soldiers of a country in a condition for military ...

for the king in 1641 and fought on the Royalist side at the

Battle of Edgehill The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill, Warwickshire, Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitution ...

. He was disabled from sitting in parliament on 25 November 1643. He had his property sequestrated, as orders for the sale of Fanshawe's goods were issued by the parliament on 29 June 1643, and on 1 January 1644 a committee was appointed to examine a report that Sir William Litton had concealed part of Fanshawe's property. He ultimately compounded for the recovery of some of his estates for £1,310, but he was practically ruined. Fanshawe was with

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

in April 1646, and in August his brother

Sir Richard Fanshawe Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet PC (June 1608 – 16 June 1666) was an English poet and translator. He was a diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1666. During the English Civil War he supported the Royalist caus ...

visited him at

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, where he lay ill. Following the Restoration, in 1661 Fanshawe was again elected MP for

for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. With the exception of the Long Parliament, it was the longest-lasting English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring ...

. He was also created Viscount Fanshawe of Dromore, in the

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

on 5 September 1661.

Family

Lord Fanshawe's first wife was Anne Alington, daughter of Sir Giles Alington, of Horseheath by Lady Dorothy Cecil, daughter of the

Earl of Exeter Marquess of Exeter is a title that has been created twice, once in the peerage of England and once in the peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in the peerage of England in 1525 for Henry Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon. For more ...

. They had one daughter Anne (1628-1714). Upon his first wife's death, Lord Fanshawe married Elizabeth Cockayne, fourth daughter of Sir William Cockayne. Lord Fanshawe's sons and daughters by Elizabeth Cockayne included:

Thomas Fanshawe, 2nd Viscount Fanshawe Thomas Fanshawe, 2nd Viscount Fanshawe (1632–1674) of Ware Park, Hertfordshire was an Irish peer and Member of Parliament. He was born to Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount Fanshawe by his second wife Elizabeth Cockayne, the daughter of Sir Wil ...

(1632–1674), Henry Fanshawe, Charles Fanshawe, 4th Viscount Fanshawe (1643–1710), Simon Fanshawe, 5th Viscount Fanshawe (ca.1649- 23 October 1716) and Elizabeth Fanshawe, who married a distant relative named Sir Thomas Fanshawe of Jenkins. Lord Fanshawe died intestate at his town house in

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourit ...

, and was buried at

Ware WARE (1250 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Ware, Massachusetts, United States, the station serves the Springfield radio market. The station is currently owned by Success Signal Broadcasting ...

on 30 March 1665. Some say that his second wife (and widow), Elizabeth (Cockayne) Fanshawe, remarried to Sir Thomas Rich, Baronet, but that is an error: the Elizabeth Cockayne who married Sir Thomas Rich was also a daughter of a William Cockayne, but a different William: Merchant, Citizen and Skinner of London.Elizabeth Cockayne was the daughter of William Cockayne, Merchant, Citizen and Skinner of London, and Ellen Flud or Lloyd. Cokayne, George Edward
Complete Baronetage
Vol III. 1900, p. 180. Exeter: W Pollard & Co., Ltd. Further, the Elizabeth (Cockayne) Rich was baptized 11 Oct 1618 St Peter le Poor, London, England and had married Sir Rich by 1647. See also: Henning, B D, ed
RICH, Thomas (c.1601-67), of Sonning, Berks. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690
1983. Accessed 23 December 2019. File:Thomas Fanshawe, 2nd Viscount Fanshawe of Dromore.jpg, Thomes Fanshawe File:Charles Fanshawe, 4th Viscount Fanshawe of Dromore.jpg, Charles Fanshawe

References

*
FANSHAWE, Thomas II (1596-1665), of Ware Park, Herts. and Warwick Lane, London
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010 ;Attribution , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanshawe, Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount 1596 births 1665 deaths Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by Charles II Cavaliers English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1661–1679 Members of the Parliament of England for Hertfordshire Fanshawe family