Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet

Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet (1578–1631) was an English peer.

Nicholas Tufton was the son of Sir John Tufton, and Christian Browne, the daughter of Sir Humphrey Browne, Justice of the Common Pleas, by Agnes Hussey, the daughter of John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, by his second wife, Anne Grey.

Tufton represented Peterborough in 1601, presumably through the influence of his father-in-law Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter. Traveling north to welcome the new king to England, he was knighted by James I at Newcastle on 13 April 1603. He succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1625 and was created Baron Tufton, of Tufton on 1 November 1626.

He died in at Sapcote, Leicestershire on 1 July 1631 and was buried at his request at Rainham, Kent. Elizabeth married Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet Cicely (d. 1635) for whom her father's will provided a dowry of £3,000.