Thomas West was the eldest son of William West, 1st Baron De La Warr, by his first wife, Elizabeth Strange, the daughter of Thomas Strange of Chesterton, Gloucestershire. He succeeded his father, who had been created Baron De La Warr and died in 1595, by letters patent in 1597. He was a Member of the Parliament of England for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight in 1586 and for Aylesbury in 1593. He was knighted in 1587. It is probable, though uncertain, that he had previously represented Chichester in the 1571 Parliament and East Looe in the 1572 Parliament. From 1590 to his death he was one of the two Chamberlains of the Exchequer. In 1597 he petitioned the House of Lords to have the precedence of the original barony, 1299, on the basis that he actually held the ancient peerage. After his claim was admitted, he sometimes referred to himself as 11th Baron.
Sir Robert West, who married, about 1592, Elizabeth Cocke, daughter of Henry Cocke of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and predeceased his father. After West's death his widow married Sir Robert Oxenbridge.
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, who married Cecily Shirley, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley and Anne Kempe, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe of Olantigh, Kent.
John West, Governor of Virginia, who emigrated to Virginia, and married Anne Percy, by whom he had one son, John West.
Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel West, who emigrated to Virginia, where in 1621 he married Frances Greville, by whom he had a son, Nathaniel West. His widow married secondly Abraham Peirsey, esquire, and thirdly Captain Samuel Mathews, esquire.
Elizabeth West, who married at Wherwell, Hampshire, on 12 February 1594, as his second wife, Herbert Pelham, esquire, a widower with two sons and a daughter by his first wife, Katherine Thatcher, by whom she had three sons and six daughters.
Anne West, who married firstly, by licence dated 30 August 1608, John Pellatt, esquire, of Bolney, Sussex, by whom she had three daughters; secondly Christopher Swale, by whom she had a son, Christopher, and a daughter, Elizabeth; and thirdly Leonard Lechford, by whom she had no issue.
Penelope West, who married, about 1599, as his first wife, Herbert Pelham ), esquire, of Hastings, Sussex, stepson of Penelope West's elder sister, Elizabeth, by whom she had five sons and four daughters.
Katherine West, who married Nickolas Strelley of Nottinghamshire.
Helen West, who married Sir William Savage of Winchester, Hampshire, by whom she had a son, John Savage, and two daughters, Cecily and Anne.
Anne Hannah West who married George Merriman on 24 Aug 1610.