John Thynne

Sir John Thynne
Portrait of Sir John Thynne in 1566
Born	John Thynne c. 1515 Church Stretton, Shropshire
Died	21 May 1580 Longleat, Wiltshire
Resting place	Longbridge Deverill
Residence	Longleat
Nationality	English
Other names	John Boteville
Occupation	Steward
Employer	Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Spouse(s)	(1) Christian, daughter of Sir Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor of London (2) Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Wroughton, of Broad Hinton, Wiltshire
Children	John, Dorothy, Anne, Francis, Thomas, Elizabeth, Catherine, Frances, Maria, Egremont, Henry, Charles, Edward, and William
Parent(s)	Thomas Thynne, alias Boteville, and Margaret, daughter of Thomas Eynns

Sir John Thynne (c. 1515 – 21 May 1580) was the steward to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 – 1552) and a member of parliament. He was the builder of Longleat House and his descendants became Marquesses of Bath.

Thynne's family also used the surname Boteville (or Botfield), so was often called Thynne alias Boteville.

Thynne was born in Church Stretton, Shropshire, in 1515, and was the eldest son of Thomas Thynne, otherwise Botevile, and of his wife Margaret, a daughter of Thomas Eynns. His uncle William Thynne was a courtier in the household of King Henry VIII and a literary editor.

However, there is no other information about Thynne's youth, which may have been influenced by his uncle at court.

The first record of Thynne is in 1535, when he was in the service of Lord Vaux of Harrowden. In a surviving account book kept by Lord Vaux's steward, he is listed among forty-six people 'ordinary of Household' who attended Lord Vaux's family at Harrowden between 2 August and 28 October 1535.

Between March and November 1538, Thynne, described as Lord Hertford's servant, brought an action in the Court of Chancery concerning the parsonage of Wilby, Northamptonshire, claiming he had wrongly been excluded from it by Lord Vaux.

In 1536, Thynne became steward to Edward Seymour, 1st Viscount Beauchamp, during the short period when Seymour's sister Jane Seymour was the Queen of Henry VIII of England. Seymour was later Marquess of Hertford and Duke of Somerset. Thynne continued in his place as steward until Seymour's execution for treason in 1552.