Samuel Shepheard (1677–1748), of

Exning Exning is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It lies just off the A14 trunk road, roughly east-northeast of Cambridge, and south-southeast of Ely. The nearest large town is Newmarket. T ...

, Suffolk, near Newmarket,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, was an English Tory politician who sat in the

English House of Commons The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

in 1701 and in the British House of Commons almost continually for forty years from 1708 to 1748. Shepheard was the second surviving son of Samuel Shepheard and his wife Mary Chamberlayne, daughter of Edward Chamberlayne of Princethorpe, Warwickshire. He was a director of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

from 1717 to 1720. When his unmarried elder brother Francis died in 1739, he inherited his estate, including Exning House. House and Heritage – Exning House
/ref> Shepheard was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

at the first general election in 1701 but did not stand again at the second. At the 1708 general election he was elected MP for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. His election was declared void on 9 February 1710 but he won the re-election on 22 February. He was returned unopposed in the general elections of

1710 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Saturday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 1 – In Prussia, Cölln is merged with Alt-Berlin by ...

and

1713 Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take ref ...

. At the 1715 general election he was initially defeated, but was seated on petition on 27 May 1715. He did not stand at Cambridge in

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), a ...

, but instead was elected MP for

at a by-election on 19 November 1724. He was elected again at the 1727 general election with his former ward Henry Bromley, and was returned unopposed in 1734 and

1741 Events January–March * January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. *February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a speech ...

. At the 1747 general election he was returned again as MP for Cambridge. Shepheard died of an apoplectic stroke at Hampton Court on his way back from Bath on 24 April 1748. While he never married, his illegitimate daughter

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

inherited his estate and married

Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine (19 March 1727 – 27 June 1778), known as Charles Ingram until 1763, was a British landowner, politician and courtier. He succeeded his uncle to the Viscountcy and the Temple Newsam estate in Leeds in 1763. ...

in 1758.

References

1677 births 1748 deaths People from Forest Heath (district) People from Cambridgeshire English MPs 1701–1702 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub