Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Thomas Metham (died 1573 in

York Castle York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York, England. It consists of a sequence of castles, prisons, court, law courts and other buildings, which were built over the last nine centuries on the north-west side of the River Foss.Coop ...

) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

knight, imprisoned with his second wife for their beliefs.

Life

Metham was the eldest son of Thomas Metham, of Metham,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, by his marriage to Grace, a daughter of Thomas Pudsey, of Barford and Bolton. He married twice: first to Dorothy, daughter of George, Baron Darcy of Aston,Dorothy Darcy
at tudorplace.com.ar and then to

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...

, daughter of Nicholas Palmes of

Naburn Naburn is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the eastern side of the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse about south of York. According to ...

. Metham was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed on 2 October 1553, the day after the

coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

Queen Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

. Through George, his second son by his first wife, he was the grandfather of Thomas Metham, S.J., one of the Dilati, who died in 1592. By 16 August 1565, Sir Thomas and his second wife had been imprisoned "for contempt of Her Majesty's ordinances concerning the administration of divine service and the sacraments". On 6 February 1569–70 an unknown correspondent wrote to

Sir William Cecil William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598), was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from ...

from

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

: Metham died in

in 1573. Some years later, in 1587, his widow was still a

recusant Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

References

1573 deaths English Roman Catholics History of Catholicism in England People from Howden Year of birth unknown 16th-century Roman Catholics 16th-century English people 16th-century English knights {{england-bio-stub