Thomas Arundell

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Sir Thomas Arundell (d. 1552), was the second son of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne.

Arundell was knighted at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 after having served as Sheriff of Dorsetshire from 1531 to 1532. He also served Cardinal Wolsey as a gentleman of the Privy Chamber. Henry VIII granted him a church at Tresco of the Scilly Isles in 1545. He was appointed in 1535 to the commission for the suppression of religious houses, wherein he made his fortune breaking up the monasteries, transferring their lands and profits to foreign hands.

In 1550 he and his brother John Arundell were placed in the Tower of London, suspected of involvement with an uprising in Cornwall, where he had recently been appointed receiver-general of the Duchy of Cornwall. Again a victim of politics, he was returned to the Tower the very year of his release in 1551, this time relating to the disgrace of Protector Somerset in the early years of Edward VI.

He was finally brought to trial, acquitted of treason but sentenced to be hanged nonetheless. However, the sentence was changed to beheading, which was carried out the same day that Sir Ralph Vane (who had stood by his side in trial), Sir Miles Partridge, and Sir Michael Stanhope were likewise executed.