Born in 1477 in the heart of London, More learned service to his country as part of a long-established family tradition. On both his mother’s and father’s side, civic service was a way of life. His grandfather Thomas Granger, for example, was a lawyer actively involved in London, serving as an alderman and eventually as sheriff. More's father was a well-known and respected lawyer, then a judge. There in London, More learned the importance of citizens’ vigilant involvement in government, a lesson he would appreciate even more deeply after studying the Greek and Roman philosophers and statesmen.

Preparing for Public Service

Thomas More was 41 when he finally accepted the invitations to join King Henry’s service. He could have done so earlier, but he knew that his young and growing family would need him most in those early years of his career; he knew that his own character and thought were not yet sufficiently developed to face the wiles of the court; and he knew that Henry had tyrannical leanings.