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{{Short description|16th-century English scholar and diplomat (1513–1577)}}
[[File:Sir Thomas Smith, ob. 1577 (c. early 19th century).jpg|thumb|upright|A ''c.'' 19th-century [[line engraving]] of Sir Thomas Smith.]]

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

==Early life==
{{More citations needed|section|date=January 2023}}
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,<ref>{{Acad|id=SMT526T|name=Smith, Thomas}}</ref> and, in 1533, was appointed a public reader or professor. He lectured in the schools on [[natural philosophy]], and on [[Greek language|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]], he returned to Cambridge in 1542.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=269}}

He 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 [[Old Style and New Style dates|1543/44]] he was appointed the first [[Regius Professor of Civil Law (Cambridge)|Regius Professor of Civil Law]]. He was vice-chancellor of the university the same year{{Fix|text=43 or 44?}}. In 1547, he became Provost of [[Eton College]] and Dean of [[Carlisle Cathedral]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=269}}

Sir Thomas was an early convert to Protestantism, which brought him into prominence when [[Edward VI of England|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 (England)|Secretary of State]], and was sent on an important diplomatic mission to [[Brussels]]. In 1548, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]]. On the accession of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary I]] he lost all his offices, but in the reign of her sister, [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], he was prominently employed in public affairs.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=269}}

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{{clarify|date=December 2017}} of the son of the King of Sweden visiting Westminster, he was sent in 1562 as [[List of ambassadors of the Kingdom of England to France|ambassador to France]] as an emerging diplomatic talent; he remained in France from September 1562 with experienced envoy Sir [[Nicholas Throckmorton]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=269}}

Smith came to dagger blows with Throckmorton over character and policy differences. He returned from France in disgrace after suffering illness in April 1566. Nonetheless, Smith remained one of Elizabeth's most trusted Protestant counsellors.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=269}} 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 (judge)|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.<ref name="History of Parliament">{{citation|contribution=SMITH, Thomas I (1513–77), of Ankerwyke, Bucks and Hill Hall, Theydon Mount, Essex|editor=S[tanley] T. Bindoff|title=The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/smith-thomas-i-1513-77|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910124356/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/smith-thomas-i-1513-77|archive-date=10 September 2015|location=London|publisher=[[Harvill Secker|Secker and Warburg]]|year=1982|volume=3|isbn=9780521108058|oclc=917616757|url-status=live}}.</ref>

In 1572, Smith again went to France as an ambassador for a short time, and attended the receptions held at the arrival of [[Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln|Lord Clinton]]. Smith, Clinton, and [[Francis Walsingham]] had an audience with [[Catherine de' Medici]] at the Madrid Palace (while she was in bed) and [[Charles IX of France]] showed them her gardens and banqueting pavilion at the [[Tuileries Palace]].<ref>Henry Ellis, ''Original Letters'', series 2 vol. 3 (London, 1827), pp. 12-22.</ref>

==Failed colony in Ireland==
In 1571, Elizabeth I granted Smith {{convert|360,000|acres}} 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 dynasty|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 [[Old English (Ireland)|Anglo-Norman]] [[Savage family (Ireland)|Savage family]].{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Unfortunately for Smith, the booklet he printed to advertise his new lands was read by the Clandeboye O'Neill chief, [[Brian O'Neill (1574)|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 earth|scorched]] the land Smith was to develop,  burning abbeys, monasteries and churches, and leaving Clandeboye "totally waste and void of inhabitants".<ref>{{citation|title=Theme: Pre Ulster Scots|url=http://www.ulsterscotstrail.com/taxonomy/term/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213062201/http://ulsterscotstrail.com/taxonomy/term/1|archive-date=13 December 2013|work=Ulster Scots Heritage Trail|access-date=10 September 2012}}</ref>

Smith, who was also a [[Parliament of England|Member of Parliament]] for [[Essex (UK Parliament constituency)|Essex]] in 1571 and 1572, died on 12 August 1577 at [[Hill Hall (Essex)|Hill Hall]] in [[Essex]].<ref name="History of Parliament"/><ref name="Richardson II 2011 333">{{Harvnb|Richardson II|2011|p=333}}</ref>

==Marriages and heirs==
Smith married twice.  First he wed Elizabeth Carkeke, daughter of a London printer, April 15, 1548; she died in 1553.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dewar|1964|pp=34, 75}}.</ref>  His second marriage, which took place July 23, 1554,<ref name="Richardson II 2011 333"/> was to Philippa Wilford, the widow of Sir John Hampden of [[Great Hampden]], [[Buckinghamshire]], and the daughter of the London merchant Henry Wilford.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dewar|1964|p=77}}.</ref><ref>Richardson states that she was the daughter of John Wilford, a gentleman, of London. {{Harvnb|Richardson II|2011|p=333}}.</ref>  She died 15 June 1578.

[[File:Thomas Smith, The Common-wealth of England (1609, title page).jpg|thumb|The title page of the 1609 edition of Smith's work<ref>{{citation|author=Thomas Smith|title=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|location=London|publisher=Printed [by John Windet] for Iohn Smethwicke, and are to be ſold at his Shop in S. Dunstones Church-yard, vnder the Diall|year=1609|isbn=9780521108058|oclc=20191820}}.</ref>]]

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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dewar|1964|pp=202–8}}.</ref> Sir William Smith's daughter, Frances Smith, married Sir [[Matthew Brend]], owner of the land on which the first and second [[Globe Theatre]]s were built.<ref>{{Harvnb|Collins|1741|p=344}}; {{Harvnb|Berry|1987|pp=95–8, 113}}.</ref> [[Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford]], was brought up in Smith's house and his early education was supervised by him.<ref>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.</ref>

Smith left his books to Queens' College, Cambridge, except a few volumes that he had given to rector of Theydon Mount. He made provision for finishing the building of Hill Hall in his will, and a monument for himself and his wife (designed by Richard Kyrbie). Lady Phillipa Smith's will details some of the furnishings of Hill Hall.<ref>[[F. G. Emmison]], ''Elizabethan Life: Wills of Essex Gentry and Merchants'' (Chelmsford, 1978), pp. 39–45.</ref>

==Works==
Sir Thomas Smith's book ''De Republica Anglorum: the {{sic|Ma|ner|hide=y}} of {{sic|Gouerne|ment|hide=y}} or {{sic|Poli|cie|hide=y}} of the {{sic|Real|me|hide=y}} of England'',<ref>{{citation|author=Thomas Smith|title=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|url=http://www.constitution.org/eng/repang.htm|location=London|publisher=Printed by Henrie Midleton for Gregorie Seton|year=1583|isbn=9780521108058|oclc=78473435}}.</ref> written between 1562 and 1565, was first published in 1583.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=270}} 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).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=270}}<ref>{{citation |author=Thomas Smith |title=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") |year=1568 |url=https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/7w62f950t |location=Paris |publisher=Ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi regij [from the office of Robert Stephan, the King's Printer] |oclc=20472303}}.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{citation|last=Armitage|first=David|year=2000|title=The Ideological Origins of the British Empire|page=238}}.
*{{citation|last=Berry|first=Herbert|year=1987|title=Shakespeare's Playhouses|location=New York|publisher=AMS Press|pages=82–8}}.
*{{citation|last=Collins|first=Arthur|year=1741|title=The English Baronetage|location=London|publisher=Thomas Wotton|volume=III, Part I|page=344|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA345|access-date=18 April 2013}}.
*{{citation|last=Dewar|first=Mary|year=1964|title=Sir Thomas Smith; A Tudor Intellectual in Office|location=London|publisher=The Athlone Press}}.
*{{citation|last=Richardson|first=Douglas|year=2011|title=Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families|editor-first=Kimball G.|editor-last=Everingham|location=Salt Lake City|edition=2nd|volume=II|ref={{sfnref|Richardson II|2011}}|isbn=978-1449966386}}.

'''Attribution:'''
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Smith, Sir Thomas|volume=25|pages=269–270}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Thomas Smith (diplomat)}}
{{wikisource|works=or|wislink=Thomas Smith (1513-1577)|title=Author:Thomas Smith}}
*{{citation|author=John Strype|author-link=John Strype|title=The Life of the Learned Sir Thomas Smith, Kt. D.C.L. Principal Secretary of State to King Edward the Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth. Wherein are Discovered many Singular Matters Relating to the State of Learning, the Reformation of Religion, and the Transactions of the Kingdom, during his Time. In All which he had a Great and Happy Influence|url=https://archive.org/details/lifelearnedsirt01strygoog|edition=new|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]]|year=1820|oclc=15137519}}.

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{{Chancellors of the Order of the Garter}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Thomas}}
[[Category:1513 births]]
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[[Category:16th-century English diplomats]]
[[Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge]]
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