Thomas Abington

(Or HABINGTON).

An English antiquarian, b. 1560; d. 1647. His father, who was treasurer to Queen Elizabeth, had him educated at Oxford, Reims, and Paris. For six years he was imprisoned in the Tower, being accused, with his brother Edward, of having taken part in the plot of Babington to effect the escape of Mary Queen of Scots . On his release he retired to Hinlip Castle in Lancaster, where he gave asylum to the Jesuit Fathers, Henry Garnett and Oldcorne, accused of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. For this he was condemned to death, but through the intervention of his son-in-law, Lord Monteagle, the sentence was commuted to exile. His "History of Edward IV" was published after his death and also an English translation of "Gildas" (London, 1638). He also left in manuscript a "History of the Cathedral of Worcester" and "Researches into the Antiquities of Worcester".