Thomas Bliss (ca. 1647 – 8 October 1721) was an English

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

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. ...

in two periods between 1698 and 1708. Bliss 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 ...

(MP) for

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

, where he owned a brewery, in 1698 and was returned unopposed in January 1701. In November 1701 he was re-elected despite a smear campaign which accused him of

Jacobitism Jacobitism (; gd, Seumasachas, ; ga, Seacaibíteachas, ) was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. The name derives from the first name ...

. In July 1702 he was defeated in the poll, but the election was declared void because of corruption by the Whigs and the writ for the constituency was suspended until 1704. Bliss was re-elected for Maidstone in 1704 and held the seat until 1708 when he did not stand. His political battles continued in the borough where he was re-admitted as alderman in 1710 but declared as not chosen by the Whig majority in 1711.David Hayton, Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley ''The House of Commons, 1690-1715, Volume 1''
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1640s births 1721 deaths Year of birth uncertain People from Maidstone Tory MPs (pre-1834) English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1701 English MPs 1701–1702 English MPs 1705–1707 British MPs 1707–1708 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub