Thomas More Molyneux (c. 1724–1776), was a British Army officer 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. ...

between 1759 and 1776.

Early life

Molyneux was the son of Sir William Molyneux of

Loseley Park Loseley Park is a large Tudor manor house with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in Artington close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the ...

and his wife Cassandra Cornwallis, daughter of Thomas Cornwallis of Abermarlais, Carmarthenshire. He matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

on 8 April 1742, aged 17 and was awarded BA in 1745. In 1747, he joined the army and was an Ensign in the 3rd Foot Guards. He was then lieutenant and captain in 1753 and served in Germany during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

Parliamentary career

Molyneux succeeded his brother

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

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

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

being elected unopposed in a by-election in 1759. On his father's death in 1760 he inherited the Loseley estate. In the 1761 general election he and Philip Carteret Webb, the other sitting member at Haslemere, won a serious contest against candidates supported the Burrell family. Molyneux was described as a country gentleman, generally well inclined to Government, but retaining his independence. He was still a serving officer and became captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1761, eventually becoming colonel in 1773. Before the general election of 1768, with Webb apparently retiring, Molyneux joined the Burrells to contest the seat and they were successful against third parties at the election. The agreement continued and in the 1774 general election he again contested the borough jointly with the Burrells. He does not appear to have spoken in the Parliaments of 1768 and 1774.

Death and legacy

Molyneux died unmarried on 3 October 1776. A clergyman wrote of him that he was one of the few original men in the world with the comment “Politeness has the good effect of hiding what is offensive in us, but it covers at the same time many entertaining oddities, and he had more of them than any of our neighbours.” The Loseley estate passed to his sisters Cassandra and Jane who also died childless. The estate then passed to his illegitimate son, James.The National Archives The Loseley manuscripts
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molyneux, Thomas More 1776 deaths Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Scots Guards officers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Year of birth uncertain British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War