Thomas Tresham (died 1559)

Sir Thomas Tresham (died 8 March 1559) was a leading Catholic politician during the middle of the Tudor dynasty in England.

Family

Thomas Tresham was the eldest son of John Tresham of Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, and Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of Sir James Harrington, of Hornby, Lancashire.

Career

Tresham was knighted by 1524. He was chosen Sheriff in 1524, 1539, 1548 and 1555/6, and returned as a Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire in 1541 and twice in 1554. In 1530 he served on a Royal Commission inquiring into Cardinal Wolsey's possessions. In 1537 he served on another to inquire into the Lincolnshire rebellion.

In 1539 he was one of those appointed to receive Henry VIII's future fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, at Calais. In 1540, he had licence to impark the Lyveden estate in the Aldwinkle St Peter's parish, where the "New Bield" erected by his grandson Thomas Tresham II still stands.

• John Tresham, who died in the lifetime of his father. His son, also named Sir Thomas Tresham, succeeded his grandfather.
• William Tresham.

He married, secondly, Lettice Peniston, widow, successively, of Sir Robert Knollys and Sir Robert Lee (d. 1539), and daughter of Sir Thomas Peniston of Hawridge. She predeceased him without issue.

References

• History of Parliament TRESHAM, Sir Thomas (by 1500–59) of Rushton, Nortants