Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton

Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (1495 – 23 August 1568) was an English nobleman and a follower of King Henry VIII of England. He is best known for his victory at Solway Moss on 24 November 1542 for which he was given a barony.

He was born in Wharton, Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Wharton of Wharton Hall and his wife Agnes Warcup, daughter of Reynold or Reginald Warcup of Smardale. His father died around 1520, and in April 1522 he served on a raiding expedition into Scotland.

On 10 February 1524 he was placed on the commission for the peace in Cumberland, and on 20 June 1527 he is said to have been knighted at Windsor. To the parliament that met on 3 November 1529, Wharton was returned for Appleby, but on the 9th he was pricked for High Sheriff of Cumberland. On 30 June 1531 he was appointed commissioner for redress of outrages on the Anglo-Scottish Border. On 6 February 1532 he was made Justice of the Peace for the East Riding of Yorkshire, and on 19 March for Northumberland, and he was usually included in the commissions for Cumberland and Westmorland.

In 1531 he purchased the manor of Healaugh, near Tadcaster where he resided for the latter part of his life.

In 1532 he appears to have been captain of Cockermouth, and, as comptroller, was associated with Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland in the government of the border marches. This followed the grant in 1530 of the hereditary lieutenancy of Cockermouth by Northumberland, part of a package of gifts designed to allow Wharton to take over military duties from the ailing Northumberland, and they would remain closely associated until his death. On 29 June 1534 Northumberland recommended Wharton's appointment as captain of Carlisle, and on 9 July he was commissioned to inquire into the ‘treasons’ of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, against Northumberland; Dacre was brought to trial, but acquitted by his peers. On 22 November 1535 Wharton was again appointed sheriff of Cumberland.

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