Thomas Estcourt Cresswell (12 July 1712 – 14 November 1788) was an English landowner and politician.

Biography

He was the son of

Richard Cresswell Richard Paul Wesley Cresswell (born 20 September 1977) is an English football coach and former professional player who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Football League for York City, Mansfield Town, Sheffield Wednesda ...

(MP for Bridgnorth and then Wootton Bassett) and his wife Elizabeth Estcourt, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Estcourt, of Pinkney Park, near

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 up ...

in Wiltshire. He began his career as a merchant trading with China and India, but ceased this occupation around 1732. He inherited the heavily encumbered Pinkney Park estate in 1743 from his father. Cresswell was returned as Member of Parliament for

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...

from 1754 to 1774. He died at his seat in Pinkney Park on 14 November 1788. He had gained a degree of notoriety as a

bigamist In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

after his marriage in February 1744 to a wealthy heiress, Miss Anne Warneford, granddaughter and eventual heir of Sir Edmund Warneford of Sevenhampton and

Bibury Bibury is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the River Coln, a Thames tributary that rises in the same (Cotswold) District. The village centre is northeast of Cirencester. Arlington Row is a nationally notable arc ...

, Gloucestershire. Anne had married Cresswell in good faith and had borne him two children but another woman, his cousin Elizabeth Scrope, sued on the grounds of bigamy, claiming a prior

Fleet Marriage A Fleet Marriage was a common example of an irregular or a clandestine marriage taking place in England before the Marriage Act 1753 came into force on March 25, 1754. Specifically, it was one which took place in London's Fleet Prison or its en ...

. Miss Scrope's suit was successful, the Cresswell–Warneford marriage was declared null and void, and the children (a son, Estcourt, and a daughter) were bastardised. However, a third marriage was revealed by another search through the Fleet records that antedated the others; thus Cresswell's last two "marriages" were bigamous. It was stated that he endeavoured to keep possession of both wives at the same time by a "base and unmanly contrivance". For a considerable time Miss Scrope retained a deep sense of her injuries; in 1749 she published a pamphlet in her own name, called ''Miss Scrope's Answer to Mr. Cresswell's Narrative''.''Notes and Queries'' No. 12, 19 January 1850 Cresswell had at least another four illegitimate children with a Miss Catharine Jenkins between 1749 and 1755, the three survivors of whom received substantial bequests from their father on a par with their half brother Estcourt, who was MP for

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

from 1768 to 1774. A fictional account of some of these events is given in "Love and Avarice: Or, the Fatal Effects of Preferring Wealth to Beauty" by a 'Lady of Shropshire' published in 1749, in which Cresswell is Clodio and Anne Warneford Leonora.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cresswell, Thomas Estcourt 1712 births 1788 deaths People from Bibury British people convicted of bigamy Tory MPs (pre-1834) Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774