Thomas Lucas (c.1720–1784) MP, was a West India merchant, treasurer of
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...
1764–1774 and then president of its board of governors until his death.
Business interests
His directorships included the Union Society in 1759, the
South Sea Company
The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...
in 1763, and the Union Fire Office in 1764. He held them all until he died.
Thomas Lucas's West Indies interests were in
St Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
,
Leeward Islands and, in partnership with William Coleman, as a London agent for other Leeward Islands planters. The Legacies of British Slave-ownership database lists Lucas as a sugar-factor and slave owner.
He was very probably a close relative of
Eliza Lucas
Elizabeth "Eliza" Lucas Pinckney (December 28, 1722 May 27, 1793) transformed agriculture in colonial South Carolina, where she developed indigo as one of its most important cash crops. Its cultivation and processing as dye produced one-third th ...
, born in
Antigua Leeward Islands in 1723.
Charities
His continuing public involvement in aiding other charities besides Guy's included:
*Governor and then Vice President of the Hospitals for Smallpox and Inoculation
*Governor of
St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics
*The Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor
Private life
Lucas's origins were considered a mystery soon after his death. His easy association with the nobility and other ties suggest he could have been, if not illegitimate, heir to the barony of
Lucas of Shenfield and so a part of the family of
Henry Grey (c1664-1740) Duke of Kent.
Lucas married three times: Ann Jones, Mary Page and Elizabeth Payne; within his circle of business associates but left no surviving issue. His widow, Elizabeth daughter of Rev. Joseph Payne and a niece of Lewis Way a previous president of Guy's Hospital, married
John Julius Angerstein
John Julius Angerstein (1735 – 22 January 1823) was a London businessman and Lloyd's underwriter, a patron of the fine arts and a collector. It was the prospect that his collection of paintings was about to be sold by his estate in 182 ...
.
Their portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is in the Louvre. It is believed that after her mother's early death Eliza and her sister were raised by their childless great-uncle and aunt, Mr & Mrs
George Payne
His London residence was in
Albemarle Street
Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair in central London, off Piccadilly. It has historic associations with Lord Byron, whose publisher John Murray was based here, and Oscar Wilde, a member of the Albemarle Club, where an insult he recei ...
. He also maintained a country residence at Lee Place, Kent, the property of the Boone family. About 1770 he employed the East India Company architect
Richard Jupp
Richard Jupp (1728 – 17 April 1799) was an 18th-century English architect, particularly associated with buildings in and around London. He served for many years (c. 1755 – 1799) as surveyor to the British East India Company.
Works
His wor ...
to build him a new house on an old site on land which he had purchased from the Lethieullier family. The new house, where he died on 29 September 1784, was later known as Lee Manor. It is now used as a public library and its gardens have become a public park:
Manor House Gardens.
Parliament
His newly achieved parliamentary seat in 1780 for the
Grampound
Grampound ( kw, Ponsmeur) is a village in Cornwall, England. It is at an ancient crossing point of the River Fal and today is on the A390 road west of St Austell and east of Truro.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 ''Truro & Falmouth'' ...
constituency was lost in the
General Election in May 1784 His seat was taken by
Francis Baring, who also purchased the new house from Lucas's widow in 1796.
[Lewisham Local Studies and Archives; A62/6/15, 16, 30]
References
Sources
Newspapers of his day.
Edward Hasted: The History and Topographical Survey of the county of Kent. 1797
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Thomas
1720 births
1784 deaths
18th-century English businesspeople
West Indies merchants
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Grampound
British MPs 1780–1784
British slave owners