Sir Thomas Tomkins JP ( – 31 December 1674) 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. ...

at various times between 1640 and 1674. He supported the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

cause 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 ...

Early life

Tomkins was the fifth but second surviving son of Anne ( Boyle) Tomkins and James Tomkins of

Monnington on Wye Monnington on Wye is a village in western Herefordshire, England, located between Hereford and Hay-on-Wye. The place-name 'Monnington' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Manitune''. The name means 'Manna's town ...

, Herefordshire, and of Garnestone south of Weobley.Timothy Lathrop Miller ''History of Hereford cattle, proven conclusively the oldest of improved breeds''
/ref> His ancestors had been gentry in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

since the 15th century, but were of minor importance before the Tudor period, and his father, who was responsible for the re-enfranchisement of Weobley in 1628, was the first of the family to sit in Parliament.

Career

In April 1640, Tomkins 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 of ...

for

Weobley Weobley ( ) is an ancient settlement and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. Formerly a market town, the market is long defunct and the settlement is today promoted as one of the county's black and white villages owing to its abundance of ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. He was re-elected MP for Weobley for 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 ...

in November 1640. He supported the king and was disabled form sitting in parliament on 22 January 1644. He succeeded to the family estates, including Garnstone Manor,

, upon his elder brother

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

's death in 1640, and was knighted in 1663. Tomkins was elected MP for Weobley for the Convention Parliament in August 1660 after the previous election was declared void. He was re-elected MP for Weobley for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

in 1661 and sat until his death in 1674.

Personal life

On 22 September 1633, Tomkins was married to Mary Pye (b. 1618), a daughter of Sir Walter Pye. Together, they were the parents of one son, who died young, and three daughters, including: * Anne Tomkins, who married her cousin,

Roger Vaughan Roger William Bede Vaughan (9 January 1834 – 18 August 1883) was an English Benedictine monk of Downside Abbey and the second Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia from 1877 to 1883. Biography Early life Vaughan was born near Ro ...

, MP for

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, in 1657; Garnstone Manor was transferred to Vaughan as Anne's dowry. After his first wife's death, he married Lucy Uvedale, a daughter of Sir

William Uvedale Sir William Uvedale (c. 15811652) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1645. He supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War. Career Uvedale was the son of William Uvedale of Wickham and ...

, of Wickham and widow of Thomas Neale of Warnford, on 21 February 1648. From her first marriage, she was mother to

Thomas Neale Thomas Neale (1641–1699) was an English project-manager and politician who was also the first person to hold a position equivalent to postmaster-general of the North American colonies. Neale was a Member of Parliament for thirty years, Maste ...

, a longtime MP. Together, they were the parents of: * Uvedale Tomkins (1649–1692), who married Mary Capell. Tomkins died on 31 December 1674.

References

1605 births 1674 deaths Cavaliers Year of birth uncertain People from Weobley English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679 {{17thC-England-MP-stub