Thomas Ridgeway, 1st Earl of Londonderry (1565? – 1631) was an English administrator active in Ireland, in particular in the Ulster Plantation. Origins He was born in about 1565 either at Torwood House in his father's manor of Tor Mohun, Devon, or at adjoining Tor Abbey (purchased by his father), the son of Thomas Ridgeway (1543–1598) of Tor Mohun, Devon (son of John Ridgeway (c. 1517 – 1560) of Abbots Carswell and Tor Mohun, MP), a Member of Parliament for Dartmouth in 1584. His mother was Mary Southcott, daughter of Thomas Southcott of Indio in the parish of Bovey Tracey, Devon. With her sister Elizabeth Southcott, she was a co-heiress to her mother Grace Barnehouse, daughter and sole heiress of John Barnehouse of Marsh in the parish of Newton St Cyres and of Prestcot in the parish of Culmstock, both in Devon, a younger branch of Barnehouse of Kingston in the parish of Staverton, Devon. The Ridgeway family adopted new arms at about this time, being a difference of the arms of Barnehouse, whose arms were: Gules, two wings joined in lure argent. The former canting arms of Ridgeway (alias Peacock) were: Argent, on a chevron engrailed gules three trefoils or between three peacock's heads erased azure crowns about their necks or. Career He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, on 17 November 1581, and was admitted a student of the Inner Temple in 1583. Subsequently, he was collector of customs at Exmouth. He succeeded his father on 27 June 1597, and in July of that year fitted out a ship at his own cost to take part in the Essex-Raleigh Expedition under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. He was High Sheriff of Devon in 1600, and was knighted in the same year. He is said to have taken part in the wars in Ireland, and may have done so under Lord Mountjoy. He was returned M.P. for Devon on 28 February 1604 to the Parliament of 1604–11, but resigned when appointed Treasurer of Ireland in 1606, a post which would require his long-term absence overseas. In 1603, he had been appointed vice-treasurer and treasurer-at-wars in Ireland under Lord Deputy Sir George Cary, whom he eventually succeeded as treasurer in April 1606. He held that office until 1616, being admitted a privy councillor on 20 October 1606. On 30 November 1606, he submitted a project to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl