Thomas Bodley
Sir Thomas Bodley (2 March 1545 – 28 January 1613) was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the modern Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Biography
Thomas Bodley was born at Exeter in the second-to-last year of the reign of Henry VIII. His father, John Bodley, was a Protestant merchant who went to live abroad rather than stay in England under the Roman Catholic government of Mary. The family including Thomas' younger brother Josias Bodley (and the ten-year-old Nicholas Hilliard, who had been attached to the household by his parents, friends of Bodley) sought refuge in the Duchy of Cleves, staying in the town of Wesel, then in the imperial free city of Frankfurt, before eventually settling in Geneva, home of Calvinism and a great centre of the Reformation. There, Thomas had the opportunity to study at John Calvin's newly erected Academy. He attended lectures in Divinity given by Theodore Beza and Calvin himself and attended services led by John Knox. He learned Greek from Mattheus Beroaldus and Hebrew from Antoine Chevallier. The study of these languages remained enduring passions for Bodley throughout his life.
Thomas Shirley
Sir Thomas Shirley (1564 – c. 1634) was an English soldier, adventurer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1622. His financial difficulties drove him into privateering which culminated in his capture by the Turks and later imprisonment in the Tower of London.
Family
Thomas Shirley was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex, and Anne Kempe, the daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe (d. 7 March 1591) of Olantigh in Wye, Kent.Sir Anthony Shirley and Sir Robert Shirley were his younger brothers.
Career
Shirley matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford in 1579, but left the university without taking a degree. In 1584 he was elected Member of Parliament for Steyning. He went on military service with his father and brother in the Low Countries in 1585, and later saw some in Ireland. He was knighted at Kilkenny in Ireland by the lord deputy, Sir William Fitz-William, on 26 October 1589. Shirley later came to the court. In the summer of 1591 he made a secret marriage to one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour and when the queen heard of it, she promptly committed him to the Marshalsea Prison. He remained in prison till the spring of 1592. In 1593 he was elected MP for Steyning again. In the same year he saw service with the rank of captain in the Low Countries again.
Sir Thomas (horse)
Sir Thomas (1785 – after 1790) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from October 1787 to May 1790 he ran thirteen or fourteen times and won nine or ten races. In 1788 he became the first horse owned by a member of the British Royal Family to win the Epsom Derby, having been bought as a two-year-old by the Prince of Wales who later became King George IV. Following his win in the Derby, Sir Thomas raced in the Prince's ownership with some success until 1790.
Background
Sir Thomas was bred by Mr Dawson who owned him for his first race. Sir Thomas's sire Pontac won several races at Newmarket in 1776 and 1777, before retiring to stud. As a stallion he was first based at Richmond in Yorkshire and later moved to Brigg in Lincolnshire. Sir Thomas was the tenth of eleven foals produced by the mare Sportsmistress who had previously produced the successful racehorse and important sire Potoooooooo, by Eclipse.
Racing career
1787: two-year-old season
Sir Thomas reportedly won his only start as a two-year-old after which he was bought for 2,000 guineas by the Prince of Wales. This probably took place in 1787, although at this period Thoroughbreds had their official "birthdays" on 1 May and that Sir Thomas would have been described as a "Two-year-old" in the early part of 1788.
Podcasts:
