Sir Thomas Lucy

Squire, member of parliament, and justice of the peace, born near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, C England, UK. He married an heiress at the age of 16, and was knighted in 1565. He inherited a great Warwickshire estate in 1552 and rebuilt his manor-house at Charlecote (1558–9). He is said to have prosecuted Shakespeare for stealing deer from Charlecote Park, and may have been caricatured as Shakespeare's Justice Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Sir Thomas Lucy (April 24, 1532-July 7, 1600) was a magistrate and an evangelical in Charlecote near Stratford-on-Avon who, under Elizabeth I, persecuted recusant Catholic families in the area, including William Shakespeare's maternal relatives, the Ardens and the famous Jesuit, Edmund Campion.

According to a popular legend, Shakespeare launched his famous career in London after fleeing Stratford to escape prosecution for poaching one of Lucy's deer in Charlecote Park. Shakespeare is thought to have satirised Lucy with the character of Justice Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry VI, Part 2.