Thomas Seckford Esquire (1515 – 1587) was a senior lawyer, a "man of business" at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, a landowner of the armigerous Suffolk gentry, Member of Parliament, and public benefactor of the town of Woodbridge. He was one of the Masters in Ordinary of the Court of Requests to Queen Elizabeth, 1569-1587, and was Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liveries 1581-1587. He built mansions in Woodbridge, Ipswich and Clerkenwell, and was at different times Steward of the Liberty of Ely (St Etheldreda) in Suffolk, Bailiff for the Crown of the former possessions of Clerkenwell Priory in the City of London and County of Middlesex, and deputy Steward for the northern parts of the Duchy of Lancaster (to which he owed his early patronage). He was the patron of Christopher Saxton in t