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MEDLYCOTT, Thomas (1697-1763), of Ven House, nr. Milborne Port, Som.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
bap. 22 Oct. 1697, 1st s. of James Medlycott. educ. ?Eton 1707; Balliol, Oxf. 1711; M. Temple 1720. m. bef. 1730, Elizabeth (d. 15 June 1741), da. of Anthony Ettrick of High Barnes, co. Dur., wid, of Musgrave Davison,1 1s. d.v.p.; (2) betw. 3 Sept. 1742 and 26 Mar. 1743, Elizabeth, wid. of Gilbert Dawson,2 s.p. suc. fa. 1731.
Offices Held
Commr. of hawkers and pedlars Jan.-Sept. 1742; commr. of taxes Sept. 1742-1744.
Biography
Returned for the family seat at Milborne Port in 1734, Thomas Medlycott voted regularly with the Government. In 1741 he and another government supporter, whom he had put up for the second Milborne Port seat, were returned after a contest; but when faced with a petition, which in the state of the House might have led to the loss of both seats, he agreed to vacate his own seat by temporarily taking an office of profit, leaving one of his opponents to be returned unopposed.3 He was re-elected for the next Parliament, towards the end of which he was drawing a secret service pension of £600 a year. The rest of his political career is that of a parliamentary beggar, perpetually in financial difficulties, partly due to the cost of maintaining his interest at Milborne Port.4 On his death, 21 July 1763, his estate passed to his nephew, Thomas Hutchings, who assumed the name and arms of Medlycott and succeeded him as Member for the borough.
