Thomas Belasyse, 1st Earl Fauconberg explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Earl Fauconberg
Honorific-Suffix:PC
Office1:Lord Lieutenant, North Riding
Term Start1:1660
Term End1:1687
Monarch1:Charles II James II
Office2:Envoy to the Republic of Venice
Monarch2:Charles II
Term Start2:1669
Term End2:1672
Office3:Special Envoy to France
Monarch3:Commonwealth of England
Term Start3:1658
Term End3:1659
Birth Date:ca 1627
Birth Place:Newburgh Priory, Yorkshire
Death Place:Sutton House, London
Restingplace:St Michael's, Coxwold
Nationality:English
Spouse:Mildred Saunderson
Mary Cromwell (1637-1713)
Parents:Henry Belasyse (1604–1647)
Grace Barton
Occupation:Politician, diplomat

Thomas Belasyse, 1st Earl Fauconberg PC (c. 1627  - 31 December 1700) was an English peer.[1] He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War, becoming close to Oliver Cromwell and marrying Cromwell's third daughter, Mary. After the Restoration of the monarchy he became a member of the Privy Council to Charles II and was elevated to an earldom by William III.

Biography

Belasyse was the only son of Henry Belasyse, and Grace Barton; his grandfather, Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg, was a Royalist, who went into exile after being defeated at Marston Moor in 1644.

Unlike his Royalist father and grandfather, Belasyse supported Parliament in the English Civil War, and subsequently became a strong adherent of Oliver Cromwell, whose third daughter, Mary, he married in 1657. His father died in 1647 and he succeeded his grandfather to the viscounty of Fauconberg in the Bishopric of Durham in 1652.

Career

Belasyse again became a Royalist at the Restoration of the monarchy, and was appointed a member of the Privy Council of England by Charles II and Captain of the Guard (in which office he succeeded his uncle Lord Belasyse). He also served as English ambassador in Venice. He was Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire (1660 - 1692), with responsibility for the North York Militia, personally commanding one of the Troops of Horse.[2] He was one of the noblemen who joined in inviting William of Orange to England, and was by that king created Earl Fauconberg, in the Peerage of England, on 9 April 1689.

Fauconberg died on 31 December 1700, and was buried in the family vault in Coxwold. He had no children; on his death, the earldom became extinct, but his viscountcy passed to his nephew, Thomas Belasyse, 3rd Viscount Fauconberg.

Family

On 3 July 1651 Fauconberg married Mildred, daughter of Nicholas Saunderson, 2nd Viscount Castleton. She died 8 May 1656.[3] On 18 November 1657, he married Mary Cromwell, the third daughter of Oliver Cromwell.[4] She outlived her husband by thirteen years dying on 14 March 1713.[5]

Bibliography

While he was in Italy, Fauconberg translated and published the Histoire du gouvernement de Venise, by Abraham Nicolas Amelot de la Houssaye.[6]

See also

References

Attributionn

Sources

Further reading

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Also referred to as "Lord Falconbridge" in some sources (Amelot de la Houssaye, Abraham Nicolas . 1 . 804.) "Lord ..." was a title used by those who attended Cromwell's Other House (1658–1659)
  2. Major Robert Bell Turton, The History of the North York Militia, now known as the Fourth Battalion Alexandra Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment), Leeds: Whitehead, 1907/Stockton-on-Tees: Patrick & Shotton, 1973, ISBN 0-903169-07-X, pp. 26–7; Appendix R.
  3. University of London, Institute of Historical Research. Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Volume 4, Longmans, Green, 1926. p. 26
  4. Sherwood p. 115
  5. Grant p .8
  6. Amelot de la Houssaye, Abraham Nicolas . 1 . 804. "