Thomas Gorges

Sir Thomas Gorges (1536 – 30 March 1610) was an Elizabethan courtier and Groom of the Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I. By his great-grandmother, Lady Anne Howard, daughter of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, he was a second cousin of queens consort Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

Gorges was born in Wraxall, Somerset, the son of Sir Edward Gorges. Thomas's mother was either Mary Newton or Mary Poyntz (sister of Nicholas Poyntz (d.1557)), who were married to Sir Edward in succession.

In 1573, Gorges acquired the manor of Langford, now Longford Castle, in Wiltshire.

Gorges was governor of Hurst Castle, Hampshire, when, during the Spanish Armada, one of the Spanish ships was driven aground there. Lady Gorges asked the Queen if she could have the wreck, and the request was granted; the ship was one of the Spanish treasure ships laden with silver.

He was knighted at Beddington in 1586.

In the reign of James I, Gorges and the dowager Lady Northampton, his wife, were granted the office of Keeper of the palace of West Sheen or Richmond, keeper of the wardrobe, vessels and provisions there, and keeper of the gardens and of Richmond Park; and Letters of Privy Seal granting her an allowance of £245. 5s. p.a.

Sir Thomas was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, where he and his wife Helena have a remarkable monument decorated with carved polyhedra.

The Gorges Monument (1635) in Salisbury Cathedral is the tomb of Helena, Marchioness of Northampton and her husband Sir Thomas Gorges. Each side of the elaborate canopy above the tomb displays two cuboctahedra and an icosahedron. The monument as a whole is crowned by a celestial globe with a dodecahedron on top.

He was the uncle of Arthur Gorges, the poet and translator.

In 1576, he married Helena Snakenborg, the dowager Marchioness of Northampton and lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I, and they built a triangular Swedish pattern castle – Longford Castle – on the banks of the River Avon, to the south of Salisbury. The castle had a round tower in each corner, and a park, fruit garden and kitchen garden.

Their children were:

1. Elizabeth (married, firstly, Sir Hugh Smythe of Long Ashton, Somerset and then colonial entrepreneur Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 28 Sep 1629, Wraxall, Somerset)
2. Francis
3. Frances (married Thomas Tyringham, circa 1610, Little Langford, Wiltshire)
4. Edward (1st Baron Gorges of Dundalk)
5. Theobald
6. Bridget (married Robert Phelips)
7. Robert Gorges (c.1589–1648), Member of Parliament