Sir Thomas Trenchard (1582 – 1657) 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 ...

at various times between 1621 and 1648. Trenchard was the son of Sir George Trenchard of Warmwell and his wife Ann Speke daughter of Sir George Speke of

Whitelackington Whitelackington is a village and civil parish on the A303 one mile north east of Ilminster, in Somerset, England. The parish includes Dillington Park and the hamlets of Atherstone and Ashwell. Etymology The village's name is from Old English an ...

.John Burke ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great ..., Volume 4''
/ref> He was knighted at Theobalds on 15 December 1613.Knights of England
/ref> He was appointed

High Sheriff of Dorset The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government ...

in 1634. Dictionary of National Biography In 1621, Trenchard 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

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. In April 1640, he was elected MP for

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and wit ...

in the Short Parliament. In 1645, he was re-elected MP for Dorset 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 ...

and sat until 1648 when he was excluded under

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

. Trenchard married Elizabeth Morgan. He had a son Thomas who was the father of John Trenchard Secretary of State.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trenchard, Thomas 1582 births 1657 deaths People from Bridport High Sheriffs of Dorset English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648