Sir Thomas Cawarden of Bletchingley, Nonsuch Park and East Horsley (Surrey) was Master of the Revels to Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I.
Occupation
politician
Position held
Member of Parliament in the Parliament of England, Member of the 1542-44 Parliament, Member of the 1547-1552 Parliament, Member of the March 1553 Parliament
Sir Thomas Cawarden (died 25 August 1559) of Bletchingley, Nonsuch Park and East Horsley (Surrey) was Master of the Revels to Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I.
Background
Thomas was the son of William Cawarden, a cloth-fuller and citizen of London. In 1528, he was apprenticed to a mercer in London, Owen Hawkins. By 1542, Thomas Cawarden had married. His wife's first name was Elizabeth; her surname is unknown.
Career
In 1542 and 1547 he was elected member of parliament for Bletchingley which did not have town status and had a smaller forty-shilling freeholder electorate than the average of the time, poor enough to be challenged in the courts in 1614.
In 1544 Sir Thomas Cawarden received a patent as Master of Revels and Tents, becoming the first head of an independent office and was knighted at Boulogne in September of that year. Tents were provided for festivals, royal progresses, and in military expeditions. In July and August 1547, Cawarden provided 'hales', 'roundhouses', and a kitchen tent for the mission to Scotland during the war of the Rough Wooing which culminated in the Battle of Pinkie. Cawarden paid for the tents which had been 'wetted in the shippe' to be dried and put away on their return.
