Sir Thomas Wyatt (soldier)

Sir Thomas Wyatt c.1520-54, English soldier and conspirator; son of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. In Jan., 1554, when Queen Mary's intention to marry Philip II of Spain was announced, Wyatt joined a planned insurrection against the queen. His allies in other parts of the country were arrested or dispersed, but Wyatt raised a small army in Kent. Troops were sent against him at Rochester, but most of them deserted to Wyatt's side. He set out for London and arrived early in February, but defections and the loyalty of Londoners to Queen Mary prevented him from capturing her and taking the city. He surrendered and was executed as a traitor. It was supposed by many that Princess Elizabeth was involved, but Wyatt's last statement exonerated her.

Wyatt, Sir Thomas (c.1521–54). Wyatt's father was a poet, courtier, and diplomat, with extensive estates in Kent. Wyatt inherited in 1542. Outraged in 1554 at Mary's decision to marry Philip of Spain, on national and religious grounds, he joined in what was intended as a national rising but finished up confined to Kent. The rebels suffered a set‐back at Wrotham Heath but recovered the initiative when the duke of Norfolk led an ill‐judged advance. Wyatt moved towards London but Mary refused to flee. Repulsed at London bridge and the Tower, he crossed the Thames at Kingston, but found Ludgate closed and his forces deserting. He was executed on Tower Hill on 11 April.

Wyatt's Rebellion (February 1554) A protest in England against MARY I's projected marriage to the future PHILIP II of Spain. Its leader was a Kentish landowner, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1521–54). Convinced that the marriage would turn England into ‘a cockleboat towed by a Spanish galleon’, he led 3000 Kentishmen in a march on London. The rebellion's ultimate aims are uncertain, as is the involvement of Mary's half-sister, Princess Elizabeth, but it led to the execution of Lady Jane GREY. Wyatt found most Londoners' loyalty to Mary stronger than their antipathy to Spain. He surrendered, and was executed with 100 others.