MICKLETHWAIT, Thomas (1678-1718), of Swine, nr. Hull, Yorks.

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

Constituency

Dates

1715 - 18 Mar. 1718

Family and Education

bap. 19 July 1678, 1st s. of Joseph Micklethwait of Swine and bro. of Joseph Micklethwait. educ. Jesus, Camb. 1695. unm. suc. to London and other estates of Sir John Cropley, 2nd Bt., M.P., 1713.

Offices Held

Treasurer to commrs. of transport 1708-15; ld. of Treasury 1717-18; lt.-gen. of the Ordnance 18 Mar. 1718-d.

Biography

The grandson of an eminent physician, who bought the manor of Swine from the Darcys in the middle of the seventeenth century, Thomas Micklethwait was introduced by his relation, the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, and his friend, Sir John Cropley, to James Stanhope, on whose recommendation he was given a place by Lord Treasurer Godolphin in 1708. While Stanhope was in Spain his London interests were looked after by Micklethwait, who wrote to him, II Mar. 1712: ‘The greatest ambition I ever had was to be known to you and engaged in your service’.1 In 1713 Cropley died, leaving his estates in Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Durham, and London to ‘my very dear friend, Thomas Micklethwait’.2 Returned for the venal borough of Arundel in 1715, he was appointed to the Treasury board when Stanhope succeeded Walpole as first lord and chancellor of the Exchequer in 1717. When a year later Stanhope gave up the Treasury to become once more secretary of state, Micklethwait was transferred to a post in the Ordnance. He died a few days later, 28 Mar. 1718, leaving his estates to his brother, Joseph, and his heirs, on condition that they took the surname of Cropley, ‘in gratitude to the memory of my dear friend, Sir John Cropley, who gave me much the greatest part of what I now have in the world’,3 a condition which was not observed.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: A. N. Newman

Notes

  • 1. Cropley to Harley, 17 May [1711], Portland mss, box 132, bdle 9, item 1; Cropley to Stanhope, 18 May 1708, Chevening mss by permission of the 7th Earl Stanhope.
  • 2. PCC 252 Leeds.
  • 3. PCC 130 Tenison.