Francis Walsingham Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( 1532 – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Walsingham attended Cambridge University and travelled in continental Europe before embarking on a career in law at the age of twenty. A committed Protestant, during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I of England he joined other expatriates in exile in Switzerland and northern Italy until Mary's death and the accession of her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth. Walsingham rose
Thomas Walsingham (MP) when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He was made vice-admiral of Kent in 1627. In April 1640, Walsingham was re-elected MP for Rochester for the Short Parliament and again in November 1640 for the Long Parliament when he sat until 1653, surviving Pride's Purge. He sold the family property of Scadbury in around 1655. Walsingham died in 1669 and was buried at Chislehurst on 10 April 1669. Walsingham married twice, his first wife being Elizabeth Manwood, daughter of Sir Peter Manwood. Thomas Walsingham (MP) Sir Thomas Walsingham (c. 1589 - April 1669) was an