Thomas III Spring was the eldest son and heir of Thomas II Spring of Lavenham, by his wife Margaret Appleton. His father's will mentions Thomas and two other sons, William and James, as well as a daughter, Marian. He had another brother, John Spring, whose daughter, Margaret Spring, married Aubrey de Vere, second son of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford and was the grandmother of Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford. The will of Thomas Spring's grandfather, Thomas I Spring, mentions his wife, Agnes, his eldest son and heir, Thomas, another son William, and two daughters, Katherine and Dionyse.
Career
Thomas inherited the family wool and cloth business from his father, and during his lifetime the cloth trade was at its most profitable. By the time of his death, Spring was believed to be the richest man in England outside the peerage, having invested much of his money in land. In 1512, 1513 and 1517 his name appears as one of the commissioners for collecting taxation in Suffolk. He played a large part in defeating supporters of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who claimed the throne from King Henry VII. However, in 1517 during the reign of Henry VIII, Spring was given exemption from public duties, At which point he was probably at the height of his wealth. Spring is mentioned in John Skelton's satirical poemWhy come ye not to Court, which makes reference to a rich clothier with whom Skelton is said to have been friends:
Like his father, Thomas Spring was closely involved in the rebuilding of St Peter and St Paul's Church in Lavenham. This was partly done in order to propitiate the 13th Earl of Oxford, who had ordered the reconstruction work and was the other principal donor. The rebuilding also gave Spring an opportunity to display his wealth and generosity, thus solidifying his position in Suffolk; a common motivation behind the construction of many similar so-called "wool churches".
Marriage and issue
Thomas Spring married twice:
Firstly, in 1493, to Anne King, of Boxford, Suffolk, by whom he had two sons and two daughters:
*Sir John Spring, of Lavenham, eldest son and heir, who married Dorothy Waldegrave, a daughter of Sir William Waldegrave
*Robert Spring, who left a will dated 10 October 1547 in which he mentions his wife Agnes, his eldest son and heir Thomas Spring of Castlemaine, six other sons, and two daughters Dorothy and Frances. As overseer, he appointed Sir William Cordell.
*Anne Spring, who married Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke in Suffolk. After her death, Jermyn married secondly to Anne Drury.
*Rose Spring, who married Thomas Guybon.
Secondly he married a lady named Alice, the widow of a man surnamed May, by whom he had a further daughter:
Alice survived him by fifteen years. In her will, dated 13 April 1538, she mentions her daughter by Thomas Spring, Bridget, now the wife of William Erneley; her daughter Alice, now the wife of Richard Fulmerston, gentleman; and her daughter Margaret, the wife of William Risby. She appoints as executors her daughter Margaret and sons-in-law, William Risby and Richard Fulmerston, and requests "my Lord of Oxenford" to aid and defend my said executors." In a codicil added 31 August 1538, she discharges Richard Fulmerston as executor, and appoints him supervisor. Both will and codicil were proved 5 September 1538.
Death and burial
Spring made his last will on 13 June 1523 as 'Thomas Spring of Lavenham, clothmaker', leaving to his wife Alice all her apparel and jewels, 1,000 marks in money and half his plate and implements of household, with the other half to go to John his eldest son and heir. Spring also left bequests to his son Robert, to his unmarried daughter Bridget, to the children of his married daughter Rose Guybon and to the children of his son-in-law Thomas Jermyn. To 'my wife's daughter, Alice May', he bequeathed £26 13s 4d, 'which I recovered for her of May's executors', to be paid to her at the age of sixteen. A further sum of 5,000 marks was left in trust for future generations of Spring family members. Thomas Spring was buried in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Lavenham, before the altar of St Katherine, and his tomb was fenced in by the surviving elaborate wooden parclose screen which in his will he ordered his executors to erect. His widow commissioned Flemish wood carvers to create a ten-foot high parclose screen around his tomb, which is one of the most intricate of its type still in existence.
