Thomas Henry Hastings Davies (27 January 1789 – 11 December 1846) was a British Member of Parliament. Davies was educated at the Royal Military College. He joined the

52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot The 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot was a light infantry regiment of the British Army throughout much of the 18th and 19th centuries. The regiment first saw active service during the American War of Independence, and were posted to India du ...

as an ensign, rising to become a captain before, in 1809, he moved to the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

. He served at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

, and was made a lieutenant-colonel the same year. He eventually became a colonel in 1939, retiring the same year. At the 1818 UK general election, Davies stood for the Whigs in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, winning the seat. In Parliament, he tended to oppose government spending, and was critical of what he saw as waste in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. He argued for the Army to intervene in support of Spain when French troops invaded in 1823. He supported Catholic emancipation. He supported electoral reform, and introduced a bill which limited polling to eight days, but introduced multiple polling places in larger towns and cities; this was successful. Davies held the seat repeatedly, but was defeated at the

1835 UK general election The 1835 United Kingdom general election was called when Parliament was dissolved on 29 December 1834. Polling took place between 6 January and 6 February 1835, and the results saw Robert Peel's Conservatives make large gains from their low of ...

. While campaigning in the election, he was thrown from his carriage, and as a result was partly paralysed. He stood again at the 1837 UK general election, regaining the seat without facing an opponent, then he retired at the 1841 UK general election, as the paralysis worsened.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Thomas Henry Hastings 1789 births 1846 deaths 52nd Regiment of Foot officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Grenadier Guards officers UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1837–1841 Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies