Thomas Lovell

Sir Thomas Lovell, KG (died 1524) was an English soldier and administrator, Speaker of the House of Commons, Secretary to the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

He was fifth son of Sir Thomas Lovell of Barton Bendish in Norfolk, by Anne, daughter of Robert Toppe, alderman of Norwich; his family was Lancastrian in politics.

He headed the commons on 10 December 1485, when they requested the king to marry Elizabeth of York, to whom he subsequently lent £500 on the security of her plate.

[1] In 1487 Lovell sided with King Henry against Lambert Simnel, and he and his brothers fought at the battle of Stoke, where he was knighted (9 June).

[1] The services rendered by Lovell to Henry VII included an active participation in the king's policy of extortions: numerous bonds which were made to Lovell, as well as to Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, were cancelled early in the reign of Henry VIII.

In November 1494 he was present at the tournaments celebrating the creation of Prince Henry as Duke of York, and in 1500 he accompanied the king at his meeting with the Archduke Philip near Calais.

He was buried in a chantry chapel he had built at Holywell Priory, Shoreditch, a religious house of which he was regarded as a second founder.

Lovell contributed towards the building of Caius College, Cambridge, and built a gateway for Lincoln's Inn.

[1] Lovell had also worked with Lady Agnes Mellers who had become a rich widow in 1507 and he assisted in her wish to found what would become Nottingham High School.

Coat of arms of Sir Thomas Lovell.
The tomb of Sir Thomas Lovell (his great nephew) in the church of Ss Peter and Paul, East Harling