Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset (22 June 1477 – 10 October 1530) was an English peer, courtier, soldier and landowner of the House of Grey.
Grey was the third son and heir of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, at that time England's only marquess, and his wife, Cecily Bonville, the daughter and heiress of William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington of Aldingham. His mother was suo jure 7th Baroness Harington of Aldingham and 2nd Baroness Bonville, and the richest heiress in England. The first marquess was the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, a stepson of King Edward IV and a half-brother of King Edward V.
According to some reports, the young Grey attended Magdalen College School, Oxford, and he is uncertainly said to have been taught (either at the school or else privately tutored) by the future Cardinal Wolsey. In a French tour, he was tutored or chaperoned by Erasmus.
Grey's father was opposed to King Richard III, and after the older Thomas joined Buckingham's failed rebellion of 1483, father and son fled to Brittany, joining Henry Tudor. Five months after Richard lost the crown to Henry at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, the new king married the first Dorset's half-sister Elizabeth of York, but Henry VII was also suspicious of Dorset, who was imprisoned during Lambert Simnel's rebellion of 1487. In 1492, Dorset was required to give guarantees of loyalty to the crown and to make the young Thomas Grey a ward of the king.
Amongst the Queen of England's closest relations, Grey and his younger brothers Leonard and Edward were welcome at court and became courtiers and later soldiers. In 1494, Grey was made a knight of the Bath and in 1501 a knight of the Garter. Also in 1501, his father died and the younger Thomas inherited his titles and some of his estates. However, much of the first marquess's land went to his widow and not to his son, who did not come into his full inheritance until the death of his mother in 1529, shortly before his own death.
Later in 1501, he was 'chief answerer' at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Catherine of Aragon and was presented with a diamond and ruby Tudor rose at a court tournament. But in 1508 he was sent to the Tower of London, and later a gaol in Calais, under suspicion of conspiracy against Henry VII. Although he was saved from execution in 1509 by the accession of King Henry VIII, Grey was attainted and lost his titles. However, later in 1509, he was pardoned and returned to court, and was summoned to parliament as Baron Ferrers of Groby. In 1511, he was summoned as Marquess of Dorset.
From 1509, Dorset was again an active courtier and took part with great distinction in many court tournaments. In February 1511, he took part in the Westminster Tournament, held to celebrate the birth of Henry, Duke of Cornwall. Dorset was paired with Thomas Boleyn in costumes featuring emblems of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. In March 1524 he nearly killed the king.
In 1511, Dorset sold land near Althorp, Northamptonshire, to John Spencer. The sale included the villages of Little Brington and Great Brington, as well their parish church of St Mary the Virgin.
In 1514, with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, Dorset escorted Henry VII's daughter Princess Mary to France for her wedding to King Louis XII.
Dorset owned land in sixteen English counties and was a justice of the peace for several of them. In 1516, during a rivalry in Leicestershire with George, Baron Hastings, and Sir Richard Sacheverell, Dorset unlawfully increased his retinue at court and was brought before the Star Chamber and the Court of King's Bench. He was bound over for good behaviour. As part of this rivalry, he greatly enlarged his ancestral home at Bradgate, Leicestershire.
In 1520, at the Field of Cloth of Gold, Dorset carried the sword of state. In 1521, he met the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at Gravelines on the coast of France and escorted him on a visit to England. He helped with the entertainment of the court by maintaining a company of actors.
In 1521, Dorset sat in judgment on the Duke of Buckingham, despite being related to him by blood and marriage. Henry VIII rewarded Dorset with three of Buckingham's manors.
From 17 June 1523 until his death in 1530, Dorset was Justice in Eyre south of Trent. As such, he presided at the triennial Court of justice-seat, which dealt with matters of forest law.
In 1524, Dorset's Leicestershire feud with Lord Hastings turned into a fight between hundreds of men, and Cardinal Wolsey took action. Both rivals had to put up a bond for good behaviour of one thousand pounds, and Dorset was sent to Wales as Lord Master of Princess Mary's Council.
In 1528, Dorset became constable of Warwick Castle, and in 1529 of Kenilworth Castle.
In 1529, recalling his role as 'chief answerer' at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, Dorset was a critical witness in favour of Henry VIII's divorce of Catherine of Aragon. He strongly supported the King's contention that Arthur and Catherine's marriage had been consummated.
In 1530, in the final months of his life, he assisted the King in the condemnation of Cardinal Wolsey.
In 1512, during the War of the League of Cambrai, Dorset led an unsuccessful English military expedition to France to reconquer Aquitaine, which England had lost during the Hundred Years' War. Ferdinand of Aragon gave none of the support he had promised. While Ferdinand delayed and tried to persuade Dorset to help him to attack Navarre instead of Aquitaine, the English army's food, beer and pay ran out, many took to wine and became ill, and the army mutinied.