Biography of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset 1536-1608

Paternal Family Tree: Sackville

1572 Ridolphi Plot

1586 Trial of Mary Queen of Scots

1604 Treaty of London

Before 1536 [his father] Richard Sackville (age 28) and [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester were married.

In 1536 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset was born to Richard Sackville (age 29) and Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester.

Around 1550 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 14) educated at St John's College, Cambridge University [Map].

In 1555 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 19) and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 20) were married. He the son of Richard Sackville (age 48) and Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester.

Between 1557 and 1587. Unknown Painter. The Almain Armourers' Album. Armour of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 21).

In 1560 Thomas Bisshopp of Henfield in Surrey (age 54) died. His son Thomas Bisshopp 1st Baronet (age 6) became a ward of [his father] Richard Sackville (age 53) and then his son Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 24).

In 1561 [his son] Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 25) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 26).

Around 1564 [his daughter] Anne Sackville was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 28) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 29).

In 1567 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 31) was created 1st Baron Buckhurst. [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 32) by marriage Baroness Buckhurst.

Around 1570 [his son] William Sackville was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 34) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 35).

Before May 1571 [his step-father] John Paulet 2nd Marquess Winchester (age 61) and [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester were married. He the son of William Paulet 1st Marquess Winchester (age 88) and Elizabeth Capell Marchioness Winchester.

Ridolphi Plot

In Jan 1572 Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk (age 35) was tried for high treason for his involvement in the Ridolphi Plot. Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 36) acted as judge.

George Talbot 6th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 44) was appointed Lord High Steward for the trial.

Walter Mildmay (age 51) helped prepare evidence against Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk.

Around 1573 [his daughter] Jane Sackville Viscountess Montague was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 37) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 38).

In Feb 1580 [his son] Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset (age 19) and [his daughter-in-law] Margaret Howard (age 18) were married. She the daughter of Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk and Margaret Audley Duchess Norfolk. He the son of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 44) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 45).

In 1584 [his daughter] Mary Sackville was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 48) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 49).

In 1586 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 50) conveyed to Mary Queen of Scots (age 43) the sentence of death confirmed by the English Parliament.

Trial of Mary Queen of Scots

In Nov 1586 Robert Beale (age 45) was sent with Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 50) to Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire [Map] to notify Mary Queen of Scots (age 43) that sentence of death had been passed upon her.

Before 1589 [his son-in-law] Henry Glemham and [his daughter] Anne Sackville (age 24) were married. She the daughter of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 52) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 53).

In 1589 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 53) was appointed 373rd Knight of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland (age 55).

Before 1591. Hieronimo Custodis. Portrait of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 54).

In 1591 [his son-in-law] Anthony Maria Browne 2nd Viscount Montagu (age 16) and [his daughter] Jane Sackville Viscountess Montague (age 18) were married. She by marriage Viscountess Montagu. She the daughter of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 55) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 56).

On 04 Dec 1592 [his son] Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset (age 31) and [his daughter-in-law] Anne Spencer Countess Dorset were married. He the son of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 56) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 57).

In 1599 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 63) was appointed Lord Treasurer.

Before 1601 [his son-in-law] Henry Neville 9th and 7th Baron Bergavenny (age 21) and [his daughter] Mary Sackville (age 16) were married at Buckhurst Withyham. She the daughter of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 64) and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 65).

In 1604 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 68) was created 1st Earl Dorset. [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 69) by marriage Countess Dorset.

Treaty of London

Around 1604 John Critz (age 53) is believed to have contributed to the Somerset House Conference painting of the negotiation of the Treaty of London in which Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 68), Charles Howard 1st Earl Nottingham (age 68), Charles Blount 1st Earl Devonshire (age 41), Henry Howard 1st Earl of Northampton (age 63) and Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 40) are represented on the right side.

On 19 Apr 1608 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset (age 72) died suddenly at the council table, having apparently suffered a stroke. His funeral was held at Westminster Abbey [Map]. He was buried in the Sackville Chapel St Michael's Church Withyham East Sussex. His son [his son] Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset (age 47) succeeded 2nd Earl Dorset, 2nd Baron Buckhurst. [his daughter-in-law] Anne Spencer Countess Dorset by marriage Countess Dorset.

On 01 Oct 1615 [his former wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset (age 80) died in Buckhurst.

Letters of Horace Walpole. 05 Aug 1752. From Sevenoaks [Map] we went to Knowle. The park is sweet, with much old beech, and an immense sycamore before the great gate, that makes me more in love than ever with sycamores. The house is not near so extensive as I expected:330 the outward court has a beautiful decent simplicity that charms one. The apartments are many, but not large. The furniture throughout, ancient magnificence; loads of portraits, not good nor curious; ebony cabinets, embossed silver in vases, dishes, etc. embroidered beds, stiff chairs, and sweet bags lying on velvet tables, richly worked in silk and gold. There are two galleries, one very small; an old hall, and a spacious great drawing-room. There is never a good staircase. The first little room you enter has sundry portraits of the times; but they seem to have been bespoke by the yard, and drawn all by the same painter; One should be happy if they were authentic; for among them there is Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Gardiner of Winchester, the Earl of Surry, the poet, when a boy, and a Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, but I don't know which. The only fine picture is of Lord Goring and Endymion Porter by Vandyke. There is a good head of the Queen of Bohemia, a whole-length of Duc d'Espernon, and another good head of the [his granddaughter-in-law] Clifford, Countess of Dorset, who wrote that admirable haughty letter to Secretary Williamson, when he recommended a person to her for member for Appleby: "I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I won't be dictated to by a subject: your man shan't stand. Ann Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery." In the chapel is a piece of ancient tapestry: Saint Luke in his first profession is holding an urinal. Below stairs is a chamber of poets and players, which is proper enough in that house; for the first Earl wrote a play331, and the last Earl was a poet332, and I think married a player333 Major Mohun and Betterton are curious among the latter, Cartwright and Flatman among the former. The arcade is newly enclosed, painted in fresco, and with modern glass of all the family matches. In the gallery is a whole-length of the unfortunate Earl of Surry, with his device, a broken column, and the motto Sat superest. My father had one of them, but larger, and with more emblems, which the Duke of Norfolk bought at my brother's sale. There is one good head of henry VIII, and divers of Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, the citizen who came to be lord treasurer, and was very near coming to be hanged.334 His Countess, a bouncing kind of lady-mayoress, looks pure awkward amongst so much good company. A visto cut through the wood has a delightful effect from the front: but there are some trumpery fragments of gardens that spoil the view from the state apartments.

Note 329. Only son of Dr. Richard Bentley, the celebrated Divine and classical scholar. He was educated at Trinity College, under his father. Cumberland, who was his nephew, describes him as a man of various and considerable accomplishments; possessing a fine genius, great wit, and a brilliant imagination; "but there was," he adds, "a certain eccentricity and want of prudence in his character, that involved him in distresses, and reduced him to situations uncongenial with his feelings, and unpropitious to the cultivation and encouragement of his talents."-E.

Note 330. Evelyn in his Diary for July 25, 1673, says, "In my way I visited my Lord of Dorset's house at Knowle, near Sevenoaks, a greate old-fashion'd house."-E.

Note 331. Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, while a student in the Temple, wrote his tragedy of Gordobuc, which was played before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, in 1561. He was created Earl of Dorset by James the First, in 1604.-E.

Note 332. Charles Sackville, sixth Earl of Dorset. On the day previous to the naval engagement with the Dutch, in 1665, he is said to have composed his celebrated song, "to all you Ladies now on Land."-E.

Note 333. On the contrary, he married the Lady Frances, daughter of the Earl of Middlesex, who survived him.-E. [Note. This appears to be a mistake insofar as [his great grandson] Richard Sackville 5th Earl Dorset married Frances Cranfield Countess Dorset who was the daughter of Lionel Cranfield 1st Earl Middlesex. Charles Sackville 6th Earl Dorset 1st Earl Middlesex married firstly Mary Bagot Countess Falmouth and Dorset and secondly Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex. There, however, references to his marrying an actress Alice Lee with whom he appear to have had a daughter Mary Sackville Countess Orrery.]

Note 334. Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, married two wives: the first was the daughter of a London citizen; the second, the daughter of James Brett, Esq. and half-sister of Mary Beaumont, created Countess of Buckingham. To this last alliance, Lord Middlesex owed his extraordinary advancement.-E.

Royal Ancestors of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset 1536-1608

Kings Wessex: Great x 16 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England

Kings Gwynedd: Great x 12 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd

Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 18 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth

Kings Powys: Great x 13 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys

Kings England: Great x 8 Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Kings Scotland: Great x 15 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland

Kings Franks: Great x 12 Grand Son of Louis VII King Franks

Kings France: Great x 15 Grand Son of Robert "Pious" II King France

Royal Descendants of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset 1536-1608

Queen Consort Camilla Shand

Diana Spencer Princess Wales

Ancestors of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset 1536-1608

Great x 2 Grandfather: Humphrey Sackville

Great x 1 Grandfather: Richard Sackville of Buckhurst 7 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England

Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Browne

Great x 2 Grandmother: Catherine Browne 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Fitzalan 4 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Eleanor Fitzalan 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Joan Moyns

GrandFather: John Sackville 8 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England

Great x 2 Grandfather: John Digges

Great x 1 Grandmother: Isabel Digges

Great x 4 Grandfather: Gervase Clifton

Great x 3 Grandfather: Gervase Clifton

Great x 4 Grandmother: Isabel Francis

Great x 2 Grandmother: Joan Clifton

Great x 3 Grandmother: Isabel Finch

Father: Richard Sackville 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Boleyn

Great x 3 Grandfather: Geoffrey Boleyn

Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Jane Bracton

Great x 2 Grandfather: Geoffrey Boleyn

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Bracton

Great x 3 Grandmother: Alice Bracton

Great x 1 Grandfather: William Boleyn 8 x Great Grand Son of King John "Lackland" of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Hoo

Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Hoo 1st Baron Hoo and Hastings 9 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Eleanor Felton 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 2 Grandmother: Ann Hoo 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King John "Lackland" of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Nicholas Wychingham of Norfolk 5 x Great Grand Son of King John "Lackland" of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Wychingham 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King John "Lackland" of England

GrandMother: Margaret Boleyn 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: James Butler 3rd Earl Ormonde 2 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 3 Grandfather: James "White Earl" Butler 4th Earl Ormonde 3 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Welles Countess Ormonde 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England

Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Butler 7th Earl Ormonde 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: William Beauchamp 1st Baron Bergavenny 5 x Great Grand Son of King John "Lackland" of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Joan Beauchamp Countess Ormonde 3 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Joan Fitzalan Baroness Bergavenny 2 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 1 Grandmother: Margaret Butler 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Hankford

Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Hankford

Great x 2 Grandmother: Anne Hankford Countess Ormonde 4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Montagu 3rd Earl Salisbury 2 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Anne Montagu Duchess Exeter 3 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Maud Francis Countess of Salisbury

Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

GrandFather: John Brydges

Mother: Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester

GrandMother: Agnes Ayloffe