Description

Sir Thomas Wriothesley worked as a court official during the reign of Henry VIII, eventually rising to the office of Lord Chancellor. In the 1530s and 1540s he amassed a large property portfolio and was created Earl of Southampton by Henry VIII in 1547.

This book tells the story of how Thomas Wriothesley created his fortune and its management by his successors. The third earl was a notable figure at the court of King James I and he also comes down to posterity as the patron of William Shakespeare. He was also a pioneer founder of the Virginia colony in the United States.

His second son, Thomas, became the fourth earl in 1624 to a heavily indebted inheritance. He succeeded in reviving the family fortune and became a statesman at the courts of Charles I and Charles II.

There was no fifth earl as Earl Thomas died in 1667 leaving three daughters as heiresses. The estate was divided into three parts - the Beaulieu Estate, the Titchfield Estate and the Bloomsbury Estate in London. In 1667 they were considered equal but Bloomsbury, inherited by the Dukes of Bedford, became a source of great wealth.