HARRISON, Thomas (b.1681).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

30 May 1728 - 1734

Family and Education

bap. 24 Apr. 1681, 6th s. of Richard Harrison, M.P. of Ball’s Park; bro. of Edward and George Harrison. prob. unm.

Offices Held

Cornet 4 Drag. Gds. 1697, a.-d.-c. to Duke of Ormonde, ld. lt. [I], bef. 1705;1 capt. and lt.-col. 1 Ft. Gds. 1705; brevet col. 1707; col. 6 Ft. 1708-16; adjt.-gen. in Spain 1708, and in Scotland 1715.

Biography

Thomas Harrison, a professional soldier, brought back James Stanhope’s despatches after the victory at Saragossa in 1710, for which he received £1,000 from the Queen. In the Fifteen he was present at Sheriffmuir and brought the Duke of Argyll’s despatches to George I, who gave him £500.2 He sold his regiment in March 1716. After contesting Steyning unsuccessfully in 1724, he was brought in for Old Sarum at a by-election in 1728 by Thomas Pitt, who recruited two voters to defeat the single supporter of Henry Fox.3 In Parliament he voted with the Administration on the Hessians in 1730 but against them on the excise bill in 1733 and the repeal of the Septennial Act in 1734. He was not re-chosen in 1734. On a vacancy at Old Sarum in 1735 he proposed himself for the seat to Thomas Pitt, offering to pay his brother, William, to give up his claim to it, a proposal which William regarded as absurd and impertinent.4 Never standing again, he died before 1755.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

  • 1. HMC Ormonde, n.s. viii. 141-2.
  • 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. xxiv. 465; xxx. 129; Dalton, Geo. I's Army, i. 334-5.
  • 3. Ilchester, Ld. Holland, i. 29-30.
  • 4. Rosebery, Chatham, 74-75.