At a very early age, and notwithstanding his mother's tears and entreaties, he was placed by his father as a singing-boy in the Collegiate Chapel of the Castle of Wallingford, in Berkshire, which, according to Warton,[4] consisted of a dean, six prebendaries, six clerks, and four choristers, and was dissolved in 1549. He has himself recorded[5] in his homely and quaint style the hardships which he had to endure at this school, the bare robes, the college fare, the stale bread, and the penny ale. The excellence of his voice appears to have attracted the notice of some of those persons to whom at that time "placards" or commissions were issued, authorizing them to impress singing-boys for the King's Chapel.[6] Afterwards, by the good offices of some friend, he was admitted into the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, where he acquired a considerable proficiency in music under the tuition of John Redford, the organist and almoner, of whom he speaks in terms of the highest praise. From St. Paul's he was sent to Eton, probably in 1540 or 1541, "to learn the Latin phrase," and was for some time a pupil of Nicholas Udall,[7] the author of "Roister Doister," who appears to have been a second Orbilius, and by whom he was unmercifully thrashed, receiving on one occasion, "for fault but small, or none at all," no fewer than fifty-three stripes.
From Eton he passed on to Cambridge, and, as already stated, was elected to King's College in 1543,[8] but afterwards removed to Trinity Hall, of which he appears to have retained pleasant memories. Being obliged by a long illness to discontinue his studies, he left the University, and joined the Court as a retainer of William, Lord Paget,[9] by whom he was probably employed as a musician, and of whom he speaks in terms of praise and affection. In this manner the next ten years were passed, and during this time his parents died. At the end of this period, either from disgust at the vices of the Court, or finding, to use his own words, "the Court began to frown," he retired into the country, married,[10] and settled down as a farmer at Cattiwade,[11] a hamlet in the parish of Brantham, in Suffolk, and on the borders of Essex, where he composed his "Hundredth Good Pointes of Husbandrie," the first edition of which appeared in 1557.
In consequence of his wife's ill-health, he removed to Ipswich, "a town of price, like Paradise." Here his wife died, and he married Amy, daughter of Edmond Moon, and settled down at West Dereham in Norfolk. On leaving this town, on account of the litigious character of his neighbours, he became, probably through the influence of his patron, Sir Robert Southwell,[12] a lay-clerk or singing-man in the Cathedral at Norwich, the Dean of which, John Salisbury, appears to have befriended him in every way.
From Norwich a painful illness caused him to remove to Fairsted, about four miles from Witham, in Essex, the tithes of which parish he farmed; becoming involved in "tithing strife," he left that village, and once more returned to London, where we find him living in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, in 1572.[13] The plague, however, breaking out,[14] he returned to Cambridge, where he at last found "a resting plot" in his favourite College, Trinity Hall, in the choir of which he appears to have been employed, as he was matriculated as a servant of the College, probably on May 5th, 1573.[15]
His death, as appears from a paper read before the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, took place in London, on the 3rd May, 1580, in the fifty-fifth or fifty-sixth year of his age. His will,[16] which is dated 25th April of that year, was proved by his son on the 8th August following.
He was buried in the Church of St. Mildred, in the Poultry, where was formerly, according to Stow,[17] a monument to his memory, inscribed as follows:
"Here Thomas Tusser, clad in earth doth lie,
That sometime made the Poyntes of Husbandrie;
By him then learne thou maist, here learne we must,
When all is done we sleepe and turne to dust,
And yet through Christ to heaven we hope to go,
Who reades his bookes, shall find his faith was so."
This inscription is perfectly in character with the man, and was probably written by Tusser himself.
A mural tablet to his memory has been erected in Manningtree Church in Essex, with the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Thomas Tusser, Gent., born at Rivenhall, in Essex, and occupier of Braham Hall[18] near this town, in the reign of King Edward the Sixth, where he wrote his celebrated poetical treatise, entitled, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, etc. His writings show that he possessed a truly Christian spirit, and his excellent maxims and observations on rural affairs evince that he was far in advance of the age in which he lived. He died in London in 1580, at the age of 65, and was interred in the parish church of St. Mildred in the Poultry, where the following epitaph, said to have been written by himself, recorded his memory;" then follows a copy of the epitaph already given.