Thomas Blanke
Sir Thomas Blanke (died 1588) was an English politician who served as Lord Mayor of London.
He was the son of a London haberdasher, also named Thomas Blanke, and the brother-in-law of John Altham, one of the Sheriffs of London in 1557.[1][2] Like his father, Thomas Blanke followed the trade of a haberdasher. He became an alderman in 1572 and served as one of the Sheriffs of London in 1574.[3]
He was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1582. He had the misfortune to be elected during a severe outbreak of the plague;[4] due to the pestilence, there was no pageant celebrating his election, and he was not presented to the queen until the next May.[5]
Much of his mayoralty was spent dealing with the effects of the plague, and his efforts earned him the appellation of "The Good Knight".[6] He died in 1588, at the age of 74, and was buried at St Mary-at-Hill;[7] his wife lived until 1596, being buried in the same tomb.[8] As he had died without issue, his estate at Abbott's Inn passed into the Altham family, who retained it until it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.[9]
References
- Burke, Bernard, and Burke, Ashworth Peter "A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I" pg. 248
- "The Visitations of Essex" pg. 538
- City of London Corporation "Analytical Index to the Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia" pg. 153
- Radcliffe, John Netten "The Pestilence in England: An Historical Sketch" pg. 37
- Withington, Robert "English Pageantry: An Historical Outline, Vol. II" pg. 22
- "The European Magazine and London Review, Vol. 52" pg. 12
- Thornbury, George Walter, and Valford, Edward "Old and New London" pg. 41
- Targoff, Ramie "Posthumous Love: Eros and the Afterlife in Renaissance England" pp. 25 - 26
- "Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity" pp. 408 - 410
| Civic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James Harvey |
Lord Mayor of London 1582 |
Succeeded by Edward Osborne |