February, and had leave to go down into Lincolnshire; nor did he ever resume his seat on the bench, though fines continue to be recorded as levied before him until the middle of Easter term, when he formally resigned. His successor, William Peryam, however, was not appointed until February 1580-1.
Monson spent the rest of his days on his estate in Lincolnshire, where he died on 23 Sept, 1583. He was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, his tomb being marked by a brass with a quaint Latin inscription (see Collins, Peerage, ed. Bridges, vii. 230. Other versions, given in Peck's 'Desiderata Curiosa,' lib. viii. No, viii. iii., Cooper's ' Athenæ Cantabr.,' and Foss's ' Lives of the Judges,' are in various ways corrupt). Monson married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Dyson, by whom he had no issue. She survived him.
Monson's decisions are reported by Dyer, Coke, and Plowden. Two letters relating to a lawsuit in which he was engaged, both dated in November 1576, and addressed to Walsingham and Burghley respectively, are preserved in Lansd. MS. 23, art. 85, and the State Paper Office (see Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-80, p. 530).
[Lincoln's Inn Reg.; Dugdale's Orig. pp. 48, 253, and Chron. Ser. pp. 92, 93; Lists of Members of Parliament (Official); Willis's Not. Parl. vol. iii.; Sir Simonds D'Ewes's Journal of the Parliaments of Elizabeth, ed. 1682, pp. 103, 159, 164, 176–90, 207, 220–2; Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. (Cal. Cecil MSS.), p. 341; Parker Corresp. (Parker Soc.), pp. 370, 383, 390; Strype's Parker (fol.), ii. 327; Strype's Grindal (fol.), p. 233; Strype's Annals (fol.), i. 530; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p. 530; Rymer's Fœdera, xv. 740; Fuller's Church Hist. bk. iv. p. 104; Harl. MS. 6992, art. 59; Lodge's Illustr. (4to), ii. 224; Dyer's Reports, p. 310; authorities cited in the text.]
MONSON, Sir THOMAS (1564–1641), master of the armoury at the Tower, eldest surviving son of Sir John Monson, knight, by Jane, daughter of Robert Dighton of Little Sturton, Lincolnshire, and elder brother of Admiral Sir William Monson [q. v.], was born in 1564 at his father's manor at South Carlton, Lincolnshire. Robert Monson [q. v.] was his granduncle. Thomas matriculated, aged fifteen, 9 Dec. 1579, from Magdalen College, Oxford, but left the university without a degree. He was created M.A. on 30 Aug. 1605, when he accompanied James I on a visit to Oxford. He was knighted the year of the Armada (1588), and in 1593 succeeded to all his father's estates in Lincolnshire and to Dunham Manor in Nottinghamshire. He first entered parliament on 10 Oct. 1597 as member for Lincoln county, sat for Castle Rising in 1603-4, and Cricklade in 1614 (Official Returns).
He became a favourite with James I, who made him his master falconer early in his reign, 'such a faulconer,' says Weldon, 'as no prince in Christendom ever had, for what flights other princes had he would excell them for his master, in which one was at the kite.' Weldon adds an account of a trial of skill between Monson and some French falconers (Secret History of James I, pp. 412 sq.) One preferment rapidly followed another. He was at first appointed chancellor to Anne of Denmark, then keeper of the armoury at Greenwich, and in June 1611 master of the armoury at the Tower. On 29 June 1611 a baronetcy was granted to him, and the next year he was made keeper of the naval and other warlike instruments at the Tower.
But his posts at the Tower proved his temporary ruin, for he was accused of complicity in the Overbury poisoning case in October 1615, and imprisoned [see Overbury, Sir Thomas]. The chief indictments were that he recommended Weston as Overbury's keeper by the Countess of Somerset's desire; that he was a friend of Northampton, and concerned in the correspondence between Overbury and Somerset; but beyond the fact that Sir Gervase Helwys [q. v.] died openly accusing Northampton and Monson of complicity, there is no circumstantial evidence against him, and he 'stedfastly affirmed his innocency.'
The case, however, proved more complicated than at first appeared. On 30 Nov. Monson appeared at the bar in the Guildhall, but was remanded till 4 Dec., when the indictment was read, and he pleaded not guilty. Coke abused him as a papist, and hinted that he was accused of worse crimes,, alluding mysteriously to Prince Henry's sudden death. The trial was stopped and Monson remanded to the Tower 20 Dec. 1615. Weldon's story that James had interrupted the trial for fear of disagreeable revelations is refuted by the fact that the king was then at Newmarket, too far off to interpose. Coke certainly had a personal spite against Monson, and finding the evidence insufficient to condemn him probably hurried him back to the Tower for fear of a favourable verdict. The story that he made him walk on foot in the rain is denied by an eye-witness who saw him in Sir George More's [q. v.] coach. The acquittal might also have been unfavourable to the prosecution of Somerset. Though the king is reported to have seen 'nothing worthy of death or bonds' in Monson's case, he remained some months in prison, 'evermore
