Thomas Cheney

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Letter written by Sir Thomas Cheyne (or Cheney), 1547-9, owned by Tom Baine, Erlanger, KY (tombaine@aol.com)

Sir Thomas Cheney, KG (c 1485 - December 15, 1558), or Cheyne, was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in South-East England, from 1536 until his death.

Thomas was born around 1485 at Shurland House, Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, the son of William Cheney by his second wife, Agnes (or Margaret) Young. His uncle and guardian was John, Baron Cheney of Shurland, Henry VII's standard-bearer at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Thomas Cheney was knighted in 1513. Of his three brothers, Francis Cheney was a Governor of Queenborough Castle, Isle of Sheppey.

He was a favourite of Henry VIII's fiancée, Anne Boleyn, and she fought Cardinal Wolsey for his promotion in 1528 and 1529. However, it was not until 1535-40 that Cheney consolidated his authority as one of the most powerful men in the south-east of England.

He married firstly Frideswide Frowich, between 1509 and 1515, at Shurland House. They had three children: Frances, John and Cecily (or Catherine). He later married Anne Broughton (d. 1561), the daughter of Sir William Broughton, in 1539, at Toddington, in Bedfordshire. Their son, Henry, became 1st Baron Cheney of Toddington. Sir Thomas Cheney died at Minster-in-Sheppey, and was buried at the Trinity Church on Sheppey. His will and the elaborate proceedings at his funeral were entirely consistent with the orthodox Catholicism of the period, showing him to have been conservative. In his will dated 1558, Cheney mentioned various properties which together gave him an annual rent of over £950, and after his death it was estimated that he maintained between 200-300 servants and retainers.

From Henry VIII's coming to the throne of England in 1509, Cheyne served as Lord Warden, spanning the reigns of all five of the Tudor monarchs. Cheney was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and served three times as an ambassador to France, under the authority of Henry VIII and Charles V of France, between 1549 and 1553).

On the death of Henry VIII Cheney was highly regarded by the king. He had been Treasurer of the Royal Household since early 1530, and he is recorded as being present at over half of the Privy Council meetings held between 1540 and 1543. He represented Kent in every parliament with the single exception of the election in 1555.

"Cheyne was among those councillors entrusted with the government of the realm during Somerset's Scottish campaign of 1547."

"He was among those who sanctioned Gardiner's imprisonment in June 1548, and he was involved in the interrogation of Sir Thomas Seymour in 1549."

Thomas Cheyne opposed the plan to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and although he acquiesced with Northumberland's policy, he pledged his support for Mary I as soon as he felt it safe so to do. So fickle a courtier was he that the Marian Court privately distrusted his loyalty during the outbreak of a rebellion represented for Kent by his 'friend and neighbour' Sir Thomas Wyatt in the attack on London in 1554, but the very fact that he sent men against Northumberland indicates something of his position.

Cheney was initially distrusted by Mary, as she confessed to the imperial(?) ambassador, his 'early show of support' proving shrewd as Cheney retained his position as 'Treasurer of the Household' whilst other household officers were replaced.

As the Constable of Saltwood Castle (near Hythe), Queenborough Castle (in Sheppey), Rochester Castle and Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Lord Lieutenant of Kent (1551-3), Thomas Cheney was much 'involved with musters and coastal defence'.

Sir Thomas Cheyne was appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports on May 17, 1536 and appears to have been deprived of the office soon after Edward VI's accession, but was granted it back to him the following April.

Conspicuously in April 1545 Cheney suffered a bout of illness, and was temporarily replaced in his duties as the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports by Sir Thomas Seymour, Hertford’s brother. For the next 4 months Cheney delegated his responsibilities in the Cinque Ports and Kent to Seymour.

He was elected to the position following the execution of the previous Lord Warden, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the ceremony duly performed on the same day as that lord's demise, December 16, 1558, a month into the reign of Elizabeth I.