Thomas Thynne (died 1682)

For other men of the same name, see Thomas Thynne (disambiguation).

Thomas Thynne. Mezzotint by Alexander Brown, ca. 1680–84, after Sir Peter Lely

Arms of Thynne: Quarterly: 1st and 4th: Barry of ten or and sable (Boteville); 2nd and 3rd: Argent, a lion rampant with tail nowed and erected gules (Thynne)

Thomas Thynne (1647/8–12 February 1682) was an English landowner of the family that is now headed by the Marquess of Bath and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1670 to 1682. He went by the nickname "Tom of Ten Thousand" due to his great wealth. He was a friend of the Duke of Monmouth, a relationship referred to in John Dryden's satirical work Absalom and Achitophel where Thynne is described as "Issachar, his wealthy western friend".

Thynne was the son of Sir Thomas Thynne, and his wife Stuarta Balquanquill, daughter of Dr. Walter Balquanquill. His father was a younger son of Sir Thomas Thynne of Longleat, Wiltshire. In 1670 Thynne succeeded to the family estates at Longleat on the death of his uncle Sir James Thynne without issue. He also succeeded his uncle as Member of Parliament for Wiltshire, and sat until his death in 1682.

On 15 November 1681 Thynne married the wealthy Lady Elizabeth Percy, only child of Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, who was then aged 14. The couple were married less than a year.

Death

Thynne was murdered on 12 February 1682 after the Swedish Count Karl Johann von Königsmark began to pursue his wife. Count Karl von Königsmark was the brother of Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the state of Hanover in Germany in 1694, possibly murdered by order of the future British monarch George I, with whose wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, he was having a notorious affair.

Thynne was shot while riding in his coach in Pall Mall, London, by three men, Christopher Vratz, John Stern and Charles George Borosky. It was strongly suspected that they were acting on the orders of Königsmark and the four were soon arrested, Vratz being captured by Sir John Reresby hiding at the house of a Swedish doctor in Leicester Fields (modern Leicester Square). Königsmark however was acquitted of the charge of being an accessory before the fact (due to the corruption of the jury according to diarist John Evelyn) but Vratz, Stern and Borosky were hanged on 10 March 1682.

Thynne's remains were interred in a marble tomb in Westminster Abbey. The tomb which was sculpted by Arnold Quellin, is decorated in part with a representation of the murder of Thynne in 1682. A popular ballad summed up the episode in form of a mock epitaph:

Here lies Tom Thynne of Longleat Hall
Who ne'er would have miscarried;
Had he married the woman he slept withal
Or slept with the woman he married.

After Thynne's death, his widow, Lady Elizabeth, married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset.

Family tree summary for the Thynnes of Longleat from about 1500

Ralph Botevile Thomas Thynne William Thynne d. 1546 John Thynne of Longleat c. 1515–1580 Francis Thynne c. 1544–1608 John Thynneof Longleat 1555–1604 Charles Thynne c. 1568–1652 Thomas Thynne of Longleat c. 1578–1639 Baronet of Caus Castle, of Kempsford in the County of Gloucester, 1641 James of Longleat 1605–1670 Thomas of Richmond d. 1669 Henry Frederick Thynne 1615–1680 1st Baronet of Kempsford Baron Thynne, 1680 Viscount Weymouth, 1682 Thomas of Longleat, 1648–1682 Thomas Thynne 1640–1714 inherited Longleat, 1682 1st Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 2nd Baronet of Kempsford James Thynne of Buckland d. 1709 Henry Thynne Frederick d. 1705 unmarried Henry Thynne 1675–1708 Thomas Thynne d. 1710 two daughters but no sons Thomas Thynne 1710–1751 2nd Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 3rd Baronet of Kempsford Marquess of Bath, 1789 Baron Carteret (2nd creation), 1784 Thomas Thynne 1734–1796 1st Marquess of Bath, 3rd Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 4th Baronet of Kempsford Henry Carteret 1735–1826 1st Baron Carteret Thomas Thynne 1765–1837 2nd Marquess of Bath, 4th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 5th Baronet of Kempsford George Thynne 1770–1838 2nd Baron Carteret John Thynne 1772–1849 3rd Baron Carteret Baron Carteret extinct, 1849 Henry Thynne 1797–1837 3rd Marquess of Bath, 5th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 6th Baronet of Kempsford Edward Thynne 1807–1884 Lady Charlotte Anne Thynne 1811–1895 marr.: Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, Duke of Buccleuch and had issue. John Thynne 1831–1896 4th Marquess of Bath, 6th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 7th Baronet of Kempsford Henry Thynne 1832–1904 Thomas Thynne 1862–1946 5th Marquess of Bath, 7th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 8th Baronet of Kempsford Ulric Oliver Thynne 1871–1957 Henry Thynne 1905–1992 6th Marquess of Bath, 8th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 9th Baronet of Kempsford Thomas Timothy Thynne 1929–1930 Alexander George Thynn 1930–2020 7th Marquess of Bath, 9th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 10th Baronet of Kempsford Christopher John Thynne 1934–2017 Valentine Charles Thynne 1937–1979 Ceawlin Thynn b. 1974 8th Marquess of Bath, 10th Viscount Weymouth and Baron Thynne, 11th Baronet of Kempsford Lucien Henry Valentine Thynne b. 1965 John Alexander Ladi Thynn b. 2014 styled Viscount Weymouth

References

• Marshall, Alan (2004). "Alan Marshall, 'Thynne, Thomas (1647/8–1682)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27423. Retrieved 13 June 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Browning, Andrew (1996). English Historical Documents, 1660-1714: 1660-1714 V.6 By Andrew Browning. ISBN 9780415143714. Retrieved 13 June 2008.