Thomas Spert

Last updated

Sir Thomas Spert
Bornc.1483
England
DiedDecember 1541 (aged 5758)
Stepney, London, England
Buried
Allegiance Kingdom of England
Service/branch Navy Royal
Years of service1512–1541
Rank Vice-Admiral
Commands Vice-Admiral of England
Clerk Comptroller of the Navy
Master of the Mary Rose
Master of the Henry Grace a Dieu

Vice-Admiral of England Sir Thomas Spert (spelled in some records as Pert) (died December 1541) was a mariner who reached the rank of vice admiral in service to King Henry VIII of England. He was sailing master of the flagships Mary Rose and Henry Grace a Dieu . He served as the first Master of Trinity House, the private corporation for maritime affairs in London. Spert Island off the coast of Antarctica is named for him.

Contents

The Henry Grace a Dieu AnthonyRoll-1 Great Harry.jpg
The Henry Grace a Dieu

Early life and career

Thomas Pert (as his name was at times recorded) or Spert [1] was born in England. He entered the service of Henry VII as a mariner, carrying dispatches between England and Spain.

Spert served, evidently with credit, in the navy of Henry VIII during the Anglo-French War of 1512–1514. From 1512 to 1515, he was master of the Mary Rose, one of the most important warships in the Crown's fleet. On 10 November 1514, Spert was granted an annuity of £20, which was confirmed in January 1516.

He next was assigned as master to the Henry Grace a Dieu , the largest vessel constructed up to then in England. On 10 July 1517, Spert was granted the office of ballasting ships in the Thames River, which office he was to hold 'during pleasure' at a fee of £10 a year. Historian James A. Williamson in his work of 1913 thought this fact aided an argument against Richard Eden's statement that Spert's misconduct had spoiled the success of the 1516-1517 voyage of discovery undertaken with Sebastian Cabot. Williamson said that the ballasting office apparently provided opportunity for profit, and would not have been granted to a man who had recently disgraced himself. [2]

A document in the Public Record Office is found in a manuscript book showing the issues of various stores to the masters of the king's ships. Entries detail Spert's presence on the Henry Grace a Dieu on 7 April and 5 July 1516, and on 28 April and 17 September 1517. Together with the grant made to him on 10 July 1517, Williamson argued that these appear to be conclusive evidence that Spert was not traveling with Sebastian Cabot in a voyage of discovery in 1516–1517 to the southern coast of North America. [2]

What is known of the remainder of Spert's career shows that he continued in high favour with the king. He served in the war of 1522-5 and was consulted by the admiral as to the best way of cutting out some Scottish privateers in Boulogne harbour. In 1524 he was appointed Clerk Comptroller of the Navy, a financial office which he held until 1540. [3] Between 1538 and 1540 he held the office of Captain of Portsmouth, [4] by which he was responsible for maintaining and rebuilding the fortifications of Portsmouth. [5]

He was knighted in (or soon after) 1535. [5] His knighthood has been disputed by historians, but Williamson notes two official documents that refer to him as Sir Thomas Spert (Letters and Papers, vi, No. 196; xvii, No. 1258). [6]

Spert made his will 28 November 1541, naming his wife Mary (Fabian) as executrix, and died at Stepney in December. According to Baldwin, his monument at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, is in error in stating that he died on 8 September 1541. [7] He left his pasturage in Blackwall to his widow until his son Richard reached the age of majority. He also made bequests to his daughter and to his cousin Margaret Spert, who was married to 'the famous Guinea seaman, John Lok'. [7]

Marriages and issue

Spert married a woman named Margery, whose surname is unknown. He married as his second wife Anne Salkell, but appears to have had no children by either marriage. [7]

He married thirdly Mary Fabian, the daughter of John Fabian (nephew of the chronicler, Robert Fabyan) and Anne Waldegrave. They had two children. Their son Richard Spert married Grissell Salkell of King's Wood, Wiltshire. Their daughter Anne Spert married firstly Thomas Brook, and secondly John Skott. [7]

Legacy and honors

Spert Island off the coast of Antarctica is named for him.

Notes

  1. Patrick J. Murphy, Ray W. Coye, Mutiny and Its Bounty: Leadership Lessons from the Age of Discovery, Yale University Press, 2013, p. 248 note 12. Quote: "Some contemporary sources use "Pert" for his name but most primary sources use "Spert". The ending of his given name, Thomas, may have been a phonetic factor in the use of the "s"."
  2. 1 2 James A. Williamson, Maritime Enterprise 1485-1558, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, pp. 241–245
  3. Childs, David (2009). Tudor Sea Power: The Foundation of Greatness. Seaforth Publishing. p. 298. ISBN   9781473819924.
  4. Childs, David (2007). The Warship Mary Rose: the Life and Times of King Henry VIII's Flagship. Chatham Publishing. p. 59.
  5. 1 2 Loades, David (1992). The Tudor Navy: An Administrative, Political and Military History. Aldershot, Hants.: Ashgate. pp. 80–81.
  6. Williamson (1913), Maritime Enterprise, p. 244
  7. 1 2 3 4 Baldwin 2004.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk</span> English nobleman, diplomat and military commander

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was brother-in-law to King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis I, Duke of Lorraine</span> Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1544 to 1545

Francis I was Duke of Lorraine from 1544–1545.

Robert Fabyan was a London draper, Sheriff and Alderman, and author of Fabyan's Chronicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln</span> English peer and landowner (1512 – c. 1585)

Edward Fiennes, or Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln KG was an English landowner, peer, and Lord High Admiral. He rendered valuable service to four of the Tudor monarchs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tudor navy</span> English navy (1485–1603)

The Tudor navy was the navy of the Kingdom of England under the ruling Tudor dynasty (1485–1603). The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the future Royal Navy.

Margaret Bryan, Baroness Bryan was lady governess to the children of King Henry VIII of England, the future monarchs Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI, as well as the illegitimate Henry FitzRoy. The position of lady governess in her day resembled less that of the popular modern idea of a governess, more that of a nanny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell</span> English nobleman (c. 1520 – 1551)

Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, KB was an English nobleman. He was the only son of the Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex and Elizabeth Wyckes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre</span> English nobleman

Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, KG was the son of Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of Gilsland and Mabel Parr, daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal by his wife, Alice Tunstall. Mabel was the first of the Parr family to marry into the peerage but she was surpassed by her great niece, Catherine Parr, who became the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surveyor of the Navy</span> British military office

The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546 until its abolition in 1832 and then a member Board of Admiralty from 1848 to 1859. In 1860 the office was renamed Controller of The Navy until 1869 when the office was merged with that of the Third Naval Lord's the post holder held overall responsibility for the design of British warships.

Sir Christopher Hales was an English judge and Master of the Rolls.

Events from the 1510s in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset</span> English peer (1477–1530)

Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset was an English peer, courtier, soldier and landowner of the House of Grey.

Sir Edward Bayntun, of Bromham, Wiltshire, was a gentleman at the court of Henry VIII of England. He was vice-chamberlain to Anne Boleyn, the King's second wife, and was the brother-in-law of Queen Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Tuke</span> Secretary of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey

Sir Brian Tuke was the secretary of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey. He served as the first Governor of the King's Posts from 1517 to 1545.

William Sabine, also Sabyn or Sabyan, of Ipswich, Suffolk, was an English merchant, ship-owner, naval sea-captain and municipal figure. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich in 1539, with Edmund Daundy.

Vice-Admiral Sir William Gonson (1482–1544), was a Naval Judge and Naval Administrator of the English Royal Navy who served under King Henry VIII.

Lieutenant Admiral Sir William Woodhouse was an English naval commander and administrator who rose to the rank of Lieutenant of the Admiralty and was head of the Council of the Marine later called the Navy Board. He also served as a Member of Parliament of the Parliament of England from 1545 to 1564. He was prominent during an important time of the Navy Royal's development in the later half of the Tudor period.

Pert is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Sir William Lok was a gentleman usher to Henry VIII and a mercer, alderman, and sheriff of London. He was the great-great-great-grandfather of the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704).

John Lok was the son of Sir William Lok, the great-great-great-grandfather of the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). In 1554 he was captain of a trading voyage to Guinea. An account of his voyage was published in 1572 by Richard Eden.

References