Family and Education

b. 11 Apr. 1636, 1st s. of Alexander Thistlethwayte of Winterslow by Cecilia, da. of Sir Anthony Hungerford of Blackbourton, Oxon. educ. Brasenose, Oxf. 1652. m. 29 Nov. 1655, Catherine, da. and h. of Andrew Chaldecot of East Whiteway, Church Knowle, Dorset, 5s. (1 d.v.p.) 3da. suc. fa. 1670.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Wilts. Jan. 1660, 1663-80, 1689-90, Salisbury 1679-80, militia, Dorset Mar. 1660; j.p. Wilts. 1671-d., dep. lt. 1675-?86, 1689-d.; freeman, Salisbury 1679, Wilton 1685.2

Biography

Thistlethwayte’s ancestors, of Yorkshire origin, had resided at Winterslow, seven miles from Salisbury, since the reign of Henry VIII. His father served on the county committee throughout the Civil War and Interregnum, sat for Downton as a recruiter until Pride’s Purge, and was elected for Wiltshire in 1654. Thistlethwayte’s property was estimated at £1,000 p.a. even before he succeeded his father, but he does not seem to have played much part in politics except during the exclusion crisis. He was returned for Salisbury to all three Exclusion Parliaments, and marked ‘honest’ on Shaftesbury’s list. An inactive Member in 1679, he was appointed to the committee of elections and privileges and to those for expiring laws and the encouragement of woollen manufactures. He was given leave of absence for a fortnight on 28 Apr. but returned to vote for exclusion. He assisted (Sir) Thomas Mompesson in collecting signatures for the meeting of the second Exclusion Parliament, in which he was moderately active. He was again appointed to the elections committee, and to those for the encouragement of woollen manufactures and the continuance of the Beer Export Act. He left no trace on the records of the Oxford Parliament. In 1686 the Privy Council ordered his dismissal from the county bench but this does not seem to have been done for he was active as late as January 1688. Presumably he welcomed the Revolution, but he is not known to have stood again. He died on 20 Jan. 1716, and was buried at Winterslow. Two of his grandsons sat for Hampshire from 1747 to 1761.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

• 1. Hoare, Wilts. Alderbury, 46; Wilts. Par. Reg. vi. 133.
• 2. Hoare, Wilts. Salisbury, 477; CSP Dom. 1685, p. 99.
• 3. Hoare, Repertorium Wiltonense, 17; Bagford Ballads ed. Ebsworth, 777.