Thomas Thynne 1640-1714
Thomas THYNNE, Viscount Weymouth 1640-1714
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Biographical Note
Of Longleat, Wiltshere, the eldest son of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, first baronet (1615-1680). Matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1657 but did not graduate. Fellow of the Royal Society in 1664, envoy to Sweden 1666-69 and MP for Oxford University 1674. Created Baron Thynne and Viscount Weymouth in 1682. He married Lady Frances (d.1712), daughter of Heneage Finch, third earl of Winchilsea and with her had three sons.
Books
Thynne acquired the manuscript collection of his former teacher, William Burton. He bequeathed £40,000 to four granddaughters, £1000 for the building of a church in East Woodland, Frome, and paintings to the earls of Rochester and Nottingham. A vast number of his books are still to be found at Longleat House today.
Characteristic Markings
Used an engraved armorial bookplate dated 1704 (Franks 29448/*98), as did his son Henry who predeceased him (1675-1708; Franks *217).
Sources
- Collins, J. A short account of the library at Longleat House, Sothebys, 1980.
- Hoare, P. (gen.ed.), The Cambridge history of libraries in Britain and Ireland. 3 vols. Cambridge, 2006. I 501.
- Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
- Lancaster, Henry. "Thynne, Thomas, first Viscount Weymouth (bap. 1640, d. 1714), politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.