Thomas Sackville

Stand not amazed (reader) to see us shead
From drowned eyes vaine offerings to the dead
For he whose sacred ashes here doth lye
Was the grat hopes of all our familly
To blaze whose vertues is but to detract
From them for in them none can be exact
So grave and hopefull was his youth
So deare a freind to piety and truth
He scarce knew sin but what curst nature gave
And yet grim death hath snatched him to his grave
He never to his parents was unkind
But in his early leaving them behind
And since hath left us and for ere is gon
What mother would not weepe for such a son
May this faire monument then never fade
Or be by blasting time or age decayd
That the suceeding times to all may tell
Here lieth one that liv'd and died well
Here lies the thirteen child and seaventh son
Who in his thirteenth yeare his race had run
Thomas Sackville
https://www.sussexrecordsociety.org/dbs/esm/church/3020/
302I Wall-mounted brass for Thomas SACKVILLE, d. 1675
- Sackville Chapel, East wall, below 302H.

- 28(W) x 33(H)~Fine; stained.

- M.I. (32 lines engraved) in Latin, on a brass plate (high copper content).

- Thomas Sackville, 5 Feb 1662 - 19 Aug 1675, died at Saumur, France; seventh son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl, d. 27 Aug 1677, aet 54 and Frances Cranfield.

Sacred to the memory, piety, and posterity. Here remain stored in a secure reunion with a happy soul, the last remnants of the dearest and most hopeful boy Thomas Sackville, seventh son of Richard Earl of Dorset and his wife Frances, who was born on February 3rd, 1662, in the year of our salvation, seized by a sudden and unexpected death, sick only four days He restored his soul to the most just and excellent Grand Creator, and heavenly Father, on August 19, 1675, located in the city of Samaur in Gaul, in the twelfth year of his age, six months and slightly above. They excelled so much in age, that at the moment of death all his friends, those present with him (whose attendance was at that time frequent), enticed him with grief and tears abundantly and far and wide, whom he had enticed and brought on by his amiable character and most refined character, into his most profuse love of him; but this unique and truest consolation, deservedly, to those who mourn for his parents, he has performed and left in death, God the Most High, through the intercession of his most holy and most glorious Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ our own pious babes in heaven, now Intercessor as formerly Patron on earth, sooner that he had taken back this most excellent gift to himself, that he might sooner draw to him the eternal beauty of the good, a young man worthy of so much praise, and that he might sooner draw to him the eternal beauty of the good, and henceforth his perpetual vows were taken away from them; They become partakers of the beatific vision of their heavenly father, and in the highest heavens may their son enjoy eternally this sweet partnership before his throne with the other heavens

Memoriae, pietati, et Posteritati sacrum. Hie manent reposita in certa reunionis cum beata anima fiducia, ultimae reliquiae charissimi summae spei pueri Thomas Sackville septimi Ricardi Comitis Dorsetiae et Francisae conjugis suae fili, qui 3tio die February natus, anno Salutis nostrae 1662, subita et inopinata morte correptus, quatriduo tantum aegrotans, animam nulla vitii labe infectam justissimo et Optimo Maximo Creatori suo et Patri caelesti reddidit 19 die Augusti anno Domini nostri 1675 apud Civitatem Salismuriensem in Gallia sitam, annum agens aetatis suae duodecimum cum sex mensibus et paullo superius: cujus eximiae mentis dotes et virtutes in hac puerili aetate adeo enitebant, ut amicorum omnium in articulo mortis cum illo adstantium ( quorum tum frequens erat comitatus) maerorem & lacrimas abunde et effuse eliceret, quos amabili suo ingenio et probatissimis moribus, in profussimam ejus amorem pellexerat et induxerat; sed unicum hoc et verissmum solamen, merito lugentibus parentibus suis, in morte praestitit et reliquit, Deum Optimo Maximo per intercessionem sanctissimi et gloiossimi fili sui, Domini & Servatoris nostri Jesus Christ proprii piorum infantium in caelis nunc Intercessoris ut olim in terris Patroni, citius tam praestantissimum donum hoc sibi resumpsisse, ut dignum tanta laude juvenem, perdito et omnino profligato huic seculo ereptum, citius ad se attraheret et eterna beauudine bonorum certo praemio donaret, et hinc vota perrenia ab illis continuo suscepta, ut per sanctissimam mediationem Servatoris nostri, in postremis Patris sui caelestis beatificae visionis participes fiunt, et in altissimis coelis suavi hujus fili eorum societate coram throno suo cum caeteris caelicolis in aeternum frui possint.

302J Freestanding monument for Thomas SACKVILLE, d. 1675, and his father Richard, Earl of Dorset, d. 1677, erected 1678
- Sackville Chapel, freestanding, in the centre.

- The plinth: 348 (East-West); 248 (North-South); The tomb-chest: 120(W) x 229(L)~Excellent; local losses (toes, etc.).

- A tomb-chest on a stepped plinth set East-West; a semi-reclining effigy with a skull, gazing to the East, on a rolled mat, on a polished dark grey ledger; the tomb-chest with white marble panels within a dark grey frame, with his mourning parents kneeling on cushions (father on the North side); portrayals of the siblings in middle relief, dead and alive, kneeling or facing East; on the North side (6 brothers); on the South side (6 sisters); M.I. (engraved, black) on tablets on each short end; East end on patronage; West end, verses on Thomas Sackville's virtues; an achievement on a plaque at the East end; another similar, with details of the Earl, on the other end.

- Thomas Sackville, d 1675, aet 13, thirteenth child and seventh son of Rt. Hon. Richard, Earl of Dorset, d. 27 Aug 1677, aet 55; and Frances, Countess Dowager of Dorset.

Baptism Thomas Sackvile son to a Earle of Dorcett & wife Lady Frances: witness Lord Crouden & Duchess of Buckingham

Thomas Sackville Grave monument at St Michael and All Angels burial Ground, Withyham, Sussex
Thomas Sackville aged 13 was buried in 1675. His parents are recorded as Earl of Dorset and Countess of Dorset.Francess Sackville.

(North chapel) Thomas Sackville (d1675 aged 13) by C G Cibber (Roscoe p275).  The boy lies on a tomb-chest, holding a skull.  On the sides of the chest are his brother and sisters, recalling earlier C17 custom and mediaeval weepers (2 p121).  Despite the expressive effigy, the revolutionary feature is his grief-stricken parents, kneeling either side, as if drawn back to the tomb.  It is altogether more successful than the other major late C17 tomb in Sussex to show the influence of Italian Baroque, that by J Bushnell at Ashburnham.  The contract with Cibber was for £350 (Faber p42).

The centrepiece of the chapel is the monument to Thomas Sackville, who died aged 13 in 1675. It consists of life-size sculptures of the deceased boy resting on a tomb and his grieving parents kneeling on either side. Their remaining 12 children, some of whom had also died prematurely, are represented in bas-relief on the sides of the tomb.

The creation of the memorial was entrusted to Caius Gabriel Cibber in 1677. He was a Danish artist who had studied sculpture in Italy and the Netherlands and then moved to England where he enjoyed a very successful career, being involved in such high profile projects as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Monument in London among others. His Italian baroque-inspired memorial in the chapel is considered one of the finest works of art in England.