Sir Thomas Windebank, 1st Baronet (born ''c.'' 1612) was Member of Parliament (M.P.) for

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 13,570 at the 2021 Census. In the north of the county, it lies to the west of the town of Swindon and northeast of ...

and supported the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. He was

Clerk of the Signet The Clerks of the Signet were English officials who played an intermediate role in the passage of letters patent through the seals. For most of the history of the position, four clerks were in office simultaneously. Letters patent prepared by th ...

from 1641 until 1645 and again (after the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

) from 1660 to 1674.

Biography

Thomas Windebank born about 1612, the eldest son of Sir

Francis Windebank Sir Francis Windebank (1582 – 1 September 1646) was an English politician who was Secretary of State under Charles I. Biography Francis was the only son of Sir Thomas Windebank of Hougham, Lincolnshire, who owed his advancement to the Ce ...

, (later Secretary of State to King Charles I). He was intended to follow in his father's footsteps into the service of

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. He matriculated from St. John's College, Oxford, on 13 November 1629, aged 17, but did not graduate. In 1631 his father secured for him the reversion of a clerkship of the signet, and soon afterwards, he entered the service of Thomas Howard the

Earl Marshal Earl Marshal (alternatively marschal or marischal) is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England (then, following the Act of Union 1800, in the U ...

. In 1635–1636 he was travelling in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. By 1640 he was back in England and was M.P. for Wootton Basset in Wiltshire in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

. He took up his duties as

in 1641. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War, and was created a baronet on 25 November 1645. He compounded on the Oxford articles. cites Cal. ''Comm. for Comp.'' p. 1465. After the Restoration, Windebank was clerk to the signet again from 1660 to 1674.

Family

He was married and left a son Francis, on whose death in 1719 the baronetcy became extinct.

Notes

References

* * * * ; Attribution * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Windebanke, Thomas 1610s births Year of death missing Politicians from Wiltshire Baronets in the Baronetage of England Cavaliers English MPs 1640 (April)