View source for Thomas Button

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Sir Thomas Button
| image         = Thomas Button.png
| birth_date    = {{circa}} 1575
| birth_place   = [[Wales]], [[Kingdom of England]]
| death_date    = April 1634 (aged {{circa}} 59)
| death_place   = [[London]], [[England]], [[Kingdom of England]]
| placeofburial = [[London]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom]]
| allegiance    = [[Kingdom of England|England]]
| serviceyears  = 1612-1616
| children      = 7
| signature     = Thomas Button signature (1630).svg
}}

'''Sir Thomas Button''' ({{Circa}} 1575 - April 1634)<ref>{{cite book |last=Lloyd |first=John Edward |author2=Jenkins, R.T.  |title=The Dictionary of Welsh Biography, Down to 1940 |year=1958 |publisher=William Lewis|page=60|location=Cardiff }}</ref> was a [[Wales|Welsh]] officer of the [[Royal Navy]], notable as an [[explorer]] who in 1612&ndash;1613 commanded an expedition that unsuccessfully attempted to locate explorer [[Henry Hudson]] and to navigate the [[Northwest Passage]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-thomas-button|title=Sir Thomas Button|first=James H.|last=Marsh|publisher=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|date=28 October 2014| access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref>

==Early life==
Born around 1575, he was the fourth son of Miles Button of [[Dyffryn Gardens|Worlton]], [[Glamorgan]], and his wife Margaret, daughter of Edward Lewis. His father's family had been landowners, originally at [[Bitton]] in [[Gloucestershire]], since the 1100s. Around 1595 he married Elizabeth, daughter of landowner [[Walter Rice (MP)|Sir Walter Rice]] of [[Newton House, Llandeilo]], and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Mansell of [[Margam]]. This made him a nephew of the prominent naval officer Sir [[Robert Mansell]], from whose patronage he benefited for the rest of his career.<ref name =ODNB>{{cite ODNB|first =Andrew |last =Thrush|article = Button, Sir Thomas (c.1575–1634)|title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|location = Oxford|year = 2004|doi =10.1093/ref:odnb/4235|url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4235|access-date = 17 December 2016}}</ref>

==Arctic exploration==
In April 1612, he was given command of two navy ships, [[English ship Resolution|''Resolution'']] and [[Discovery (1602 ship)|''Discovery'']], to lead an expedition in search of the [[Northwest Passage]]. Sailing from [[England]] around the beginning of May 1612, they reached the mouth of a river which he named the [[Nelson River|Nelson]] after the ship's master, who had died.<ref name=ToTheArcticByCanoe-1819-1821>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPvCru48DL0C&q=%22Mansel+Island%22+OR+%22Ile+Mansel%22+OR+%22Isle+Mansel%22&pg=PA16| title=To the Arctic by Canoe, 1819-1821: The Journal and Paintings of Robert Hood, Midshipman with Franklin| author=Robert Hood, C. Stuart Houston| year=1994| access-date=28 September 2008| quote=Port Nelson, on the north shore of the peninsula and only twelve miles from [[York Factory]], preceded York as an [[Hudson's Bay Company|H.B.C.]] post in 1682-83. It is at the mouth of the Nelson River, discovered by Sir Thomas Button in 1612 and named after Button's [[sailing master]], who died on the voyage.| page=23| publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP| isbn=978-0-7735-1222-1}}</ref> They wintered at what is now known as [[Port Nelson, Manitoba|Port Nelson]] and the next year headed north to search for the Northwest Passage. They lost the ''Resolution'' to [[sea ice]] and continued on to 65° North. He discovered and named [[Mansel Island]] and returned to England in September 1613.<ref name=ToTheArcticByCanoe-1819-1821-B>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPvCru48DL0C&q=%22Mansel+Island%22+OR+%22Ile+Mansel%22+OR+%22Isle+Mansel%22&pg=PA16| title=To the Arctic by Canoe, 1819-1821: The Journal and Paintings of Robert Hood, Midshipman with Franklin| author=Robert Hood, C. Stuart Houston| year=1994| access-date=28 September 2008| quote=...named by Button in 1613, after Vice-Admiral Sir [[Robert Mansell]] (1573-1653).| page=16| publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP| isbn=978-0-7735-1222-1}}</ref> He is credited with exploring and securing the west coast of [[Hudson Bay]] for his country, naming the area '''New Wales'''. The region would again be visited twelve years later in 1631 by Captains [[Thomas James (sea captain)|Thomas James]] and [[Luke Foxe]]. Supposedly, upon discovering a cross erected by Button at Port Nelson, Captain Foxe christened the shore north of the Nelson River as [[New North Wales]] and all the lands south as [[New South Wales, Canada|New South Wales]]. Button and his men were some of the first recorded Europeans to explore the area now known as [[Manitoba]] and his discovery meant that others followed after him, using his landmarks, his stories, and his detailed notes. The first maps of areas near Hudson Bay were struck from his explorations and from those of his predecessor, Henry Hudson.

==Later life==
On his return, he was appointed [[Irish Squadron (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Irish Coasts]] in command of the [[Irish Squadron (Royal Navy)|Irish Squadron]] and on 30 August 1616 was knighted by the Lord Deputy of Ireland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=C.J.O. |title=Glamorgan, its History and Topography |year=1948 |publisher=William Lewis |location=Cardiff|page=147 }}</ref> The activity of pirates and smugglers at [[Pwllheli]] in the Cardigan Bay occupied the subject in 1631.<ref>"Charles I - volume 196: July 1-19, 1631." ''Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1631-3.'' Ed. John Bruce. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1862. 97-114. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/chas1/1631-3/pp97-114 British History Online website] Retrieved 7 June 2021.</ref> Despite his standing in the Navy, his subsequent career was marked by prolonged quarrels with the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]], wrongs being committed on both sides, resulting in the end with him in ill-health being stripped of his post as Admiral and left effectively bankrupt. He was buried on 8 April 1634 at the church of [[St Margaret's, Westminster]], survived by his wife and five of their seven children. He left no will and his Welsh lands passed to his eldest son, Miles, who had to mortgage them to meet his father's debts. After waiting three years, his widow received 650 pounds (equivalent to about 98,000 pounds in 2015) from the government in settlement of pay and expenses he was owed.<ref name =ODNB/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite DCB |title=Button, Sir Thomas |first=Aled |last=Eames |volume=1 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/button_thomas_1E.html}}
* [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/button_t.shtml Manitoba Historical Society Biography of Button]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Button, Thomas}}
[[Category:16th-century births]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:1634 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers]]
[[Category:People from the Vale of Glamorgan]]
[[Category:Welsh explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of the Arctic]]
[[Category:British explorers of North America]]
[[Category:Explorers of Canada]]
[[Category:1610s in Canada]]
[[Category:1612 in New France]]
[[Category:1613 in New France]]
[[Category:British polar explorers]]
[[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]]