Sir Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre (1472 – 9 September 1534) was an English peer and soldier, the son of Sir John Fiennes.

Career

He was born in 1472, the son of Sir John Fiennes and Alice FitzHugh

Alice FitzHugh

Alice FitzHugh, Lady Fiennes was the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh, and Lady Alice Neville. Alice was born at the ancestral castle of Ravensworth. She married Sir John Fiennes, the son of Sir Richard Fiennes and Joan Dacre, 7th Baroness Dacre...

. He had one sister, Anne, Marchioness Berkeley (died 10 September 1497). Thomas was invested as a Knight of the Bath

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 in 1484 at the age of 12. On 8 March 1486, he succeeded as 8th Baron Dacre upon the death of his grandmother Joan Dacre, the suo jure 7th Baroness Dacre

Baron Dacre

Baron Dacre is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England, every time by writ. The first creation came in 1321 when Ralph Dacre was summoned to Parliament as Lord Dacre. He married Margaret, 2nd Baroness Multon of Gilsland, heiress of a large estate in Cumbria centred on...

. He was also known as Baron Dacre of the South due to his family seat of Herstmonceux Castle

Herstmonceux Castle

Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built Tudor castle near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, United Kingdom. From 1957 to 1988 its grounds were the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory...

 being in the county of Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

.

In 1493, one year after his marriage, he was appointed Constable of Calais. In 1497, he fought in the Battle of Blackheath where he helped defeat the Cornish.

Marriage and issue

In about 1492, he married Anne Bourchier

Anne Bourchier, Baroness Dacre

Anne Bourchier, Baroness Dacre was an English noblewoman, the wife of Sir Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre. Her stepfather was Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, which made Queen consort Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, her half-niece...

, the daughter of Sir Humphrey Bourchier and Elizabeth Tilney

Elizabeth Tilney

Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey was an English heiress and lady-in-waiting to two queens. She became the first wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey....

. The marriage produced three children:

• Sir Thomas Fiennes (died 26 October 1528), married in 1514, Jane Sutton, daughter of Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley
  Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley
  Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley was an English nobleman, the son of Edmund de Sutton, Knight of Dudley Castle and Gatescombe, and Joyce de Tiptoft, daughter of Sir John de Tibetot and Joyce de Cherleton...
  
  , and Cicely Willoughby, by whom he had one son, Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre
  Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre
  Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre was an English aristocrat notable for his conviction and execution for murder.Dacre was the son of Sir Thomas Fiennes and Jane Sutton daughter of Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley...
  
  .
• Mary Fiennes
  Mary Fiennes, Lady Norris
  Mary Fiennes, Lady Norris was an English noblewoman and the wife of Sir Henry Norris who was executed for treason as one of the alleged lovers of her cousin, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England...
  
   (1495–1531), married Sir Henry Norris, by whom she had issue.
• John Fiennes (b.1497)

Death

He died on 9 September 1534 at the age of 62. He was succeeded by his eldest grandson, Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre, as his two sons had predeceased him.