Thomas Sheppard (1766 – 1 June 1858) was a politician in England. A grandson of the wealthy clothier, William Sheppard (1709-1759), he was elected at the 1832 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the newly enfranchised borough of Frome in Somerset, standing as a Whig. He was re-elected in

1835 Events January–March * January 7 – anchors off the Chonos Archipelago on her second voyage, with Charles Darwin on board as naturalist. * January 8 – The United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history. ...

as a Conservative, and held the seat until he stood down from the House of Commons at the 1847 general election. Frome was given the right to elect its own member of Parliament, one of 67 new constituencies, by the Reform Act 1832. This Act removed rotten boroughs’ like Old Sarum (with 3 houses and 7 voters to elect 2 MPs) and included for the first time new electors such as small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers; voters were defined as male persons, so women were formally excluded. The election was disputed by two well-known local men: Sir Thomas Champneys and Sheppard, a Tory and a Radical or Whig respectively. Champneys was an acknowledged slave owner. There was no serious trouble until the election itself. The two were personal enemies, with a long history of property dealings between their families over 180 years. Champneys may have been popular but he was disreputable, unmarried, his

Orchardleigh Estate Orchardleigh (also spelled Orchardlea) is a country estate in Somerset, approximately two miles north of Frome, and on the southern edge of the village of Lullington, Somerset, Lullington. The privately held estate comprises a Victorian architect ...

in decline and in debt. In 1820 Sheppard was a key witness when Sir Thomas was accused of sodomy; the case was not proven. The story of that tumultuous election is told here. Writing about the processes of social equalization in the 19th century,

George W. E. Russell George William Erskine Russell PC (3 February 1853 – 17 March 1919) was a British biographer, memoirist and Liberal politician. Background and education Russell was born in London, England, on 3 February 1853, the youngest son of Lord Cha ...

recorded that Sheppard was the only member of the House of Commons to wear a pigtail after the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...

. Like his election nominator of 1837, Thomas Bunn, Sheppard supported the Anti-Slavery movement and was a delegate for Frome at the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Convention, at the Freemason's Hall, London, on 12 June 1834. In 1838 Thomas bought the Folkington and Wootton manors in the South Downs and built for himself a new Folkington Manor, designed by the architect William Donthorne. After the death of his son in 1875, it was sold to another family.

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* 1766 births 1858 deaths Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 People from Frome {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1760s-stub