Walsingham, Sir Francis c.1530-1590
English statesman

Born in Chislehurst, Kent, he was sent on an embassy to France in 1570-73 by William Cecil, Baron Burghley. He was then appointed one of the principal secretaries of state to Elizabeth I, sworn on to the Privy Council, and knighted. In 1578 he was sent on an embassy to the Netherlands, in 1581 to France, and in 1583 to Scotland. He contrived an effective system of espionage at home and abroad, enabling him to reveal the Babington Plot, which implicated Mary, Queen of Scots in treason, and to obtain, in 1587, details of some of the plans for the Spanish Armada. He was one of the commissioners to try Mary at Fotheringay. He favoured the Puritan party, and in his later years devoted himself to religious meditation. Elizabeth acknowledged his genius and important services, but kept him poor and without honours, and he died in poverty and debt.

Bibliography: Conyers Read, Mr Secretary Walsingham (1924)