William Tomkins 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. ...

in 1628 and in 1640. Tomkins was the son of 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> Tomkins' father was instrumental in bringing back the franchise 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 ...

and Tomkins became one of the first

Members 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 ...

returned for the borough in 1628.Archenfield Archaeology
/ref> In April 1640, he was elected MP for Weobley 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 ...

References

Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People from Weobley Place of birth unknown English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) {{17thC-England-MP-stub