THOMPSON, William II (c.1680-1744), of Humbleton, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Dec. 1701 - 1722
26 Jan. 1730 - June 1744

Family and Education

b. c.1680, o. s. of Francis Thompson*.  educ. St. John’s, Oxf. matric. 6 July 1695, aged 15. unmsuc. fa. 1693.1

Offices Held

Gov. Scarborough Castle 1715–d.; warden of the Mint 1718–29; commr. victualling office 1729–d.

Biography

Thompson was chosen for the family borough, though not without opposition, at his first opportunity after coming of age. Possibly the ‘Mr Thompson’ who told on 21 Nov. 1702 against continuing the coal duties, he was allowed a pass in March 1703 to travel to Holland. A teller on 18 Jan. 1704 for a bill to establish a land registry in Yorkshire, he may also have told on 1 Feb. for a Whig amendment to the address on the Scotch Plot. Having been forecast as a likely opponent of the Tack, he did not vote for it on 28 Nov. 1704. Although classed as a ‘Churchman’ in a list of the new Parliament in 1705, Thompson supported the Court candidate in the division on the Speakership on 25 Oct. His activities in this Parliament cannot readily be distinguished from those of Anthony Thompson*. He was listed as having voted for the Court on 18 Feb. 1706 in the proceedings on the regency bill. He was accused by Whigs in Yorkshire of ‘shuffling’ between the parties in the preparations for a by-election later that year. In two lists of 1708 he was classed as a Whig.2

A teller on 15 Jan. 1709 for Sir Cleave More, 2nd Bt.*, in an election case, and again a fortnight later for his namesake William Thompson III* in the Orford election, he may have been the ‘Mr Thompson’ who told on 7 Mar. 1709 against a Tory amendment to the naturalization bill and who presented a private bill on 22 Dec. 1709. He voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell, and on 18 Mar. 1710 was granted leave of absence for three weeks. In the ‘Hanover list’ of 1710 he was described as a Whig. He voted on 7 Dec. 1711 for the ‘No Peace without Spain’ motion. Given a further month’s leave of absence on 3 May 1712, on grounds of ill-health, he served as a teller on 5 May 1713 against the bill to enclose common land in Yorkshire for church endowments, and voted on 18 June 1713 against the French commerce bill, as a Whig. Having been returned for Scarborough unopposed in 1713, Thompson voted on 18 Mar. 1714 against the expulsion of Richard Steele and told on 27 Apr. on the Whig side in a disputed election for St. Albans. He was marked as a Whig in the Worsley list and in two lists of the Members re-elected in 1715.

Thompson died in June 1744.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

  • 1. Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Clay, iii. 43.
  • 2. HMC Portland, ii. 182, 198; CSP Dom. 1703–4, p. 296.
  • 3. Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. 43.