Thomas Mason (1580–1619?) was an English clergyman and writer.
On his own account, his father was the heir of Sir John Mason. [1] Mason was admitted at Magdalen College, Oxford, on 29 November 1594, matriculated on 7 January 1595. [1] He may not have graduated; there is possible confusion with another Thomas Mason at Magdalen of the period. [1]
From 1614 to 1619, Mason held the vicarage of Odiham in Hampshire, and probably died around 1620. On 13 April 1621 his widow, Helen Mason, obtained a licence for twenty-one years to reprint his version of Foxe's Book of Martyrs for the benefit of herself and her children. [1] [2] Its dedications to George Abbot and Sir Edward Coke probably proved their value in getting this protection, for a book that reflected typical political prejudices of the time after the Gunpowder Plot. [3] About ten years later Helen Mason's attempt to stretch the monopoly to cover a new abridgement of Foxe's work ran into a legal rebuff. [4]
He published:
Mason's widow Helen married Stephen Bachiler, as his second wife, [7] or third wife, in 1627. Richard Dummer married Thomas and Helen's daughter (Mary) Jane.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Porter, Bertha (1893). " Mason, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 36. pp. 436–437.