Thomas Fanshawe was remembrancer of the exchequer.

Background

Fanshawe was the eldest son of John Fanshawe of Fanshawe Gate, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, where he was born some time in the reign of Henry VIII, and probably about 1530. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...

, and became a member of the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

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Career

His uncle, Thomas Fanshawe, took him under his protection, and procured for him the reversion of the appointment of the office of Remembrancer of the exchequer, then occupied by the elder Thomas. This office was held during five tenures by members of the family. Fanshawe acquired considerable wealth in his office, to which he succeeded on his uncle's death in 1568. Besides Fanshawe Gate, which he let to his brother, he possessed the estates of Ware Park, Hertfordshire, of Jenkins, in Barking, Essex, and others. He fulfilled the duties of his office with diligence, as we find by various entries in the State Papers of 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...

's reign. In 1597 (29 May) he wrote to Lord Burghley that ‘by my continually attending the business of my office all the term, I have too much neglected my health and business in the country, and as my presence is urgently required there I have left all things in such a state that the duties may be as well performed without me. I hope I may repair thither and stay until the term. … If there shall be any occasion for my attendance, I will speedily return, though to my hindrance both in health and profit.’

Fanshawe sat in the parliament of 1571 for Rye

Rye (UK Parliament constituency)

Rye was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Rye in East Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its representation was halved under the Reform Act 1832....

, in five succeeding parliaments for Arundel

Arundel (UK Parliament constituency)

Arundel was twice a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The first incarnation strictly comprised the town centre of Arundel and was a borough constituency first enfranchised in 1332 and disfranchised in 1868 under the Reform...

, and in 1597 for Much Wenlock

(Much) Wenlock (UK Parliament constituency)

Wenlock was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It was founded in 1468 as borough constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800,...

, Shropshire. In 1579 he established, in accordance with the will of his uncle, the free grammar school of Dronfield

Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School

The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a mixed state comprehensive school for 11-18 year olds, in the town of Dronfield, Derbyshire.-History:The school was established officially in 1578, at the will of Henry Fanshawe, whose wish it was for his nephew, Thomas Fanshawe, to establish the school...

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Family life

He died at his house, Warwick Lane, London, 19 Feb. 1601. His ‘funerall was worshipfully solemnised,’ 19 March, at the parish church of Ware. A portrait is in the possession of his descendant, J. G. Fanshawe, esq., of London, and Parsloes, Essex.

Fanshawe had married twice: (1) Mary (d. 9 June 1578), daughter of Antony Bourchier; and (2) Joan, daughter of Thomas Smith of Ostenhanger, and had issue by both marriages. His elder son by his first marriage, Henry

Henry Fanshawe

-Early life:Henry Fanshawe, baptised 15 August 1569, was the elder son of Thomas Fanshawe by his first wife, Mary, daughter of Antony Bourchier and was thus a half-brother of Thomas Fanshawe. In November 1586 he became a student of the Inner Temple...

, succeeded him as remembrancer. Thomas

Thomas Fanshawe

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

, his eldest son by his second marriage, inherited Jenkins and other estates at Barking and was an MP for Lancaster. William

William Fanshawe

William Fanshawe was an English politician, several times Member of Parliament for Lancaster.-Life:He was the second son of Thomas Fanshawe, of Ware Park, Hertfordshire , by his second wife Joan, the daughter of Thomas "Customer" Smythe, of Ostenhanger.Fanshawe was Auditor for the Duchy of...

, his youngest son, was also an MP. Alice, his eldest daughter by the second marriage, married Sir Christopher Hatton, a relative of the chancellor.

Thomas Fanshawe's widow was buried at Ware on 30 May 1622.

Works

• The Practice of the Exchequor Court, with its severall Offices and Officers. Being a short narration of the power and duty of each single person in his severall place. Written at the request of the Lord Buckhurst, sometime Lord Treasurer of England, 1658 (there is at Oxford a manuscript of this or a similar treatise by Fanshawe, Catal MSS. Angl. (Coll. Oxon.), ii. 226)
• An Answer to Articles concerning the Lord Treasurer's Office (fragment in Lansd. MS. 253, art. 33).