Sir Thomas Holcroft (1505 – 31 July 1558) was a sixteenth-century English courtier, soldier, politician and landowner. Holcroft's fortune was made from speculation in former monastic properties, after having distinguished himself during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. He was a close supporter of Lord Protector Somerset and represented three constituencies in the English Parliament. Background and early life Thomas Holcroft was born at Holcroft Hall, Culcheth, Lancashire, the son of John Holcroft of Holcroft and Margaret Massey. The Holcrofts were minor gentry who had been resident since the Middle Ages at Holcroft Hall, the remains of which lie close to the Glazebrook, to the east of Culcheth. The manor of Holcroft was the product of a division of the manor of Culcheth in the mid-13th century and the Holcrofts may have been descended from the de Culcheth family, the original holders of the manor, although the succession of the estate is not certain before John Holcroft, the lord of the manor in the early 16th century and Thomas's father. The Holcrofts had made little impression even regionally before Sir Thomas' generation. His mother's family descended from a junior branch of an ancient noble family, but were scarcely more important: Margaret was a daughter of Hamnett or Hamlet Massey of Rixton, south of Holcroft, on the River Mersey. The Masseys also had a scattering of other estates, including holdings at Pennington. Thomas being a younger son was not first in line to inherit the Holcroft lands. His brother, John Holcroft who was about ten years his senior had children by his wife Anne Standish, but none reached adulthood; thus the Holcroft estates were entailed to Sir Thomas' family. There were also two sisters, who both married into local gentry families: Alice married Sir Thomas Hesketh whilst the elder sister, Margaret, married James Gerard of Ince, also a younger son but whose brother of Sir Gilbert Gerard became a very powerful figure in the Elizabethan legal establishment and political circles; the Gerards were important contacts for the Holcrofts. Thomas Holcroft married Juliane Jennings. As she was the sole heiress of Nicholas Jennings, who had property at Preston, Lancashire, and in London, the marriage gave Thomas a start in making his fortune. They had a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Isabel, who married Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland. Holcroft enlarged his fortune through a series of linked routes: serving as a soldier, exploiting contacts