Sussex, Thomas Radcliffe, 3d earl of, 1526?–1583, English nobleman. Styled Viscount Fitzwalter after his father became (1542) the 2d earl of Sussex, he served in the army in France and on diplomatic missions abroad. In 1554 he was made Baron Fitzwalter, and in 1557 he succeeded his father as earl of Sussex. He served as lord deputy of Ireland under Mary I (1556–58) and again (1559–64) under Elizabeth I, who gave him the title of lord lieutenant. Sussex was a vigorous general, although he never succeeded in subduing Shane O'Neill, and during his administration English influence was forcefully extended outside the Pale. Sussex's desire for Elizabeth to marry outside England brought him into sharp conflict with the earl of Leicester. His attempts to negotiate a marriage between the queen and Archduke Charles of Austria, brother of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, collapsed in 1567. In 1568, Sussex became lord lieutenant of the north, and he aided in the suppression of the revolt (1569–70) of the earls of Northumberland and Westmorland. He became lord chamberlain in 1572.
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