Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet (20 November 1656 – 2 July 1700) was an English Member of Parliament, and an ancestor of the modern day

Dukes of Westminster Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...

. He was the first member of the family to build a substantial house on the present site of Eaton Hall in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

Early life and education

Grosvenor was born at Eaton Hall,

, the son of Roger Grosvenor by his wife, Christian (or Christine), daughter of Thomas Myddleton of

Chirk Castle Chirk Castle () is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales, from Chirk railway station, now owned and run by the National Trust. History The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roge ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

. He was less than five years old when his father, Roger, was killed in a duel with his cousin, Hugh Roberts, on 22 August 1661. Roger had been the son and heir of Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Baronet, and therefore, Thomas succeeded to the

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy upon the death of his grandfather on 31 January 1665. He was eight years old at that time. Grosvenor was educated by a

private tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

, who also accompanied him when he undertook the Grand Tour, in his case, a three-year educational tour of France, Italy and the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, starting in 1670.Handley, Stuart (2004) (online edition 2008)
Grosvenor, Sir Thomas, third baronet (1655–1700)
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Retrieved on 6 April 2010. On his return, he set about building a new house at Eaton. At that time, the family house was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

ed house. The new house was the first substantial one to be built, and it was constructed to the north of the older house. Grosvenor appointed the architect William Samwell to design it, and building started in 1675. By 1683, over £1,000 (£ ) had been spent on the hall. The money for this venture came partly from the estates, and also from

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

mines, and from stone quarries in north

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, that were owned by the family.

Public life

Grosvenor played his part in public life. In 1677, he was granted the

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, and later the same year, he became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

. Two years later, he was returned as a Member of Parliament (MP) for

for the first time, in what became known as the

Habeas Corpus Parliament The Habeas Corpus Parliament, also known as the First Exclusion Parliament, was a short-lived English Parliament which assembled on 6 March 1679 (or 1678, Old Style) during the reign of Charles II of England, the third parliament of the King's r ...

; in all, he was to serve in six parliaments. In 1685, he became

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Chester, and later that year, raised a

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...

of horses to support James II in the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

. Grosvenor served as Sheriff of Cheshire in 1688–89.

Family

Grosvenor married in 1677; he was aged 21, and his wife, Mary Davies.The marriage proved to be harmonious and conventional. Mary was the daughter of Alexander Davies, a

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...

(scribe), and she had inherited substantial land to the west of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from her great-uncle Hugh Audley. This was part of the Manor of Ebury (previously Eia), and Mary's portion consisted of 'swampy meads' (

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

land). The area was later to become the

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park to ...

, and

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

areas of London; the most valuable parts of the Grosvenor Estate. The couple had three daughters and five sons. Two of the sons, Thomas and Roger, died young; the other three sons all succeeded in turn to the baronetcy,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

became the 4th Baronet,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

the 5th, and

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

the 6th. Two of the daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, also died young. Grosvenor died when Mary was eight months pregnant; she gave birth to a daughter, Ann, within a month. Mary, Lady Grosvenor, had converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

shortly after coming of age. Because of this, and because Eaton Hall was used as a meeting place for Catholics, Grosvenor's loyalty to the king was questioned. However, he continued openly as an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

until his death in 1700, and he was buried in Eccleston church. Grosvenor's surviving sons were all under age at the time of his death;

Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Baronet Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Baronet (23 March 1655 – 29 April 1716), of Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, was a Welsh landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1685 to 1716. Myddelton was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Myddelt ...

, and Thomas and Francis Cholmondeley were appointed as their guardians. Mary was buried in the churchyard of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, where in 1892, her tomb was the only one to be seen there, close to the north porch of the church.Smith, J.E., ''St John the Evangelist, Westminster: Parochial Memorials'', Westminster, 1892, pp.355–36

/ref> File:Arms of Grosvenor baronets.svg,

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the Grosvenor Baronets, of Eaton (1622) File:St Mary's Church Eccleston, Old Churchyard - old Grovenor family gravesite1.JPG, St Mary's Church, Eccleston – the enclosure which marks the site of the Grosvenor family vault within the demolished old church File:St Mary's Church Eccleston, Old Churchyard - old Grovenor family gravesite - plaque.JPG, St Mary's Church, Eccleston – the tablet in the enclosure marking the site of the Grosvenor family vault within the old church File:St Mary's Church Eccleston, north aisle - Grosvenors buried in the old church.JPG, St Mary's Church, Eccleston – the tablet in the new church which lists the Grosvenors buried in the demolished old church

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosvenor, Thomas, 3rd Baronet 1656 births 1700 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Tory MPs (pre-1834) High sheriffs of Cheshire Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1695–1698 English MPs 1698–1700 Mayors of Chester