Sir Thomas Wentworth (Rob's Hampton Family)

Sir Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth (1501 – 3 March 1551) was an English peer and courtier during the Tudor dynasty.

     The Wentworths were originally from Yorkshire but had settled in Nettlestead, Suffolk in the mid-fifteenth century, where Wentworth was born. He was the eldest son of Sir Richard Wentworth, de jure 5th Baron le Despencer of the 1387 creation, and was a nephew of Margery Wentworth, the mother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. His mother was Anne, the daughter of Sir James Tyrrell, the supposed murderer of the Princes in the Tower.

     Circa 1520. Wentworth married Margaret Fortescue (also Rob's ancestor), the eldest daughter of Sir Adrian Fortescue. They had a large family of eight sons and nine daughters, including Thomas, later 2nd Baron Wentworth and Mary, who married Sir William Drury, a prominent English statesman and soldier.

     In 1523, Wentworth took part in Suffolk's failed invasion of France and was knighted by him. In 1529, he was also created Baron Wentworth in the Peerage of England. In 1536 he was present at the trials of Anne Boleyn, condemned wife of King Henry VIII and her brother, Lord Rochford and at those of Lord Montagu and the Marquess of Exeter in 1538.

     In 1550, Lord Wentworth was appointed Lord Chamberlain to King Edward VI and died the following year. His funeral was held at Westminster Abbey and he was buried in the Abbey's Chapel of St. John the Baptist. His title passed to his eldest son, Thomas.