Thomas Thynne. Mezzotint by Alexander Brown, ca. 1680–84, after Sir Peter Lely
Arms of Thynne: Quarterly: 1st and 4th: Barry of ten or and sable (Boteville); 2nd and 3rd: Argent, a lion rampant with tail nowed and erected gules (Thynne)

Thomas Thynne (1647/8–12 February 1682) was an English landowner of the family that is now headed by the Marquess of Bath and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1670 to 1682. He went by the nickname "Tom of Ten Thousand" due to his great wealth. He was a friend of the Duke of Monmouth, a relationship referred to in John Dryden's satirical work Absalom and Achitophel where Thynne is described as "Issachar, his wealthy western friend".

Thynne was the son of Sir Thomas Thynne, and his wife Stuarta Balquanquill, daughter of Dr. Walter Balquanquill.[1] His father was a younger son of Sir Thomas Thynne of Longleat, Wiltshire. In 1670 Thynne succeeded to the family estates at Longleat on the death of his uncle Sir James Thynne without issue. He also succeeded his uncle as Member of Parliament for Wiltshire, and sat until his death in 1682.

On 15 November 1681 Thynne married the wealthy Lady Elizabeth Percy, only child of Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, who was then aged 14. The couple were married less than a year.

Death

Thynne was murdered on 12 February 1682 after the Swedish Count Karl Johann von Königsmark began to pursue his wife. Count Karl von Königsmark was the brother of Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the state of Hanover in Germany in 1694, possibly murdered by order of the future British monarch George I, with whose wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, he was having a notorious affair.

Thynne was shot while riding in his coach in Pall Mall, London, by three men, Christopher Vratz, John Stern and Charles George Borosky. It was strongly suspected that they were acting on the orders of Königsmark and the four were soon arrested, Vratz being captured by Sir John Reresby hiding at the house of a Swedish doctor in Leicester Fields (modern Leicester Square).[2] Königsmark however was acquitted of the charge of being an accessory before the fact (due to the corruption of the jury according to diarist John Evelyn) but Vratz, Stern and Borosky were hanged on 10 March 1682.

Thynne's remains were interred in a marble tomb in Westminster Abbey. The tomb which was sculpted by Arnold Quellin, is decorated in part with a representation of the murder of Thynne in 1682. A popular ballad summed up the episode in form of a mock epitaph:

Here lies Tom Thynne of Longleat Hall
Who ne'er would have miscarried;
Had he married the woman he slept withal
Or slept with the woman he married.

After Thynne's death, his widow, Lady Elizabeth, married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset.

References

  1. ^ Charles Mosley, ed., Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition (Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1999), vol. 1, p. 212
  2. ^ "Leicester Square, West Side: Leicester Estate, Nos 43-54 Leicester Square Pages 507-514 Survey of London: Volumes 33 and 34, St Anne Soho". British History Online. LCC 1966. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  3. ^ Burke, Sir Bernard, (1938 ed) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Shaw, London. p. 243
  4. ^ a b c Woodfall, H. (1768). The Peerage of England; Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the Peers of that Kingdom Etc. Fourth Edition, Carefully Corrected, and Continued to the Present Time, Volume 6. p. 258.
  5. ^ a b Lee, Sidney; Edwards, A. S. G. (revised) (2004). "Thynne, William (d. 1546)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27426. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Girouard, Mark, Thynne, Sir John (1515–1580), estate manager and builder of Longleat in Oxford Dictionary of Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
  7. ^ Booth, Muriel. "Thynne, John (?1550–1604), of Longleat, Wilts". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  8. ^ Lancaster, Henry; Thrush, Andrew. "Thynne, Charles (c.1568–1652), of Cheddar, Som". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  9. ^ Pugh, R. B.; Crittall, Elizabeth, eds. (1957). "Parliamentary history: 1529–1629". A History of the County of Wiltshire. Vol. 5. London: Victoria County History – via British History Online.
  10. ^ Ferris, John P. "Thynne, Sir James (c.1605-70), of Longbridge Deverill, Wilts". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  11. ^ Helms, M. W.; Ferris, John P. "Thynne, Sir Thomas (c.1610–c.69), of Richmond, Surr". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  12. ^ Marshall, Alan (2008) [2004]. "Thynne, Thomas [nicknamed Tom of Ten Thousand] (1647/8–1682)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27423. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  13. ^ Heath-Caldwell, J. J. "Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath, 3rd Viscount Weymouth". JJ Heath-Caldwell. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  14. ^ Hayton, D. W. "Thynne, Hon. Henry (1675-1708)". The History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  15. ^ Dunaway, Stewart (2013). Lord John Carteret, Earl Granville: His Life History and the Granville Grants. Lulu. p. 33. ISBN 9781300878070.
  16. ^ "Bath, Thomas Thynne". Encyclopedia Britannica 1911. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  17. ^ Thorne, Roland. "Carteret [formerly Thynne], Henry Frederick". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  18. ^ "Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath (1765–1837)". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  19. ^ Escott, Margaret. "Thynne, Lord Henry Frederick (1797-1837), of 6 Grovesnor Square, Mdx". History of Parliament. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  20. ^ "John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831-1896), Diplomat and landowner". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
Parliament of England Preceded bySir James ThynneHenry Hyde Member of Parliament for Wiltshire 1670–1682 With: Henry Hyde, Sir Richard Grobham Howe, Bt., Sir Walter St John, 3rd Baronet Succeeded byViscount CornburyViscount Bruce
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