Thomas Blanke Explained

Sir Thomas Blanke (died 1588) was an English politician who served as Lord Mayor of London.

He was the son of a London haberdasher, also named Thomas Blanke, and the brother-in-law of James Altham, one of the Sheriffs of London in 1557.^{[1] [2]} Like his father, Thomas Blanke followed the trade of a haberdasher. He became an alderman in 1572 and served as one of the Sheriffs of London in 1574.^[3]

He was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1582. He had the misfortune to be elected during a severe outbreak of the plague;^[4] due to the pestilence, there was no pageant celebrating his election, and he was not presented to the queen until the next May.^[5]

Much of his mayoralty was spent dealing with the effects of the plague, and his efforts earned him the appellation of "The Good Knight".^[6] He died in 1588, at the age of 74, and was buried at St Mary-at-Hill;^[7] his wife lived until 1596, being buried in the same tomb.^[8] As he had died without issue, his estate at Abbott's Inn passed into the Altham family, who retained it until it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.^[9]

Notes and References

1. Burke, Bernard, and Burke, Ashworth Peter https://books.google.com/books?id=93M-AQAAIAAJ&dq=%22thomas+blanke%22+mayor+london&pg=PA24 "A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I" pg. 248
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=g6wKAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22sir+thomas+blank%22&pg=PA538
3. City of London Corporation https://books.google.com/books?id=V7YKAAAAYAAJ&q=blanke&pg=PA599 "Analytical Index to the Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia" pg. 153
4. Radcliffe, John Netten https://books.google.com/books?id=vONZAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22thomas+blanke%22+plague&pg=PA37 "The Pestilence in England: An Historical Sketch" pg. 37
5. Withington, Robert https://archive.org/stream/englishpagentry02withrich/englishpagentry02withrich_djvu.txt "English Pageantry: An Historical Outline, Vol. II" pg. 22
6. https://books.google.com/books?id=1DUoAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22thomas+blanke%22+pestilence&pg=PA12
7. Thornbury, George Walter, and Valford, Edward https://books.google.com/books?id=eOkHAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22sir+thomas+blanke%22+epitaph&pg=PA41 "Old and New London" pg. 41
8. Targoff, Ramie https://books.google.com/books?id=xIZFAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22sir+thomas+blanke%22+epitaph&pg=PA25 "Posthumous Love: Eros and the Afterlife in Renaissance England" pp. 25 - 26
9. https://books.google.com/books?id=ApwhAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22sir+thomas+blancke%22&pg=PA409