Thomas Pury ( – 13 August 1666) was an English 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. T ...

variously between 1640 and 1659. He fought on the Parliamentarian side 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 ...

. Pury was the son of Walter Pury of Gloucester. He was originally a weaver and then a country solicitor. In 1626, he was sheriff of Gloucester.William R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
/ref> In November 1640, Pury 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 o ...

for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. He held the seat through the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament was the English Parliament after Colonel Thomas Pride commanded soldiers to purge the Long Parliament, on 6 December 1648, of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason. "Rump" ...

to 1653. In 1642 Pury was appointed commissioner for Gloucester for "publishing scandalous ministers etc." He became a captain in the parliamentary army and commanded a company in the regiment of Colonel Henry Stephens. He helped the Earl of Stamford and Lt-Col Edward Massey in the defence of Gloucester in August 1643. In October 1643 he was chairman of the committee for Gloucester. Pury was Mayor of Gloucester in 1653 and then re-elected MP for Gloucester in 1654 for the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Ho ...

and in 1656 for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in ...

. In 1659 he attended the restored Rump parliament and was charged with raising troops in Gloucester in July 1659. Pury died at the age of 76 and was buried in St Mary's, Gloucester. He left a charity to the city. Pury married Mary Ayle, daughter of Edward Ayle of Tewkesbury. His son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

was also an MP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pury, Thomas 1590s births Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Gloucester 1666 deaths Roundheads Mayors of Gloucester English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658