Thomas Gardiner (1591–1652) was an English lawyer and 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. ...

in 1640. 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 ...

cause 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 ...

. Gardiner was called to the bar ar

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1618. He became

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of London in 1636 and a bencher of his Inn. In 1639 he became treasurer of his Inn. In April 1640, Gardiner 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

Callington Callington ( kw, Kelliwik) is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had inc ...

in 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 an unsuccessful Royalist candidate for the city of London. In 1642 he was leading counsel to Sir Edward Herbert, when he was impeached. Gardiner was himself impeached soon after for his support of ship-money. He was solicitor-general to the king at Oxford in 1643. He was a Royalist commissioner at the

Treaty of Uxbridge The Treaty of Uxbridge was a significant but abortive negotiation in early 1645 to try to end the First English Civil War. Background Parliament drew up 27 articles in November 1644 and presented them to Charles I of England at Oxford. Much inpu ...

and Royalist attorney-general in 1645. He was pardoned by parliament in 1647 on payment of fine. His daughter Mary was Maid of Honour to

Queen Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

in France, and one of the four Dressers to Queen Catherine after the Restoration, before marrying Sir Henry Wood, 1st Baronet. She died of smallpox on 17 March 1671, aged 38, and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. In 1679 her only child married an illegitimate son of King Charles II by

Barbara Villiers Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, Countess of Castlemaine (née Barbara Villiers, – 9 October 1709), was an English royal mistress of the Villiers family and perhaps the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of Eng ...

, becoming Duchess of Southampton, but died of smallpox in 1680 at the age of seventeen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Thomas 1591 births 1652 deaths Lawyers from London Members of the Inner Temple Members of the Parliament of England for Callington Cavaliers Place of birth missing 17th-century English lawyers English MPs 1640 (April) Recorders of London