Sir Thomas Bishopp, 1st Baronet

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Sir Thomas Bishopp, 1st Baronet (1553–1626), also spelled Bishop and Bisshopp, was an English politician. He was the only son of Thomas Bishop of Henfield, Sussex, and his wife Elizabeth Belknap. When his father died in 1560, he was six and became the sole heir. He inherited a large estate, including the rectory and park at Henfield, the manors of Beeding, Drayton, Hunston, Stubcroft, and various farms and stock, including a flock of about 1,000 sheep. His wardship was first taken by Sir Richard Sackville and then passed to his son Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset. He may be the Thomas Byshope admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge in 1562, a very young age for the college that Sackville also attended. In 1572 he joined the Inner Temple from Clifford’s Inn.

His link with the Sackville family helped his rapid rise in Sussex politics, where he became a Justice of the Peace in 1578. In a 1587 report on Sussex justices, Bishopp is described as a “young man” who was a “good justice.” In 1584 he was returned to Parliament for Gatton, the seat formerly held by his father. He was Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex for 1584–85, which may have kept him from leaving to sit in Parliament during that term. He returned to Parliament in 1586, sitting for Steyning. He was again Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex for 1601–02 and sat again for Steyning in 1604. He bought the Parham House estate, Sussex in 1601 and was knighted by King James I on 7 May 1603 at Theobalds House. He was made a baronet Bishopp of Parham in the County of Sussex in 1620. He married