Thomas Spring of Castlemaine (died 1597) was an English

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

soldier, politician and Constable of Castle Maine in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, Ireland.

Biography

Thomas Spring was born in

Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the Babergh District, Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Lavenham Guildhall, Guildhall, Little ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, the son of Robert Spring. He was the grandson of

Thomas Spring of Lavenham Thomas Spring (c. 1474 – 1523) (''alias'' Thomas Spring III or The Rich Clothier) of Lavenham in Suffolk, was an English people, English cloth merchant.Phil W Kaufman, ''American Traces in Anglian Places'' (Lulu.com), 19. He consolidated his fa ...

, the richest merchant in England during the early 1500s. Spring was an officer in the army of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

during the

Tudor conquest of Ireland Ireland was conquered by the Tudor monarchs of England in the 16th century. The Anglo-Normans had Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, conquered swathes of Ireland in the late 12th century, bringing it under Lordship of Ireland, English rule. In t ...

. He served with distinction, coming to the attention of

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebell ...

who lobbied Sir Michael Hicks for a reward for Spring. As part of the

Plantation of Munster Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland () involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the English Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Britain. The main plantations took place from the 1550s to the 162 ...

he was granted over 3,000 acres of land in County Kerry in 1578. In 1584, he was appointed Constable of

Castle Maine Castle Maine, also recorded as Castle Magne and Castlemaine, was a medieval castle located at what is now Castlemaine, County Kerry. The castle, built in 1215, stood on a bridge over the River Maine (County Kerry), River Maine. A defensive struc ...

, with responsibility for maintaining English royal authority over the locality. He was accorded the right to hold several country fairs as a source of income and was in control of collecting tolls and taxes for the Crown. His land increased to approximately 6,000 acres when, on 12 December 1588, he was granted the estates of

Killagha Abbey Killagha Abbey of Our Lady of Bello Loco, also called Kilcolman Abbey, is a ruined Augustinian abbey and former manor house in County Kerry, Ireland. The abbey is 1 km north-west of Milltown, near the River Maine. History The abbey was f ...

, which had been seized by

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 ...

during the dissolution of the monasteries. Spring was instructed to rebuild the abbey in a castle-like manner, so that it could serve as a defensive structure. From 1585 to 1586 Spring was the Member of Parliament for

in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

and he served as

High Sheriff of Kerry High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

in 1592. He was the first of the

Spring family The Spring family is a Suffolk Landed gentry, gentry family that has been involved in the politics and economy of East Anglia since the 15th century, as well as holding large estates in Ireland from the 16th century.Joseph Jackson Howard, ‘Spri ...

to settle in Ireland. Spring married Annabelle Browne, the daughter of John Browne, Master of Awney, Co.Limerick, with whom he had two sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Thomas, was a practising lawyer. His younger son, Walter, served as High Sheriff of Kerry in 1609. Walter's grandson was Walter Spring, who lost much of the family's Irish estate during the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, took place from 1641 to 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, all then ...

.James Carmody, 'The Abbey of Killagha, Parish of Kilcoleman, County Kerry', ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', Fifth Series, Vol. 36, No. 3, p.291. Of Thomas's daughters, Alice married Colonel James Ryves, elder brother of Sir William Ryves and Sir Thomas Ryves.

Ancestry

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, Thomas Year of birth uncertain 1597 deaths 16th-century English people High sheriffs of Kerry Irish MPs 1585–1586 People from Lavenham People of Elizabethan Ireland People of the Nine Years' War (Ireland) People of the Second Desmond Rebellion

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies