Sir Thomas Arundell (c.1502 - 26 February 1552) was an English administrator and alleged conspirator.
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He was the younger of the two sons of Sir John Arundell (c.1473-5 - 8 February 1545) of Lanherne, Cornwall, and his first wife Eleanor (d. by December 1503), the daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset (c.1455 - 1501), and his second wife Cecily Bonville.[1]
Little is known of Sir Thomas Arundell's early life. He began his career in the household of Cardinal Wolsey, where he was a contemporary of Thomas Cromwell. He later held a number of administrative positions, principally in the West country. He was the first receiver of the Court of Augmentations for Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset, and in 1533 succeeded his father as Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall. He was a Justice of the Peace for Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, and was appointed to commissions for gaol delivery, oyer and terminer, and the defence of the western coastline. He commanded the Dorset militia during both the Pilgrimage of Grace and King Henry VIII's expedition to France in 1544. He was twice High Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset (1531), was keeper of the royal parks in Dorset, and in 1539 sat on the Council of the West with his father. He was employed in estate management by his cousin Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, and was general receiver for the Earl of Northumberland. He also served as receiver to Queen Anne of Cleves and chancellor to Queen Catherine Parr, and was appointed to survey the ordnance in the Tower of London.
By settlement dated 20 November 1530 Arundell married Margaret Howard (ca. 1515 - 10 October 1571), the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard (third son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his first wife Elizabeth Tilney), and Joyce Culpeper.[1] Margaret was the sister of Queen Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, and a first cousin of the King's second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn.
Arundell's career in government service enabled him to increase his wealth through the acquisition of former religious properties during the dissolution of the monasteries. In 1547 he purchased Wardour Castle in Wiltshire.[1]
Arundell was connected by birth and marriage to the Crown and to several of the most important families in England, and by the time of the death of King Henry VIII was one of the most experienced government officers in England. However, those in power at the beginning of the reign of King Edward VI removed his name from the late King's list of proposed honours, reflecting their concern with his influence and his family's devotion to the old religion. Vague and unproven allegations of complicity in the south-western rebellion in 1549 were made against him and against his brother, Sir John Arundell, leading to their imprisonment in 1550 and again in 1551, and marking the end of Sir Thomas Arundell's career. In late 1551 he temporarily aligned himself with the Protector Somerset, thereby putting himself in conflict with John Dudley, Earl of Warwick. He was arrested and charged with conspiring to overthrow the government and murder the Earl. Arundell consistently protested his innocence, but was convicted, and beheaded on Tower Hill on 26 February 1552 and buried in the church of St Peter ad Vincula. His property was confiscated, but in June 1552 the Crown began restoring it to his widow and, from 1553, to his children.[2]
The Arundells of Lanherne, Cornwall, and of Chideock, Dorset, are descended from Sir Thomas Arundell's elder brother, Sir John Arundell of Lanherne.
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| Preceded by ? |
Custos Rotulorum of Dorset bef. 1547–1552 |
Succeeded by Lord Thomas Howard |