Thomas de Grey (1680 – 1765) of Merton, Norfolk, was an English landowner and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1708 and 1727.

Early life

de Grey was baptised on 13 August 1680, the eldest surviving son of

William de Grey William de Grey (21 October 1652 - 27 February 1687) of Merton Hall, Norfolk was an East Anglian landowner and Tory Member of Parliament. He was the grandfather of his namesake William de Grey, 1st Baron Walsingham. Life The descendant of Suffolk ...

and his wife Elizabeth Bedingfield, daughter of Thomas Bedingfield of

Darsham Darsham is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately north east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Darsham railway station, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the ...

. He was educated at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School, and was admitted at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

on 18 May 1697, aged17. By a marriage settlement dated 10 September 1706, he married with £4,500, Elizabeth Windham, daughter of

William Windham William Windham (4 June 1810) of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, was a British Whig statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1784, Windham was attached to the remnants of the Rockinghamite faction of Whigs, whose members included his friends Charles J ...

Felbrigg Felbrigg is a small village just south of Cromer in Norfolk, England.''OS Explorer Map 24'' (Edition A 1997) – ''Norfolk Coast Central''. . The Danish name means a 'plank bridge'. Historians believe that the original village was clustered aro ...

, Norfolk. His marriage brought him into connection with many Norfolk Whig families, although his father was a Tory.

Career

de Grey was returned as Whig

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

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...

at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...

. He supported the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709, and voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. He did not stand at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

, possibly on grounds of cost, and at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

, declined an invitation by Robert Walpole to stand for Norfolk. At the

1715 British general election The 1715 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the 1707 merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In October 1714, soon afte ...

, de Grey was backed by

Lord Townshend Marquess Townshend is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the Townshend family of Raynham Hall in Norfolk. The title was created in 1787 for George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend. Histor ...

as a Whig candidate for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and he won the contest. He voted against the septennial bill of 1716 and joined the opposition (led by Townshend and

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

) against Lord Cadogan in June 1717. He abstained from the votes on the

Peerage Bill {{short description, Proposed British law of 1719 The Peerage Bill was a 1719 measure proposed by the British Whigs (British political party), Whig government led by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland whic ...

and on repealing the Occasional Conformity Act and

Schism Act The Schism Act or Established Church Act (13 Ann., c. 7) was a never-enforced 1714 Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which was repealed in 1718. The Act stipulated that anyone who wished to ''keep'' (manage or own) a public or private school, ...

, all in 1719. He did not want to stand again at the

1722 British general election The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Tha ...

, writing to Townshend asking: Townshend did not let him stand down and he won the seat unopposed, but never stood again.

Death and legacy

de Grey died in 1765 and was buried at Merton on 18 December 1765. By his wife, he had two daughters and two surviving sons,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

and

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Grey, Thomas 1680 births 1765 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Thetford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Norfolk British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727