A weekend away in our motorhome proved to be rather interesting. We stayed at a campsite just a few miles from the tiny hamlet of Strubby in Lincolnshire whose church we were able to visit before we headed home. To my delight, I discovered that a man of some note was from this tiny hamlet. Thomas Wilson was born there in 1523, the son of a landowner/farmer, he would go on to be a writer and Privy Councillor in the court of Elizabeth I.
Nothing is known of Thomas’s life until 1537 when he attended Eton College. Twelve years later he received an MA at Cambridge and went on to write what he is remembered for, that is Rule of Reason and The Arte of Rhetorique written in 1552 whilst staying at Scrivelsby, the Lincolnshire home of Edward Dymoke. It is possible that he or his family had connections to other prominent local families as later in his career he can be found as tutor to the sons of Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk whose family were at Ewerby. He would also tutor the children of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland.
Wilson is known to have been tortured for his writings in regard to his views on the Protestant faith and to have tortured those of the Catholic faith. He also spied for Francis Walsingham.
Thomas Wilson was married twice, his first wife was Agnes Wintour, whose great nephews were Robert and Thomas Wintour, of the Gunpowder Plot fame and his second wife was Joan, daughter of Richard Epsom, one of the first men to be executed by Henry VIII.
Thomas Wilson was married twice, his first wife was Agnes Wintour, whose great nephews were Robert and Thomas Wintour, of the Gunpowder Plot fame and his second wife was Joan, daughter of Richard Epsom, one of the first men to be executed by Henry VIII.
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