The English statesman Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641), was lord deputy of Ireland from 1632 to 1640. In Ireland he autocratically enforced, with his hated policy of "Thorough," the King's rule and the King's peace. Later he became Charles l's chief adviser.

Thomas Wentworth was born on April 13, 1593. He derived from a knightly family long established at Wentworth-Woodhouse, Yorkshire. He was educated at Cambridge and at the Inns of Court, London. He spent a year traveling on the Continent after his marriage to the eldest daughter of the Earl of Cumberland. Upon his return to England he was elected to Parliament from Yorkshire in 1614.

In 1621 Wentworth was again elected knight of the shire, and the courtier Lord (George) Calvert was his fellow member. Wentworth evidently supported Calvert's policy of peace with Spain. He joined the critics of the Duke of Buckingham, who favored war with Spain. For this...