Sir Thomas Monson, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Monson aged 47, 1610, by an unknown English artist.

Sir Thomas Monson, 1st Baronet (1565 – 29 May 1641) was an English politician and supporter of King James I.

Background

Sir Thomas was the son of Sir John Monson of South Carlton, Lincolnshire, a past Sheriff of Lincolnshire. Sir Thomas's younger brother was Admiral Sir William Monson. Thomas was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, matriculating at the age of fifteen in December 1579, and at Gray's Inn, where he was admitted a student in 1583.

Career

Sir Thomas was appointed a J.P. in 1592 and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire for 1597 and probably knighted the same year. He then served as a Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire (1597–1598), Castle Rising (1604–1611), and finally Cricklade in 1614.

Under James I Monson thrived. He was made Keeper of the Armoury at Greenwich, Master of the Armoury at the Tower of London and Master Falconer to the King. He was created a hereditary baronet in 1611, one of the first in the Baronetage of England. But in 1615 his position of trust at the Tower of London brought about a situation which led to his arrest as one of the participators in the 1613 murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. He was eventually released however, after a year in the Tower, his reputation and finances ruined.

Family

Sir Thomas Monson and his son John, who succeeded him as baronet.

He died in 1641 and was buried in South Carlton. He had married Margaret Anderson, the daughter of Sir Edmund Anderson, with whom he had four sons and five daughters. His eldest son and heir was Sir John Monson, Bart. (1600–1683), a member of parliament under Charles I. Another son was William Mounson, 1st Viscount Monson (c. 1607-1678), who was created an Irish peer as Viscount Monson of Castlemaine in 1628. Having been a member of the court which tried Charles I the viscount was deprived of his honours and was sentenced to imprisonment for life in 1661.

Descendants

Sir John Monson's descendant, another Sir John Monson, 5th Baronet (1693–1748), was created Baron Monson in 1728. The baron's eldest son was John, the 2nd baron (1727–1774), whose son William Monson (1760–1807) served in the Mahratta War under General Lake. The baron's youngest son was George Monson (1730–1776), who served with the English troops in India from 1758 to 1763.

William's only son William John (1796–1862) became 6th Baron Monson in succession to his cousin Frederick John, the 5th baron, in October 1841. His son William John, the 7th baron (1829–1898), was created Viscount Oxenbridge in 1886. When he died without sons in 1898 the viscounty became extinct, but the barony descended to his brother Debonnaire John (1830–1900), whose son Augustus Debonnaire John (b. 1868) became 9th Baron Monson in 1900. Another of Viscount Oxenbridge's brothers was Sir Edmund John Monson, Bart. (b. 1834), who, after filling many other diplomatic appointments, was British ambassador in Paris from 1896 to 1904.

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See also

• Baron Monson

References

•  Bradley, Emily Tennyson (1894). "Monson, Thomas". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 198, 199.
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bradley, Emily Tennyson (1894). "Monson, Thomas". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 198, 199.