Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet (28 November 1612 – 1653) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons of England 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 ...

between 1640 and 1644. He supported the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Biography

Whitmore was the son of Sir William Whitmore of

Apley Hall Apley Hall is an English Gothic Revival house located in the parish of Stockton near Bridgnorth, Shropshire. The building was completed in 1811 with adjoining property of of private parkland beside the River Severn. It was once home to the Whit ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, and his second wife Dorothy Weld, daughter of John Weld of London. His father was

High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibili ...

in 1620, and nephew of Sir George Whitmore (d.1654), Lord Mayor of London. In April 1640, Whitmore 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 of ...

for

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. He was re-elected in November 1640 in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

and held the seat until 1644 when he was disabled for supporting the King. He was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Apley, on 28 June 1641. In February, 1645, Whitmore's home Apley Hall was taken by the Parliamentarians under Sir John Price. Whitmore and his father, Sir

Francis Ottley Sir Francis Ottley (1600/1601–11 September 1649) was an English Royalist politician and soldier who played an important part in the English Civil War in Shropshire. He was military governor of Shrewsbury during the early years of the war an ...

, Mr. Owen, and about sixty men, were captured. Their estates and moveable property were sequestered by the county's

Sequestration Committee In 1643, near the start of the English Civil War, Parliament set up two committees the Sequestration Committee which confiscated the estates of the Royalists who fought against Parliament, and the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents which a ...

and they were held in confinement for a considerable time. Whitmore was fined the enormous sum of £5,000 by the compounders. Whitmore died at the age of 41. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Family

Whitmore married Elizabeth Acton, daughter of

Sir William Acton, 1st Baronet Sir William Acton, 1st Baronet (1570 – 22 January 1651) was an English merchant and Royalist who was Lord Mayor of London in 1640. Acton was the son of Richard Acton, a London merchant, and Margaret Daniel. He was apprenticed by the Merchant T ...

. They had children: *

Sir William Whitmore, 2nd Baronet Sir William Whitmore, 2nd Baronet (6 April 1637 – 30 March 1699) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons from 1661 to 1699. Whitmore was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet of ...

, who married Mary Harvey, and died without issue. *Sir Thomas Whitmore, who married

Hon. Frances Brooke Hon. Frances Brooke (1640 – c. 1690) was a British courtier. She was styled Hon. Frances Brooke, and then Lady Whitmore. She was granted the style of a daughter of a baron in 1665. Frances and her sister Margaret, Lady Denham, were two of ...

, leaving issue. *Anne Whitmore, who married

Sir Francis Lawley, 2nd Baronet Sir Francis Lawley, 2nd Baronet (c. 1630 – 25 October 1696) was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1659 and 1679. Lawley was the son of Sir Thomas Lawley, 1st Baronet of Spoonhill, near Much Wenlock, Shro ...

, of Canwell, Staffordshire, leaving issue. *Elizabeth Whitmore, who married John Bennet, leaving issue. *Dorothy Whitmore, who married Sir Eliab Harvey of Chigwell, leaving issue.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Thomas 1612 births 1653 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Cavaliers English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648