Background
Thomas Tresham was the eldest son of John Tresham of Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, and Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of Sir James Harrington, of Hornby, Lancashire.
Thomas Tresham was the eldest son of John Tresham of Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, and Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of Sir James Harrington, of Hornby, Lancashire.
Tresham was knighted by 1524. In 1530 he served on a Royal Commission inquiring into Cardinal Wolsey"s possessions. In 1537 he served on another to inquire into the Lincolnshire rebellion.
In 1539 he was one of those appointed to receive Henry VIII"s future fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, at Calais.
In the same year, although his main estates were in Northamptonshire, it was noted that he had a house with twenty-nine household servants at Wolfeton in Charminster, Dorset. In 1544 he supplied men for the king"s army in France, and a little later was one of the commissioners to collect the "benevolence" for the defense of the realm.
In 1546 he was appointed assessor to the "Contribution Commission", and was summoned to Court to meet the French ambassador. In 1549 he assisted in suppressing Kett"s Rebellion, and received £272, 19.6 for his services.
On 18 July 1553 he proclaimed Queen Mary at Northampton, and accompanied her on her entry into London.
He was one of those appointed on 3 August 1553, "to staye the assemblies in Royston and other places of Cambridgeshire". That year he was also Member of Parliament for Lancaster. He was named Grand Prior of England in the Order of Knights Hospitallers of Street John of Jerusalem by Royal Charter dated 2 April 1557, qualifying him for a seat in the House of Lords.
lieutenant was not till 30 November that the order was re-established in England with four knights under him, and he was solemnly invested.
In the meantime Sir Richard Shelley had been made turcopolier at Malta. The order was endowed by the queen with lands to the yearly value of £1436.
He took his seat in the House of Lords in January, 1557-1558, but sent a proxy to the first parliament of Queen Elizabeth, possibly due to illness. He died in 1559. He was buried at All Saints Church, Rushton, Northamptonshire with great pomp on 16 March 1559.
He was chosen Sheriff in 1524, 1539, 1548 and 1555/6, and returned as a Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire in 1541 and twice in 1554.