Early life

Henry Fanshawe, baptised 15 August 1569, was the elder son of Thomas Fanshawe (remembrancer of the exchequer)

Thomas Fanshawe (remembrancer of the exchequer)

Thomas Fanshawe , was remembrancer of the exchequer.-Background:Fanshawe was the eldest son of John Fanshawe of Fanshawe Gate, Derbyshire, where he was born some time in the reign of Henry VIII, and probably about 1530...

 by his first wife, Mary, daughter of Antony Bourchier and was thus a half-brother of Thomas Fanshawe

Thomas Fanshawe

Sir Thomas Fanshawe of Jenkins and Barking Manor was an English politician and government official....

. In November 1586 he became a student of the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. In 1601, on his father's death, he inherited Ware Park, Hertfordshire, a house in Warwick Lane, London, and a part of St. John's Wood, on condition that he should provide lodging with himself for his stepmother Joan and for his sisters and stepsisters until their marriage.

Career

He succeeded to his father's office as remembrancer of the exchequer. According to the testimony of his daughter-in-law, Anne, wife of Sir Richard Fanshawe, Queen Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 described Henry Fanshawe as "the best officer of accounts she had, and a person of great integrity".

He was elected M.P. for Westbury

Westbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Westbury was a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire from 1449 to 2010. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, and then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801...

, Wiltshire, 1 November 1588, and again in February 1592/3. He sat for Boroughbridge

Boroughbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

Boroughbridge was a parliamentary borough in Yorkshire from 1553 until 1832, when it was abolished under the Great Reform Act. Throughout its existence it was represented by two Members of Parliament in the House of Commons....

, Yorkshire, in the parliament summoned in the autumn of 1597. On 7 May 1603 he was knighted.

Prince Henry

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...

 was friendly with him, and had the prince lived he would doubtless have become a secretary of state. He was an enthusiastic student of Italian, and devoted much time to the rearing of horses, which he rode to advantage. Lady Fanshawe reports the course of a negotiation between him and the Earl of Exeter as to the sale of a valuable horse "for a hundred pieces". "His retinue was great, and that made him stretch his estate, which was near if not full £4,000 a year, yet when he died he left no debts upon his estate". Camden is said by Lady Fanshawe to describe Fanshawe's garden at Ware Park as unsurpassed in England for its flowers, physic-herbs, and fruits.

Private life

He died suddenly, at the age of forty-eight, at Ware, early in March 1615–16, and was buried in the church there 12 March. "He was", writes his daughter-in-law, "as handsome and as fine a gentleman as England then had, a most excellent husband, father, friend, and servant to his prince".

Fanshawe had married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Smith or Smythe of Ostenhanger, Kent, by whom he had six sons: Thomas, first viscount

Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount Fanshawe

Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount Fanshawe was an English politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Hertford in the 1620s, and as a royalist in 1640.-Life:He was eldest son of Sir Henry Fanshawe, and brother of Sir Richard Fanshawe...

, Henry (baptised 21 September 1600), Simon (1604–1680), afterwards Sir Simon, Walter (baptised 1 Sept. 1605), Richard, and Michael (baptised 23 June 1611); besides four daughters: Alice, Mary, Joan (baptised 4 Jan. 1606–7), Anne (baptised 6 Aug. 1609). His widow, who was born in 1577, and whose virtues are highly commended by Anne, lady Fanshawe, her daughter-in-law, survived till 1631, being buried at Ware 3 June.

Sir Henry's will (dated 13 November 1613, and proved April 1616) opens with a long profession of attachment to the protestant religion, and appoints his widow, her brother Sir Richard Smith, and his eldest son, Thomas, afterwards first Viscount Fanshawe, executors. Among his property mention is made of pictures in oil, prints, drawings, medals, engraved stones, armour, books, and musical instruments, most of which were to be removed from his London house in Warwick Lane to Ware Park, and there to remain for ever as heirlooms. Lady Fanshawe's will, dated 20 February 1629–30, was proved 2 June 1631.

Further reading