FITZJAMES, Thomas (c.1624-1705), of Nursling, Hants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

3 May - 9 May 1660

Family and Education

b. c.1624, 2nd s. of Leweston Fitzjames of Leweston, Dorset, and bro. of John Fitzjames and Henry Fitzjames. educ. Lincoln, Oxf. matric. 25 Jan. 1639, aged 15; M. Temple 1642, called 1649. m. 14 Feb. 1657, Katherine, da. of Thomas Mill of Fullerton, Hants, at least 2s. (1 d.v.p.) 2da.1

Offices Held

Clerk of the entries, alienations office 1642-53, 1654-July 1660.2

Forester of Battramsley bailiwick, New Forest by 1662-8; freeman, Lymington 1665; commr. for assessment, Hants 1690-1702.3

Biography

Unlike his brothers, Fitzjames took no part in the Civil War. After the Restoration he claimed to have been ‘engaged in Lord Mordaunt’s business’ in Surrey in 1659, when he had held a commission under Sir Francis Vincent. He probably owed his election for Downton to his dead sister’s husband William Coles, though he may also have had the support of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, but in 1660 there was a double return. He was allowed to sit on the merits of the return, but unseated six days later on the merits of the election, without, as far as is known, taking any part in parliamentary business. In July he lost his place in the alienations office to Henry Clerke II. For the rest of his long life he seems to have lived quietly on one or other of the Mill estates in Hampshire, though in 1662 he was unable to attend the Swainmote in the New Forest ‘being detained elsewhere on the King’s service’. In 1668 he was ‘unhandsomely outed’ of his bailiwick, but on what grounds is not known. On his elder brother’s death he tried unsuccessfully to establish a claim to the Leweston estate. He seems to have succeeded to Fullerton, presumably in the right of his wife, shortly after the Revolution, and was named to all the Hampshire assessment commissions till 1705. He was apparently survived only by one daughter, Catherine, through whom it is probable that Fullerton came to John Chetwynd, MP for Stockbridge 1722-34.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Som. and Dorset N. and Q. xvi. 220; C5/160/17.
  • 2. CSP Dom. 1660-1, p. 117.
  • 3. Woodward, Hants, iii. 41; Northumberland (Alnwick) mss 553, f. 5; E. King, Old Times Revisited, 190.
  • 4. CSP Dom. 1660-1, p. 102; Northumberland mss, 551, ff 41, 42; PCC 266 Pell, will of Thomas Mill; C10/167/26; VCH Hants, iv. 413.