BLADEN, Thomas (?1698-1780), of St. James's, Westminster.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1727 - 1734
20 Feb. 1735 - 1741

Family and Education

b. ?1698, o.s. of William Bladen of Annapolis, Maryland (bro. of Martin Bladen) by Anne, da. of Garret von Swearingen of Maryland. educ. Westminster 1712, aged 14. m. 14 July 1731, Barbara, da. of Sir Theodore Janssen, 1st Bt., 2da. suc. fa. 1718.

Offices Held

Dep. gov. Maryland 10 Mar. 1742-25 Sept. 1746.1

Biography

Born in Maryland, the son of a prominent local official,2 Bladen disposed of his Maryland property on his father’s death. Brought into Parliament in 1727 for Steyning by the Duke of Chandos at the request of his uncle Martin Bladen,3 he voted with the Government. Soon after his marriage he bought the Glastonbury Abbey estate from the Duke of Devonshire for £12,700.4 Defeated at Amersham in 1734 and again in February 1735 he came in on a vacancy at Ashburton, where he was defeated in 1741. Soon afterwards he returned to Maryland as deputy governor on the recommendation of his brother-in-law, Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of the colony. Often at variance with the Maryland assembly, in 1746 he relinquished his office,5 returning for good to England, where he died 2 Feb. 1780.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. B. Lawson

Notes

  • 1. Bd. Trade Jnl. 1742-9, pp. 11, 211.
  • 2. Maryland Hist. Mag. v. 297-9; Amer. DNB (Bladen, Wm.).
  • 3. Duke of Chandos to Martin Bladen, 7, 22 Aug. 1727, Chandos letter bks.
  • 4. Phelps, Som. i. 540.
  • 5. Proc. and Acts of Assembly 1740-7 (Maryland Archives, xlii, xliv.).