Sir Thomas Shirley

Sir Thomas Shirley (c. 1542–1612), of Wiston in Sussex, was an English landowner, Member of Parliament and courtier under Elizabeth I. From 1586 he served as Treasurer-at-War with the English forces in the Netherlands, but speculation with army funds left him deep in debt to the Crown, and his estate was sequestered in 1602.

Arrested for debt in 1604 despite claiming parliamentary privilege, he was imprisoned in the Fleet; the House of Commons secured his release, and Parliament then passed an act confirming members' freedom from arrest. He was the father of the adventurers Anthony and Robert Shirley, who both served Shah Abbas I of Persia.