Thomas was born the second son of Thomas Hobbes, the Vicar of Westport, Charlton and Brokenborough, with his Parish Church at Westport. This was a magnificent structure, said to have been as old as the Abbey, with "a high steeple, three fine aisles, five tuneable bells and a three decker pulpit." During the Civil War it had been partly destroyed by Waller and finally pulled down.

The Vicar himself was practically illiterate and a choleric drunkard, but "a good fellow and a great card player" so much so that he used to fall asleep in Church and "call his cards in his dreams" and had to be wakened by the Clerk. Alas he struck a man and killed him in a drunken brawl "at the Church door" of all places, so "Vicar Hobbes was forced to fly for it and in obscurity beyond London, died there, was about 80 years since." (Vide John Aubrey 1626-97).

Young Thomas was born prematurely in 1588, when his Mother was scared by the threatened invasion of the Armada, but lived long enough to become a personal friend of Charles II, dying at the age of 91.

After his father's disgraceful end, he obviously fell on evil times but was befriended by his uncle, his father's brother, a wealthy glover (n.b. the transition from wool to gloves in Malmesbury). The cloth trade had virtually died after Stumpe and although the wool trade lingered on, the terrible scourge of the late 16th century, previously mentioned, appears to have affected this also.

It is not known how the glove trade begun but we became famous for gloves, along with many other towns more in the Cotswolds, like Chipping Norton, about this time. The uncle became a Capital Burgess of the Old Corporation, and eventually Alderman or "Mayor" of those days. He lived with his mother at "the Smith's shop opposite the Three Cups." The latter Inn is still extant by the War Memorial and is probably contemporary.

He attended Westport Church School and did so well, that he was sent to Magdalene Hall College, Oxford, at the age of 14. This was probably due to his wealthy uncle, but it is interesting to note that he was unable to take his degree until he was 40 years old, so he must have been unable to afford to do so until then. He is said to have been "rather more than six feet, hazel quick eye, which continued until his last." It is not known how he supported himself until he got his degree, but when he did so, he started, and ended, his life in the service of the Earls of Devonshire, becoming tutor to William Cavendish, second son of the redoubtable Bess of Hardwicke.

On his Patron's death, he tutored the eldest son and travelled extensively abroad as he had done with the late Earl. When War threatened in 1641, he retired to Paris where he wrote most of his books including the famous "Leviathon" for which he is still known throughout the continent, if not in England, and Malmesbury in particular.

He also tutored the young Charles II in Mathematics during his exile there, thus forming a friendship which lasted throughout his life. After the Restoration he often used to visit the Court to see Charles, and his odd manners and old clothes caused so much merriment amongst the courtiers that they used to say "Here come the old bear to be baited" but Charles would have none of it, and the old man "gave as good as he got, with his ready wit."

His views on Religion and Politics were what might be called socialistic in these days, with a dash of Atheism, which he always denied. They horrified the French so much that he had to leave Paris, and returned back to Hardwicke where he resided for the rest of his life. He was a great man and one of the "thinkers" of his age.

He met Gallileo the Astronomer, and knew Ben Jonhson, Cowley, Sidney and Godolphin, and was a personal friend of Dr. Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. He therefore knew all the great men of his day, and is recognised to be in the same class. He made many enemies with his odd theories and heterodox religious views but these were always public and never personal. The Royalists called him an enemy of the "State" and the Whigs a supporter of despotism, everything in fact from "Materialist" to "Atheist".

His books are hardly read in this country now, but are obviously much read in other countries. He was a keen Mason and much given to planting accacia trees. In the garden next to the author's house there is one which is alleged to have been planted by him and which was alive until the year of writing this small history. Now alas dead, but still a fine tree.