THOMPSON, Edward (1696-1742), of Marston, Yorks.

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

Constituency

Dates

1722 - 5 July 1742

Family and Education

bap. 26 Feb. 1696, 1st surv. s. of Edward Thompson of Marston by Lucy, da. and h. of Bradwardine Tindal of Brotherton, Yorks. educ. New Coll. Oxf. 1714. m. (1) 1724, Arabella (d.1734), da. of Edmund Dunch of Little Wittenham, 1da.; (2) 15 May 1737, Mary, da. and coh. of William More of Oswaldkirk, Yorks., 1da.

Offices Held

Commr. of revenue [I] May 1725-d.; ld. of Admiralty Apr. 1741-d.

Biography

Edward Thompson was the grandson of Sir Henry Thompson, M.P. York 1673-81 and lord mayor of the city 1663 and 1672, whose brother Edward was also lord mayor of York 1683 and sat for it 1688-98 and 1700. Returned himself for York after a contest in 1722, he seconded a motion that a committee of the House of Commons should examine Christopher Layer in the Tower, 15 Jan. 1723; spoke against the special tax on the property of Papists, 6 May 1723; moved the Address in terms of ‘most elaborate flattery’, 12 Nov. 1724; and was one of the managers of Lord Chancellor Macclesfield’s impeachment 1725.1 In that year he was appointed a commissioner of Irish revenue, thereafter speaking frequently for the Government, specializing on Irish affairs.2 In 1734 he managed the Yorkshire petition, spending £60 a day on bringing witnesses to London and maintaining them there.3 About this time he separated from his wife on account of her intrigue with his intimate friend, Sir George Oxenden. He was opposed at York in 1741, but headed the poll, as he wrote to the Duke of Newcastle, ‘against the power of the magistracy, the partiality of the returning officers, the fury of the mob, the papist influence, and the rage of faction’.4 He died, ruined by his election expenditure,5 5 July 1742.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. Knatchbull Diary.
  • 2. HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 26, 69, 164.
  • 3. HMC Carlisle, 164; W. W. Bean, Parl. Rep. of Six Northern Counties, 1113.
  • 4. Add. 32697, f.24.
  • 5. J. Ibbetson to Newcastle, 1 July 1747, Add. 32712, f.7; Sir Thos. Robinson to Pelham, 19 Nov. 1746, Newcastle (Clumber) mss.