Wise was the second son and eventual heir of Thomas Wise of Sydenham, by his wife Mary Buller, a daughter of Richard Buller of Shillingham in Cornwall. The Wise family is earliest recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon in the person of John Wise of Sydenham, living in 1403. The family can however be traced to Westcountry roots from the eleventh century. They provided a Knight of the Shire in three of the Parliaments of King Henry VI. In about 1400 the manor of Stoke Damerel, within which was situated the estate later called Mount Wise, was inherited by Thomas Wise of Sydenham, upon his marriage to Margaret Brett, daughter and heiress of Robert Brett of Staddiscombe, near Plymstock, lord of the manor of Stoke Damerel.
Career
He was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King James I in 1603. In 1612 he served as Sheriff of Devon. In 1621 he was elected a member of parliament for Bere Alston in Devon, where he had gained influence following local land purchases. He re-built Sydenham House and added such height and such a great amount of stone to it that his contemporary Risdon described Sydenham as:
He also built a new mansion house on his ancestral estate at Stoke Damerel, which he named Mount Wise, on a headland jutting out into Plymouth Sound. His contemporary the Devon historian Sir William Pole remarked as follows concerning the manor of Stoke Damerel and Sir Thomas Wise:
Marriage and children
In about 1600 Wise married Margery Stafford, daughter and sole heiress of Robert Stafford of Stafford in the parish of Dolton in Devon. The surname of the Stafford family had anciently been Kelloway. By his wife he had children as follows:
Thomas Wise, only son and heir, Sheriff of Devon in 1638 and in 1625 a member of parliament for the Rolle pocket borough of Callington in Cornwall and for Bere Alston in the parliaments of King Charles of 1625, 1626 and 1628 to 1629, and for Devon twice in 1640. As Pole states, he married Lady Mary Chichester, daughter of Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester of Carrickfergus in Ireland and of Eggesford in Devon.
Elizabeth Wise, unmarried at her father's death in 1630, to whom he bequeathed a generous £3,500 dowry. She married in 1634 John Browne of Frampton.
Death and burial
Wise died in 1630 and was buried in Marystow Church, where survives his "splendid" marble monument with eight Corinthian columns surrounded by other monuments to the Wise family.
