{{Short description|English antiquarian and archeologist}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
'''Thomas Close''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FSA}} (12 February 1796 – 25 January 1881) was an English antiquarian and archaeologist.
==Biography== Thomas Close was born in Manchester on 12 February 1796 to John Close, a merchant of the city, and his wife, Mary.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB |last=Erben |first=Michael |date=2004 |title=Close, Thomas (1796–1881), antiquary |id=5706 }}</ref><ref name=meb>{{cite encyclopedia |date=1892 |title=Close, Thomas |encyclopedia=Modern English Biography |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/55059/55059-0.txt |volume=1 }}</ref>
Close was a keen antiquarian and archeologist, engaging mostly in heraldic and genealogical research.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=dnb/> Close created several illuminated pedigrees of royal and noble families, including some elaborate ones of the Tattershall and Wake families.<ref name=meb/> He authored a work on the Saxon religious foundation, St Mary's Church, Nottingham, entitled ''St. Mary's Church, Nottingham: Its Probable Architect and Benefactors: With Remarks on the Heraldic Window Described by Thoroton'' (Nottingham, 1866).<ref name=odnb/><ref name=meb/><ref name=dnb/><ref name=allibone/> Close penned an unpublished work on Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon's ''History of the Rebellion'', which is now held at the National Art Library, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.<ref name=odnb/>
Close was the member of several societies and organisations. On 10 May 1855, he was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.<ref name=meb/> In 1836, he was one of the founders and original members of the Reform Club - a London-based, Whig gentleman's club - and was the Grand Master of the Masonic province of Nottingham.<ref name=allibone>{{cite encyclopedia |date=1891 |title=Close, Thomas |page=369 |encyclopedia= A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/asupplementtoal00alligoog/page/n365 }}</ref><ref name=meb/><ref name=odnb/><ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB |last=Wroth |first=Warwick William |volume=11 |wstitle=Close, Thomas }}</ref> Close was also a chevalier of the honorary Belgian Order of Leopold, and a member of several other foreign orders.<ref name=dnb/><ref name=odnb/> Close was vice-president of his local Nottingham British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1866.<ref>{{cite book |last=Miskell |first=Louis |date=2016 |title=Meeting Places: Scientific Congresses and Urban Identity in Victorian Britain |publisher=Routledge |page=132 |series=Science, Technology and Culture, 1700-1945 |isbn=9781317097983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WtAFDAAAQBAJ }}</ref>
Close's wife died on 22 January 1881, and, three days later, on 25 January, Close died at his home in St James's Street, Nottingham. Close left less than £60,000 in his will.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=dnb/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite news |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Times |date=31 January 1881 }}
==External links== * [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F53900 "Close, Thomas (1796-1881) Antiquary" at the National Archives: Record Creators] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=3v5dAAAAcAAJ St. Mary's Church, Nottingham (1866) at Google Books]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Thomas}} Category:1796 births Category:1881 deaths Category:19th-century English antiquarians Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:People from Nottingham Category:Academics from Manchester Category:19th-century English archaeologists