Thomas Gewen (1585 – November 1660) 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 Bicameralism, 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 ...

variously between 1645 and 1660. He was the grandson of Thomas and the son of Christopher Gewen of Werrington. He was educated at

the Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

and the

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. He married twice; first to a daughter of Edward Cosworth, with whom he had a son. In July 1622, he married Mary, the daughter of Matthew Springham, with whom he had one son and two daughters.''The House of Commons, 1660-1690'' by B.D.Henning (1983) p.164 and 393/4, available on GoogleBooks
/ref> Thomas Gewen settled at Bradridge, in the parish of Boyton in Cornwall and was a joint auditor for the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

, until he was deprived of his position at the outbreak of the

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for his support of the parliamentary cause. He was appointed by Act of Parliament as a member of the Cornwall Committee for raising money.Sir Alfred Robbins ''Launceston past and present: A historical and descriptive sketch''
/ref> He was elected member of parliament (MP) for Launceston in 1645 for the second part of the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

but 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 ...

in 1648. In 1654, he was elected MP for

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the H ...

. He was elected MP for Launceston in 1656 for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first sess ...

and in 1659 for the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

. In 1657, Gewen was a strong supporter of Cromwell but by 1660, he was opposed to the military party and was in favour of monarchy and the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was also a sturdy

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and was considered one of the main persecutors of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s. He was

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of Launceston, and as justice of the peace was responsible for conducting marriages. Gewen was re-elected MP for Launceston in April 1660 which he held until his death a few months later at the age of 75.

References

Members of the Inner Temple Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gewen, Thomas 1585 births 1660 deaths Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall English Presbyterians Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1659 English MPs 1660