View source for Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex

{{short description|English peer and cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name         = The Earl of Sussex
| honorific_suffix =
| image        = Thomas Lennard, Lord Dacre and Earl of Sussex ascribed to Willem Wissing(page 364 crop).jpg
| caption      = ''Portrait of Lennard, ascribed to [[Willem Wissing]]''
| birth_name   = Thomas Lennard
| birth_date   = {{birthdate|1654|05|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place  =
| death_date   = {{dda|1715|10|30|1654|05|13|df=yes}}
| death_place  =
| parents      = [[Francis Lennard, 14th Baron Dacre]]<br>Elizabeth Bayning, Countess of Shepey
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex|Lady Anne Fitzroy]]<br>|16 May 1674|1715|reason=died}}
| children     = 4
| relations    = [[Paul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning]] (grandfather)<br>[[Anne Manners, Lady Roos]] (cousin)<br>[[Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland]] (cousin)
}}
'''Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex, 15th Baron Dacre''', (13 May 1654 – 30 October 1715) was an English [[Peerage|peer]]. He became [[Earl of Sussex]] in 1674 when he married [[Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex|Lady Anne Fitzroy, illegitimate daughter of Charles II and Lady Barbara Palmer]]. The [[Baron Dacre]] title became abeyant in 1715 following his death.
==Early life==
[[File:Lennard (BaronDacre) Arms.svg|thumb|left|150px|Arms of Lennard: ''Or, on a fess gules three fleurs-de-lys of the field''<ref>Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p. 601</ref>]]
He was the son of [[Francis Lennard, 14th Baron Dacre]] (1619–1662) and the former Elizabeth Bayning (1624–1686), who was created ''[[suo jure]]'' [[Countess of Sheppey]] for life in 1680.<ref name="Mosley2003"/> His father served as MP for [[Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)|Sussex]] in 1654. Among his siblings were sisters, Elizabeth Lennard (the wife of [[William Brabazon, 3rd Earl of Meath]] and the Hon. William Moore) and Philadelphia Lennard (the wife of [[Daniel O'Brien, 3rd Viscount Clare]]).
His paternal grandparents were [[Richard Lennard, 13th Baron Dacre]] and Elizabeth Throckmorton (a daughter of [[Sir Arthur Throckmorton]], MP for [[Colchester (UK Parliament constituency)|Colchester]]). His maternal grandparents were [[Paul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning]] and the former Anne Glemham (a daughter of [[Henry Glemham (politician)|Sir Henry Glemham]]). After the 1st Viscount Bayning's death, his grandmother married [[Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester]]. Among his maternal family were aunts Anne Bayning (the wife of Henry Murray, a [[Groom of the Bedchamber]] to King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]), Cecilia Bayning (the wife of [[Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester]]), and Mary Bayning (the wife of [[William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison]] and mother of [[Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland]]).<ref name=cokayne>George Edward Cokayne, Vicary Gibbs, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom'' (Bass to Canning, 1912), p. 37.</ref>
==Career==
Upon the death of his father on 12 May 1662, he succeeded as the 15th [[Baron Dacre]]. Less than five months after his wedding, he was created 1st [[Earl of Sussex]] on 5 October 1674.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
===Cricket===
Lennard was a supporter of [[cricket]] which developed into a [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Cricket#MAJOR|major sport]] during his lifetime. His 1677 accounts include an item which refers to £3 being paid to him when he went to a cricket match being played at "[[Lower Dicker|ye Dicker]]" (''sic''), which was then a common in the vicinity of [[Hailsham]] in [[East Sussex]].<ref>McCann, p. xl.</ref>
==Personal life==
[[File:Andrea Soldi - Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Lord Dacre - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Portrait of his grandson, Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Baron Dacre, by [[Andrea Soldi]]]]
On 16 May 1674, Lord Dacre was married to [[Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex|Lady Anne Fitzroy]] (1661–1721), the illegitimate daughter of King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] and Dacre's first cousin, [[Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland]]. Together, they were the parents of:<ref name="Mosley2003">Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.'' [[Wilmington, Delaware]]: [[Burke's Peerage]] (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, pp. 1180-1182 and volume 2, page 2909.</ref>
* Henry Lennard, who died young.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
* Lady Barbara Lennard (1676–1741), who married Lt.-Gen. Charles Skelton.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
* Charles Lennard, Lord Dacre (1682–{{circa|1683}}), who died young.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
* [[Anne Lennard-Moore, 16th Baroness Dacre|Lady Anne Lennard]] (1684–1755), who married Richard Barrett (later Barrett-Lennard), son of Dacre Barrett and Lady Jane Chichester (eldest daughter of the [[Arthur Chichester, 2nd Earl of Donegall|2nd Earl of Donegall]]), in {{circa|1716}}. After his death in 1716, she married [[Henry Roper, 8th Baron Teynham]], in {{circa|March 1717}}. After his death in 1723, she married Hon. [[Robert Moore (Irish politician)|Robert Moore]], son of [[Henry Hamilton-Moore, 3rd Earl of Drogheda]], in 1725.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>
Lord Sussex died on 30 October 1715. On his death death, his [[Earl of Sussex|earldom]] became extinct and his barony fell into abeyance between his two daughters. After Lady Barbara's death in 1741, the abeyance was terminated in favor of his younger daughter Anne, who became ''[[suo jure]]'' 16th [[Baroness Dacre]].<ref name="Burke1841">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=John |last2=Burke |first2=Bernard |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland |date=1841 |publisher=Scott, Webster, and Geary |page=310 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Genealogical_and_Heraldic_History_of_t/DqkTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA310 |access-date=2 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
===Descendants===
Through his daughter Anne, he was a grandfather of [[Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Baron Dacre]] (1717–1786),<ref name="Spottiswoode1908">{{cite book |title=An Account of the Families of Lennard and Barrett |date=1908 |publisher=Spottiswoode and Company Limited |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2v8g_cwvIWYC |access-date=2 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref> Hon. Anna Maria Roper (1719–1782), Hon. Charles Roper (1721–1754), and the Rev. Hon. Richard Henry Roper (1723–1810).<ref name="Mosley2003"/><ref name="Debrett's1828">{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1828 |publisher=G. Woodfall |page=311 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Debrett_s_Peerage_of_the_United_Kingdom/oAQ_AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA311 |access-date=21 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=McCann|first=Tim|authorlink=Timothy J. McCann |title=Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century |year=2004 |publisher=Sussex Record Society}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|en}}
{{s-new |creation}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Earl of Sussex]] |creation=4th creation |years=1674–1715}}
{{s-non |reason=Extinct}}
{{s-bef |before=Francis Lennard}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Baron Dacre]] |creation=1st creation |years=1662–1715}}
{{s-vac |abeyance |next=Anne Barrett-Lennard}}
{{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sussex, Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl}}
[[Category:1654 births]]
[[Category:1715 deaths]]
[[Category:Barons Dacre|15]]
[[Category:English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries]]
[[Category:Earls of Sussex (Peerage of England)]]