Born in 1532 in Kent, Sir Francis Walsingham was, for most of his life, a career diplomat in the service of the crown. A staunch Protestant, he chose to spend the Catholic reign of Mary Tudor (Elizabeth 1st’s sister) abroad, mostly at the University of Padua and in Venice, rather than compromise his principles. He was renowned as an extremely intelligent man, fluent in French and Italian, and very politically astute. He was ambassador in Paris in August 1572 when the St.Bartholomew’s Day Massacre occurred. Over 100,000 French Protestants were massacred by their Catholic countrymen and for Sir Francis, this was his defining moment – this was when he decided to use all his skills to make England a Protestant fortress against the Holy Roman Empire led by Philip of Spain. In the following year, when he was made Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, he began to spend most of his personal fortune building up a network of intelligence agents abroad. His greatest skill lay in the organisation of his security services and in his ability to select agents from all areas of life that had the necessary skills and intelligence for the work. Under his patronage, several embryo scientists, mathematicians and artistes flourished. Many worked for him. Actors, in particular, were able to move in all levels of society – from taverns to royal houses - and glean useful information. Mathematicians worked for him as cryptographers, both devising and breaking codes. Walsingham also forged links with England’s foremost “privateers”- (more commonly known as pirates) and he personally invested in the voyages of Drake and Frobisher. He was deeply interested in exploration and colonisation, believing that England could become as mighty as Spain through building an empire of her own. This, indeed, came true but, sadly, not in Walsingham’s lifetime.

Click here for Further Reading on this topic