Thomas Parry (23 February 1818 − 23 December 1879) was a British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician from

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the no ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. He 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 ...

for three short periods between 1865 and 1874.

Early life

Parry was born in 1818 (according to his tombstone, on 23 February), son of William Parry (1786–1876), of Lincoln, and his wife, Mary Stanley (1799–1868), daughter of Henry Stanley.

Business

He became an articled clerk to Charles Kirk the elder (1791–1847), architect, of Sleaford, responsible for many new buildings in the town in the 1830s and 1840s. The men became partners, their firm being called Kirk and Parry. In 1841, Parry married Kirk's daughter, Henrietta Kirk. After Kirk's death, his son, Charles replaced him as partner in the business."Interment of a noted South Yorkshire coal owner" ''Sheffield Independent'' 7 February 1880 Parry was also a proprietor of the colliery in Strafford, near Barnsley, Yorkshire.

Parliamentary career

He was elected at the 1865 general election as a

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 ...

(MP) for the

borough of Boston The Borough of Boston is a local government district with borough status in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Boston. The borough covers a wider area that includes villages such as Wyberton, Butterwick, Kirton-in-Holl ...

, but an

election petition An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election. Outcomes When a petition is lodged against an election return, there are 4 possible outcomes: # The election is declared void. The result is q ...

was lodged and the result was overturned on 21 March 1866 in favour of the other Liberal candidate Meaburn Staniland. Staniland resigned from the Commons on 8 March 1867, and Parry was returned unopposed in his place at a by-election on 16 March. He did not stand at the 1868 general election, but was re-elected at the 1874 general election. That result was the subject of another election petition, which led to 353 of Parry's 1,347 votes being struck off, thereby making John Wingfield Malcolm the winner of the second seat. The bribery was so extensive that even more votes could have been struck off, but the process was stopped on 8 June 1874 when Malcolm had a nominal majority of two votes. A Royal Commission was established to enquire into the electoral process in the borough.

Death

Parry died at Mustapha Superieur in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

on 23 December 1879 aged 61 and his remains were interred at

Quarrington, Lincolnshire Quarrington is a village and former civil parish, now part of the civil parish of Sleaford, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, a non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands of England. The old village and its church lie approxima ...

.''National Probate Calendar ''1880 p. 127

References

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Thomas 1818 births 1879 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1874–1880 People from Sleaford, Lincolnshire