Thomas Smith (diplomat)

Sir Thomas Smith

Sir Thomas Smith (born December 23, 1513 in Saffron Walden , Essex , † August 12, 1577 ) was an English scholar and diplomat.

Smith attended Queens' College at the University of Cambridge , where he became a fellow in 1530 (with a bachelor's degree in the same year and an MA in 1532) and where he became a reader in 1532 . He taught natural philosophy and Greek (also privately as a tutor). In 1540 he traveled to the continent to France and Italy and acquired a law degree (LLD, doctor) in Padua . In 1542 he returned to Cambridge. He was considered one of the most important scholars in Great Britain in his day and a leading Greekist alongside his friend John Cheke . Among other things, he reformed the pronunciation of ancient Greek, which was met with strong opposition at the time, but was generally adopted in England in the 19th century.

In 1542 he became Regius Professor of Civil Law and in 1543/44 he was Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University. From 1547 to 1554 he was Provost of Eton College and in 1545 Chancellor of the Bishop of Ely . He converted to Protestantism at an early age and made a career as a diplomat under the lord protector Edward Seymour (whose secretary he became in 1547) - he became state secretary in 1548 and was sent on a mission to Antwerp . In 1547 he became a Member of Parliament (Marlborough) and in 1548 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor . When the Catholic Queen Mary ascended the throne in 1552, he lost his offices and only continued his career under Elizabeth I , who ascended the throne in 1558. In 1553 he was again a member of parliament (Grampound, from 1559 Liverpool and 1571/72 Essex) and from 1562 to 1566 ambassador to France (where he was on a diplomatic mission in 1550, 1567 and again as ambassador in 1571/2). He was confidante of the Queen, who made him Lord Seal Keeper (1573-1576) and in 1572 Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. In 1571 the Queen commissioned him with a mission to colonize Northern Ireland. But that met with great resistance from the O'Neill clan there, who then devastated the intended land.

In the 1560s he wrote a book on the form of government in England De Republica Anglorum , which appeared in 1582. In 1568 he published a book on the correct pronunciation of English. One of his students was Edward de Vere .

Smith was married twice and had an illegitimate son. His first marriage was in 1548 Elizabeth, daughter of William Carkeke from London. She died in 1552. In 1554 he married Philippa, daughter of Henry Wilford of London and widow of Sir John Hampden of Theydon Mount. She died in 1578.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ST Bindoff, 1982; The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 ; SMITH, Thomas I (1513-77), of Ankerwyke, Bucks and Hill Hall, Theydon Mount, Essex.

Web links

• Biography in History of Parliament
• John Strype The life of the learned Sir Thomas Smith , 1820