He was born in London in 1576, the second son of William Aylesbury and Anne Poole, his wife. From
Westminster School Aylesbury passed in 1598 to
Christ Church, Oxford, where he took the degrees of B.A. and M.A. in 1602 and 1605, respectively. On leaving college he was appointed secretary to
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, lord high admiral of England. He was continued in the post by
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, Nottingham's successor (1619), who befriended him actively, procuring for him the additional offices of one of the
masters of requests with, from 19 April 1627, the title of baronet. He was
Surveyor of the Navy from 1628 for four years, and naval commissioner inspecting the fleet at
Portsmouth in 1630 with
Phineas Pett. In 1635 Aylesbury, jointly with
Ralph Freeman, formed a commission exercising the powers of the Master of the Mint. This came about by the exclusion from the position of
Robert Harley, in favour of the previous incumbent
Randal Cranfield, who then died suddenly. In 1642 he was, as a steady royalist, stripped of his fortune and places, and on the death of the king retired with his family to
Antwerp. He moved in 1652 to
Breda, and there died in 1657 at the age of 81. Sir Thomas was married twice. His second marriage was to
Anne Denman with whom he had five children:
William, Thomas,
Frances, Anne and Barbara. Frances married
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, by whom she became the mother of
Anne Hyde, first wife of King
James II of England. It is through Anne Hyde that he became the great-grandfather of her two daughters, the queens Mary and Anne. ==Patronage and scholarly interests==