PRICE, Roger (1653-1705), of Westbury, nr. Buckingham, Bucks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1702 - 1705

Family and Education

bap. 10 Aug. 1653, 1st s. of Roger Price of Westbury by his w. Anne Sulyard.  m. settlement 10 Oct. 1682, Elizabeth (d. 1726), da. of Robert Chevall of Fleet Street, London and Stony Stratford, Bucks., 5s. (1 d.v.p.) 2da.  suc. fa. 1677.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Bucks. 1680–1.

Biography

Price’s grandfather, a London linen draper, purchased the manor and rectory of Westbury in 1650. His father, a London merchant, died at Bilbao, in Spain. As a j.p. Price gave negative replies in 1688 to James II’s first two questions on the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws. In 1689 he attempted to obtain an Act empowering him to make financial provision for his wife, but after passing the Commons the bill fell at the first hurdle in the Lords. He increased his estates by purchasing further lands in the parish of Westbury and in Oxfordshire. In addition, he held property in the parishes of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Middlesex, St. Margaret’s, Westminster, and in the city of London.2

Price attended the election at Buckingham in July 1698, and stood as a candidate there in the by-election held the following December. Despite being unsuccessful, he began ‘feasting’ the corporation on rumours of a new Parliament in September 1699, although one observer felt his efforts were in vain as his opponents ‘will hold together against all others, and they have as good purses as Mr Price and can spare money better than a man of many children’. Raising money did not seem to be a problem for Price at this time for he was able to offer (Sir) John Verney* (2nd Bt., later Lord Fermanagh) some houses in St. Paul’s churchyard as security for £1,000, a loan he was ready to repay early. Unsuccessful at both 1701 elections, Price’s perseverance was rewarded with victory at the general election of 1702.3

There is no doubt that Price was a Tory, Lord Spencer (Charles*) regarding his election as a ‘loss’ for the Whigs. The presence of Thomas Price in the Commons makes it difficult to delineate his parliamentary career, but he seems to have suffered from ill-health and was not an active Member. His name does not appear on the list of those voting on 23 Feb. 1703 and although his will made on 3 June announced that he was in ‘perfect health’, his wife was informed in January 1704 ‘that Mr Price is dangerously ill if not dead’. He was listed in November as voting against the Tack or absent, probably the latter, for in March 1705 he was reported to be very ill ‘with small hopes of recovery’. His death occurred in May, his burial taking place on the 27th.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. Browne Willis, Buckingham, 356–7; PCC 26 Reeve, 227 Gee; VCH Bucks. iv. 264.
  • 2. Lipscomb, Bucks. iii. 142–3; Duckett, Penal Laws and Test Act (1883), 144; HMC Lords, ii. 192.
  • 3. BL, Verney mss mic. 636/50, Alexander Denton I* to Verney, 22 July 1698, Elizabeth Verney to William Coleman, ?20 Dec. 1698, Verney to Nicholas Martyn, 27 Aug. 1699, Martyn to Verney, 28 Oct. 1699, Price to same, 24 June, 23 Nov. 1700, 21 Jan. 1700[–1]; Verney Letters 18th Cent. i. 156, 166.
  • 4. PCC 227 Gee; Verney mss mic. 636/53, Elizabeth Price to Fermanagh, 21 Jan. 1703/4, Fermanagh to Isabella Stewkeley, 4 Mar. 1704[–5]; Willis, 357.