Sir Thomas Wyatt, the English poet and diplomat, is commonly recorded as having died on 11 October 1542 in Dorset. The exact date is uncertain. Some accounts place his death on 6 October and his burial at Sherborne Abbey on the 11th.

Wyatt had been travelling on royal business to meet an envoy of Emperor Charles V at Falmouth. He developed a fever and stopped at the home of Sir John Horsey near Sherborne, where he died. He was about 39.

He served Henry VIII as a courtier and diplomat, undertaking missions to France and the imperial court. His position was sometimes uncertain. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1536 during Anne Boleyn’s downfall, and again in 1541. He was released on both occasions.

Wyatt helped introduce Italian verse forms, particularly the sonnet, into English poetry. His poems circulated in manuscript during his lifetime, but much of his work appeared in print after his death. A substantial collection was published in Tottel’s Miscellany in 1557.

He was buried at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset.