Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death. He oversaw operations that penetrated Spanish military preparation, gathered intelligence from across Europe, disrupted a range of plots against Elizabeth and secured the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. As principal secretary, he supported exploration, colonization, the use of England’s maritime strength and the plantation of Ireland.
About Francis Walsingham in brief
Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death. Born to a well-connected family of gentry, he attended Cambridge University and travelled in continental Europe before embarking on a career in law. A committed Protestant, he joined other expatriates in exile in Switzerland and northern Italy until Mary’s death and the accession of her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth. He oversaw operations that penetrated Spanish military preparation, gathered intelligence from across Europe, disrupted a range of plots against Elizabeth and secured the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. He served as English ambassador to France in the early 1570s and witnessed the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. As principal secretary, he supported exploration, colonization, the use of England’s maritime strength and the plantation of Ireland. He worked to bring Scotland and England together. He was instrumental in the collapse of the plot to replace Elizabeth with the Catholic Queen Mary of Scots, which he hoped to replace with the Protestant Elizabeth Ridolfi. In the following years, he became active in soliciting support for the Huguenots in France and developed a close working relationship with Nicholas Throckmorton, his predecessor as MP for Lyme Regis and a former ambassador to the French. He died at the age of 75 in 1580. He is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, with his wife, Anne, and their two children, Frances and Christopher.
He had two stepsons, Ursula St. Barbe, widow of Sir Richard Worsley, and her daughter, Frances, who died in a gunpowder accident at Appuldurcombe, the Isle of Wight, in 1567. Francis’s mother was Joyce Denny, a daughter of the courtier Sir Edmund Denny of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, and a sister of the principal Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII. He married Anne Barne, daughter of Sir George Barne of London in 1552–3, and widow of wine merchant Alexander Carleill, in January 1562. In 1566, he married Ursula Barbe’s widow, Sir John Carey, and the following year she died two years later leaving her son Christopher carleill in Walsham’s care. He also had a daughter, Frances, who was born in 1563 and died in 1570. He later had a son, Christopher, who became a prominent lawyer and judge in London. He went on to become one of the most successful lawyers in the country. His daughter Frances died in 1605 and he had two sons, John and George, who were also prominent lawyers and judges in the City of London. His son Christopher died in 1701 and he was succeeded by his son-in-law, the Earl of Dorset, William Cecil, in 1705. He became a member of the House of Commons in 1559 and was elected to Parliament in 1560. He then became MP for Lyme Regis, Dorset.
You want to know more about Francis Walsingham?
This page is based on the article Francis Walsingham published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
