Thomas Smith (diplomat)

Sir Thomas Smith (23 December 1513 – 12 August 1577) was an English scholar, parliamentarian and diplomat.

A c. 19th-century line engraving of Sir Thomas Smith.

Early life

Born at Saffron Walden in Essex, Smith was the second son of John Smith of Walden by Agnes, daughter of John Charnock of Lancashire. The Smiths of Essex are said to be descendants of Sir Roger de Clarendon, an illegitimate son of the Black Prince. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow in 1530,[1] and in 1533 was appointed a public reader or professor. He lectured in the schools on natural philosophy, and on Greek in his own College. In 1540 Smith went abroad, and, after studying in France and Italy and taking a degree in law at the University of Padua, returned to Cambridge in 1542.

He now took the lead in the reform of the pronunciation of Greek, his views being universally adopted after considerable controversy. He and his friend, Sir John Cheke, were the great classical scholars of the time in England. In January 1543/4 he was appointed the first Regius Professor of Civil Law. He was vice-chancellor of the university the same year. In 1547 he became Provost of Eton College and Dean of Carlisle Cathedral.

Sir Thomas was an early convert to Protestantism, which brought him into prominence when Edward VI came to the throne. During the protectorate of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, he entered public life and was made the Secretary of State, and was sent on an important diplomatic mission to Brussels. In 1548 he was knighted. On the accession of Queen Mary I he lost all his offices, but in the reign of her sister, Elizabeth I, he was prominently employed in public affairs.

He was returned as Member of Parliament for Liverpool in 1559. It became clear that he supported the religious settlement and Confessions of Westminster (1560), sitting on two committees of Inquiry. When an expert handler of the son of the King of Sweden visiting Westminster, he was sent in 1562 as ambassador to France as an emerging diplomatic talent; he remained in France from September 1562 with experienced envoy Sir Nicholas Throckmorton; and in 1572 Smith again went to France in the same capacity for a short time. However Smith came to dagger blows with Throckmorton over character and policy differences. He finally returned home in disgrace after suffering illness in April 1566.

All was not lost: Smith remained one of Elizabeth's most trusted Protestant counsellors. He had long been a friend of Sir William Cecil. Ennobled as Lord Burghley, Cecil appointed Smith to the Privy Council, only a month before he was elected to Commons as a knight of the shire for Essex. Smith, a prime mover behind the Conformity Bills, sought to restrain extremism and secure a subsidy from his fellow members. But when he proposed that the bishops be consulted, the puritan William Fleetwood defeated his motion. As a Privy Councillor he was influential on a number of committees. He spoke on the Treason Bill on the floor of the house, and examined witnesses to the Catholic plot led by the Duke of Norfolk. He was noted as upholding a religious objection to torture. His outstanding work elevated him to the higher ministerial echelons: in 1572 he was appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter and in July, principal secretary.[2]

Failed colony in Ireland

In 1571, Elizabeth I, a great believer in colonisation, granted Smith 360,000 acres (150,000 ha) of East Ulster. The empty lands were to be used to plant English settlers in an effort to control areas claimed by Clandeboye O'Neill territory and thus control the native Irish. The grant included all of the area known today as North Down and the Ards, apart from the southern tip of the Ards peninsula which was controlled by the Anglo-Norman Savage family.

Unfortunately for Smith, the booklet he printed to advertise his new lands was read by the Clandeboye O'Neill chief, Sir Brian MacPhelim, who just a few years earlier had been knighted by Elizabeth. Furious at what he saw as her "duplicity" in secretly arranging for the colonisation of unsettled areas claimed by O'Neill, he burned down all the major buildings in the area. The owners objected, but could do nothing. This made it difficult for the plantation to take hold. Then launching a wave of attacks on these early English settlers when they arrived, the O'Neills scorched the land Smith was to develop, burning abbeys, monasteries and churches, and leaving Clandeboye "totally waste and void of inhabitants".[3]

Smith, who was also a Member of Parliament for Essex in 1571 and 1572, died on 12 August 1577 at Hill Hall in Essex.[2][4]

Marriages and heirs

Smith married twice. First he wed Elizabeth Carkeke, daughter of a London printer, April 15, 1548; she died in 1553. [5] His second marriage, which took place July 23, 1554, [4] was to Philippa Wilford, the widow of Sir John Hampden of Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire, and the daughter of the London merchant Henry Wilford.[6][7] She died 15 June 1578.

The title page of the 1609 edition of Smith's work[8]

Smith had no issue by either marriage, although he had one illegitimate son named Thomas, who was killed during the failed Ards settlement. His heirs were his younger brother, George, and George's son, Sir William Smith (died 12 December 1626) of Theydon Mount, Essex.[9] Sir William Smith's daughter, Frances Smith, married Sir Matthew Brend, owner of the land on which the first and second Globe Theatres were built.[10] Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was brought up in Smith's house and his early education was supervised by him.[11]

Works

Sir Thomas Smith's book De Republica Anglorum: the Maner of Gouernement or Policie of the Realme of England,[12] written between 1562 and 1565, was first published in 1583. In it, he described England as a mixed government and a commonwealth, and stated that all commonwealths are of mixed character.

Smith also authored De recta & emendata lingvæ Anglicæ scriptione, dialogus (Correct and Improved English Writing, a Dialogue, 1568).[13]

Notes

"Smith, Thomas (SMT526T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
S[tanley] T. Bindoff, ed. (1982), "SMITH, Thomas I (1513–77), of Ankerwyke, Bucks and Hill Hall, Theydon Mount, Essex", The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558, 3, London: Secker and Warburg, OCLC 917616757, archived from the original on 10 September 2015.
"Theme: Pre Ulster Scots", Ulster Scots Heritage Trail, archived from the original on 13 December 2013, retrieved 10 September 2012.
Richardson II 2011, p. 333.
Dewar 1964, pp. 34, 75.
Dewar 1964, p. 77.
Richardson states that she was the daughter of John Wilford, a gentleman, of London. Richardson II 2011, p. 333.
Thomas Smith (1609), The Common-vvealth of England, and the Maner of Gouernement thereof. Compiled by the Honovrable Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, Doctor of both Lawes, and One of the Principall Secretaries vnto two moſt Worthy Princes, King Edvvard, and Queene Elizabeth. With New Additions of the Chiefe Courts in England, and the Offices thereof by the ſaid Author. Alſo a Table Added thereto, of All the Principall Matters Contained in this Treatiſe. Newly Corrected and Amended, London: Printed [by John Windet] for Iohn Smethwicke, and are to be ſold at his Shop in S. Dunstones Church-yard, vnder the Diall, OCLC 20191820.
Dewar 1964, pp. 202–8.
Collins 1741, p. 344; Berry 1987, pp. 95–8, 113.
Nelson, Alan H. (2003), Monstrous Adversary: the life of Edward de Vere,17th Earl of Oxford, Liverpool University Press, ISBN 978-0-85323-678-8, p. 25.
Thomas Smith (1583), De Repvblica Anglorvm: The Maner of Gouernement or Policie of the Realme of England, Compiled by the Honorable Man Thomas Smyth, Doctor of the Ciuil Lawes, Knight, and Principall Secretarie vnto the Two Most Worthie Princes, King Edward the Sixt, and Queene Elizabeth. Seene and Allowed, London: Printed by Henrie Midleton for Gregorie Seton, OCLC 78473435.
Thomas Smith (1568), De recta & emendata lingvæ Anglicæ scriptione, dialogus: Thoma Smitho equestris ordinis Anglo authore [Correct and Improved English Writing, a Dialogue: Thomas Smith, knight, English author, Paris: Ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi regij [from the office of Robert Stephan, the King's Printer], OCLC 20472303.

Bibliography

Armitage, David (2000), The Ideological Origins of the British Empire, p. 238.
Berry, Herbert (1987), Shakespeare's Playhouses, New York: AMS Press, pp. 82–8CS1 maint: ref=harv (link).
Collins, Arthur (1741), The English Baronetage, III, Part I, London: Thomas Wotton, p. 344, retrieved 18 April 2013CS1 maint: ref=harv (link).
Dewar, Mary (1964), Sir Thomas Smith; A Tudor Intellectual in Office, London: The Athlone PressCS1 maint: ref=harv (link).
Richardson, Douglas (2011), Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.), Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, II (2nd ed.), Salt Lake City, ISBN 1449966381.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Smith, Sir Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 269.

External links

Works by or about Thomas Smith in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Government offices
Preceded by William Honnyng Sir Thomas Chaloner	Clerk of the Privy Council 1547–1548 With: William Honnyng Sir Thomas Chaloner	Succeeded by William Honnyng Sir Thomas Chaloner Armagil Wade
Political offices
Preceded by Sir William Paget Sir William Petre	Secretary of State 1548–1549 With: Sir William Petre	Succeeded by Nicholas Wotton Sir William Petre
Preceded by Sir William Cecil	Secretary of State 1572–1576 With: Sir Francis Walsingham 1573–1576	Succeeded by Sir Francis Walsingham
Preceded by The Lord Howard of Effingham	Lord Privy Seal 1573–1576	Succeeded by Sir Francis Walsingham

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[1] "Smith, Thomas (SMT526T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[History_of_Parliament-2] S[tanley] T. Bindoff, ed. (1982), "SMITH, Thomas I (1513–77), of Ankerwyke, Bucks and Hill Hall, Theydon Mount, Essex", The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558, 3, London: Secker and Warburg, OCLC 917616757, archived from the original on 10 September 2015.

[3] "Theme: Pre Ulster Scots", Ulster Scots Heritage Trail, archived from the original on 13 December 2013, retrieved 10 September 2012.

[Richardson_II_2011_333-4] Richardson II 2011, p. 333.

[5] Dewar 1964, pp. 34, 75.

[6] Dewar 1964, p. 77.

[7] Richardson states that she was the daughter of John Wilford, a gentleman, of London. Richardson II 2011, p. 333.

[8] Thomas Smith (1609), The Common-vvealth of England, and the Maner of Gouernement thereof. Compiled by the Honovrable Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, Doctor of both Lawes, and One of the Principall Secretaries vnto two moſt Worthy Princes, King Edvvard, and Queene Elizabeth. With New Additions of the Chiefe Courts in England, and the Offices thereof by the ſaid Author. Alſo a Table Added thereto, of All the Principall Matters Contained in this Treatiſe. Newly Corrected and Amended, London: Printed [by John Windet] for Iohn Smethwicke, and are to be ſold at his Shop in S. Dunstones Church-yard, vnder the Diall, OCLC 20191820.

[9] Dewar 1964, pp. 202–8.

[10] Collins 1741, p. 344; Berry 1987, pp. 95–8, 113.

[11] Nelson, Alan H. (2003), Monstrous Adversary: the life of Edward de Vere,17th Earl of Oxford, Liverpool University Press, ISBN 978-0-85323-678-8, p. 25.

[12] Thomas Smith (1583), De Repvblica Anglorvm: The Maner of Gouernement or Policie of the Realme of England, Compiled by the Honorable Man Thomas Smyth, Doctor of the Ciuil Lawes, Knight, and Principall Secretarie vnto the Two Most Worthie Princes, King Edward the Sixt, and Queene Elizabeth. Seene and Allowed, London: Printed by Henrie Midleton for Gregorie Seton, OCLC 78473435.

[13] Thomas Smith (1568), De recta & emendata lingvæ Anglicæ scriptione, dialogus: Thoma Smitho equestris ordinis Anglo authore [Correct and Improved English Writing, a Dialogue: Thomas Smith, knight, English author, Paris: Ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi regij [from the office of Robert Stephan, the King's Printer], OCLC 20472303.

Chancellors of the Order of the Garter
Bishops of Salisbury (1477–1550)	Richard Beauchamp Lionel Woodville Thomas Langton John Blyth Henry Deane Edmund Audley
Lay Chancellors (1551–1671)	Sir William Cecil Sir William Petre Sir Thomas Smith Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Amias Paulet Sir John Wolley Sir Edward Dyer Sir John Herbert Sir George More Sir Francis Crane Sir Thomas Roe Sir James Palmer Sir Henry de Vic
Bishops of Salisbury (1671–1837)	Seth Ward Gilbert Burnet William Talbot Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly Thomas Sherlock John Gilbert John Thomas The Hon. Robert Hay Drummond John Thomas John Hume Shute Barrington John Douglas John Fisher Thomas Burgess
Bishops of Oxford (1837–1937)	Richard Bagot Samuel Wilberforce John Mackarness William Stubbs Francis Paget Charles Gore Hubert Burge Thomas Strong
Knights Companion (from 1937)	William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham John Nevill, 5th Marquess of Abergavenny Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn

Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge
15th century	Thomas Ashwell Henry Stockton Nicholas de Swaffham Nicholas Gay William Millington John Roclyffe Thomas Stoyle William Uttyng William Smyth Edmund Conisborough Thomas Stoyle William Towne Thomas Tuppin John Riplingham John Camberton William Rawson William Stockdale John Dolman Henry Rudd John Smith John Smith Henry Babington
16th century	John Fisher Humphrey Fitzwilliam Geoffrey Knight John Smith Richard Burton John Eccleston William Robson William Buckenham Thomas Thompson John Fawne John Eccleston Robert Dowsing Edmund Natares John Watson Edmund Natares Thomas Stackhouse John Edmunds Thomas Green Henry Bullock Edmund Natares John Edmunds William Buckmaster John Watson Simon Heynes John Crayford Francis Mallet George Day William Buckmaster John Edmunds Francis Mallet Richard Standish John Edmunds Richard Standish John Edmunds Sir Thomas Smith John Madew Matthew Parker John Madew William Bill Matthew Parker Walter Haddon John Madew Andrew Perne Edward Hawford Edwin Sandys John Young William Glyn Cuthbert Scott Andrew Perne John Pory Robert Brassey Edmund Cosyn Andrew Perne Henry Harvey Philip Baker Francis Newton Edward Hawford Robert Beaumont John Stokes Robert Beaumont Roger Kelke Richard Longworth John Young John May John Whitgift Roger Kelke Thomas Bynge John Whitgift Andrew Perne John Still Roger Goad Richard Howland Thomas Bynge John Hatcher Andrew Perne William Fulke John Bell Richard Howland Robert Norgate Humphrey Tindall John Copcot Thomas Legge Thomas Nevile Thomas Preston Robert Soame Thomas Legge John Still John Duport Roger Goad John Jegon Robert Soame John Jegon
17th century	John Duport William Smith John Cowell Richard Clayton Samuel Harsnett Roger Goad Thomas Jegon John Duport Fogge Newton Barnabas Gooch (or Goche) Valentine Cary Clement Corbet Samuel Harsnett Owen Gwyn John Hills John Richardson William Branthwaite John Gostlyn Robert Scott Samuel Ward Leonard Mawe Jerome Beale Thomas Paske John Mansell John Gostlyn Henry Smyth Thomas Bainbridge Matthew Wren Henry Butts Thomas Comber Benjamin Lany Richard Love William Beale Henry Smyth Thomas Comber Ralph Brownrigg John Cosin Richard Holdsworth Ralph Brownrigg Thomas Hill John Arrowsmith Anthony Tuckney Thomas Horton Benjamin Whichcote Samuel Bolton Richard Minshall Lazarus Seaman John Lightfoot Theophilus Dillingham John Worthington John Bond William Dillingham Henry Ferne Henry Ferne Edward Rainbowe William Dillingham James Fleetwood Anthony Sparrow Francis Wilford John Howorth James Fleetwood Edmund Boldero James Duport John Breton Robert Mapletoft William Wells John Spencer Edmund Boldero Isaac Barrow Sir Thomas Page Thomas Holbech Francis Turner John Eachard Humphrey Gower Nathaniel Coga John Copleston Henry James Samuel Blyth William Saywell John Peachell John Balderston Hon. John Mountague John Covel James Johnson Charles Roderick Gabriel Quadring George Oxenden William Stanley Thomas Browne John Eachard Henry James Sir William Dawes Thomas Green Richard Bentley
18th century	Thomas Richardson Charles Ashton George Bramston Sir John Ellys Bardsey Fisher John Balderston Edward Lany John Covel Charles Roderick Sir Nathaniel Lloyd Gabriel Quadring John Adams Thomas Green Thomas Sherlock Daniel Waterland William Grigg Sir Thomas Gooch Thomas Crosse Andrew Snape William Savage John Davies Joseph Craven Robert Lambert John Frankland Robert Lambert Matthias Mawson Charles Morgan Roger Long William Towers John Adams John Wilcox William Richardson John Whalley Edward Hubbard Sir Edward Simpson William Sedgwick Robert Smith William George Kenrick Prescot George Henry Rooke Edmund Castle Francis Parris Thomas Chapman Edmund Keene John Wilcox Philip Yonge Hugh Thomas Edmund Law John Sumner John Green Lynford Caryl Sir James Burrough George Sandby Robert Plumptre Peter Godard William Elliston John Barnardiston William Samuel Powell John Smith Sir James Marriott John Hinchliffe William Richardson John Sumner James Brown William Cooke Lynford Caryl Hon. Barton Wallop Richard Farmer John Chevalier Hugh Thomas Robert Plumptre William Colman Lowther Yates John Barker Richard Beadon John Torkington Peter Peckard Joseph Turner Sir James Marriott William Elliston Richard Farmer Francis Barnes William Pearce William Craven Thomas Postlethwaite Isaac Milner William Colman Lowther Yates Philip Douglas Richard Fisher Belward Robert Towerson Cory Humphrey Sumner William Lort Mansel William Gretton
19th century	Joseph Proctor Humphrey Sumner Martin Davy John Torkington Joseph Turner William Pearce Francis Barnes Edward Pearson Isaac Milner Philip Douglas Thomas Browne John Davie Robert Towerson Cory William Chafy George Thackeray John Kaye James Wood William Webb George Neville William Frere Christopher Wordsworth William French Henry Godfrey John Lamb Thomas Le Blanc Joseph Proctor Christopher Wordsworth Martin Davy Gilbert Ainslie William Chafy George Thackeray John Graham William Webb Joshua King William French George Archdall Gilbert Ainslie Thomas Worsley William Hodgson Ralph Tatham John Graham George Archdall William Whewell William Hodgson Robert Phelps Ralph Tatham Henry Philpott Robert Phelps Henry Wilkinson Cookson James Cartmell George Corrie Richard Okes James Pulling Thomas Charles Geldart Edwin Guest William Whewell Henry Philpott William Henry Bateson Latimer Neville George Phillips Edward Atkinson Henry Wilkinson Cookson James Cartmell William Hepworth Thompson Edward Atkinson John Power Henry Wilkinson Cookson Samuel George Phear Edward Atkinson John Power Edward Perowne James Porter Norman Macleod Ferrers Charles Swainson Charles Taylor Charles Edward Searle Henry Montagu Butler John Peile Augustus Austen Leigh Charles Smith Alexander Hill William Chawner
20th century	Adolphus Ward Frederic Chase Edward Anthony Beck Ernest Stewart Roberts Arthur James Mason Robert Forsyth Scott Stuart Alexander Donaldson M. R. James Thomas Cecil Fitzpatrick Arthur Shipley Peter Giles Edmund Pearce Albert Seward George Weekes Thomas Cecil Fitzpatrick Allen Beville Ramsay Will Spens J. F. Cameron Godfrey Wilson Henry Roy Dean Ernest Alfred Benians John Archibald Venn Thomas Shirley Hele Henry Thirkill Charles E. Raven Sydney Castle Roberts Sir Lionel Whitby Henry Willink Brian Downs Edgar Adrian Herbert Butterfield Ivor Jennings John Boys Smith Arthur Armitage Eric Ashby Owen Chadwick William Alexander Deer Jack Linnett Rosemary Murray Alan Cottrell Peter Swinnerton-Dyer Harry Hinsley John Butterfield Richard Adrian, 2nd Baron Adrian Michael McCrum
Full-time	Sir David Williams Sir Alec Broers Dame Alison Richard Sir Leszek Borysiewicz Stephen Toope

Deans of Carlisle
Early modern	Lancelot Salkeld Thomas Smith John Wolley Christopher Perkins Francis White William Peterson Thomas Comber Guy Carleton Thomas Smith Thomas Musgrave William Grahme Francis Atterbury George Smalridge Thomas Gibson Thomas Tullie George Fleming Robert Bolton Charles Tarrant Thomas Wilson Thomas Percy Jeffery Ekins
Late modern	Isaac Milner Robert Hodgson John Cramer Samuel Hinds Archibald Campbell Tait Francis Close John Oakley William Henderson Charles Ridgeway William Barker Hastings Rashdall Henry Stuart Cecil Cooper Frederick Matheson Cyril Mayne Lionel du Toit John Churchill Henry Stapleton Graeme Knowles Mark Boyling