Family and Education

b. c.1536, 1st s. of Sir Ralph Sadler, and bro. of Henry. educ. Trinity Hall, Camb. 1554; M. Temple 1558. m. (1) Ursula, da. and coh. of Henry Sharington of Lacock, Wilts., s.p.; (2) Gertrude, da. of Robert Markham of Cotham, Notts., 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 1587. Kntd. 1603.

Offices Held

J.p. Herts. from c.1569, q. 1587; constable of Hertford castle, steward of Hertford and Hertingfordbury Mar.-July 1587; sheriff, Herts. June-Nov. 1588 1595-6.1

Biography

Sadler came in for Lancaster through his father, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. He did not obtain lucrative offices and leases on the same scale as his brother Henry, and his career emerges from obscurity only through his local duties. Perhaps he suffered from chronic ill-health. On two occasions he was so ill that he sent for Sir Edward Coke, who was connected to him by ties of friendship and the marriage of their children, to arrange his affairs. During the second illness, Coke wrote, ‘my brother Sir Thomas Sadler is fallen very dangerously sick and hath sent for me about the setting of an order in his house; which by the laws of friendship I cannot deny’. This must have been after April 1603, when Sadler entertained James I at Standon and was knighted.2

His will, made during his illness of March 1602, contains a preamble which was repeated verbatim in the will of his brother Henry some 15 years later. Thomas left his lands and the residue of his personal property to his only son Ralph, a cup worth £10 to his brother Henry, and £20 each to the three sons of his brother Edward. There was a bequest of £20 to another nephew and one of £40 to a godson. The supervisor of the will was ‘my loving brother and faithful friend’ Sir Edward Coke, who was asked to take pains to assist the executor, Sadler’s son Ralph. Coke was to receive a standing cup of silver gilt valued at 20 marks, ‘in remembrance of my love towards him’. Sir Thomas died on 5 Jan. 1607, and was buried at Standon described as one ‘who lived in honourable reputation for his religion, justice, bounty, love of his country, favour of learning and all other virtues, and as he lived, he ended his life Christianly’.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Irene Cassidy

Notes

• 1. Vis. Beds. (Harl. Soc. xix), 136; Clutterbuck, Herts. iii. 28; Al. Cant. iv. 3; Nichols, Progresses Jas. I, i. 106; Egerton 2345, f. 18v; SP12/121/15v; Somerville, Duchy, i. 395, 603-4, 605.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 404; HMC Hatfield, xi. 289; xii. 90; VCH Herts. iii. 354.
• 3. PCC 9 Huddleston; Clutterbuck, iii. 236.