Francis Walsingham

Sir Francis Walsingham was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England fromDecember 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her spymaster.

Francis Walsingham was born in or about 1532, probably at Foots Cray, near Chislehurst, Kent. His parents were William and Joyce Walsingham. William was a successful, wellconnected and wealthy London lawyer who died in 1534 and Joyce was the daughter of courtier Sir Edmund Denny and the sister of Sir Anthony Denny, who was the principal gentleman of King Henry VIIIs privy chamber. William Walsingham served as a member of the commission that was appointed to investigate the estates of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1530, and his elder brother, Sir Edmund Walsingham, was Lieutenant of the Tower of London. After Williams death, Joyce married the courtier Sir John Carey in 1538. Careys brother William was the husband of Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyns elder sister. Of Francis Walsinghams five sisters, Mary married Sir Walter Mildmay, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer for overyears, and Elizabeth married the parliamentarian Peter Wentworth.

Source: Wikipedia