Sir Thomas Offley

Oldest son of William Offley, of Stafford and Chester.

• Lord Mayor of London, 1556
• His son Henry married Mary, daughter of Sir John White, alderman (of Aldershot)

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Sir Thomas Offley. One of the earliest pupils of Lily, the Greek scholar, at St. Paul's. He is described by Fuller (Worthies ed. Nuttall, i., 296) as the 'Zacchæus of London, not for his low stature but his high charity.' He was brother-in-law to Stephen Kyrton (Alderman 1549–53) and son-in-law of John Nechyll or Nichylls (Alderman 1525). To his son Sir John Offley of Madeley, Isaak Walton dedicated The Compleat Angler.

Alderman, 1549. Lord Mayor of London, 1556-57. Brother-in-law of Stephen Kirton. Had six or seven brothers and several sisters. Parentage not quite certain (variously said to have been the son of William Offley, of Chester, or Robert Offley, of Staffordshire). According to his will, he was born in Staffordshire.

That he was buried at St. Andrew Undershaft, London, strongly implies that he died in London.

http://www.ourfamilyhistories.org/getperson.php?personID=I171825&tr...

Do not confuse this Thomas with his same-named half-brother.

He may have been the youngest child - apprenticed to Stephen Kirton in 1551 (and apprenticeship normally began in the mid-teen years).

Married a Katherine Lewis (said to have been a wealthy widow), and they had children, but none of them seem to have outlived him.