KING, Thomas (?bef.1660-1725), of St. Margaret's, Westminster and Sheerness, Kent.

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

Constituency

Dates

31 Oct. 1696 - 1708
1710 - 1722

Family and Education

b. prob. bef. 1660, 1st s. of Thomas King, M.P., of Harwich and bro. of Dr. John King, master of Charterhouse. m., 2da.1

Offices Held

Ensign 3 Ft. 1678, 2nd lt. 1687; capt. 13 Ft. 1688; dep. gov. Tower of London 1688-9; capt. and lt.-col. 2 Ft. Gds. 1688; capt. and lt.-col. 1 Ft. Gds. 1689; lt.-gov. Sheerness 1690-d.; brevet col. 1706; ret. bef. 1715.

Biography

Thomas King, a professional soldier, was described in his old age by the 1st Lord Egmont as being ‘full of anecdotes of King Charles the Second’s reign’.2 Though a Tory under Anne, he was continued as lieutenant governor of Sheerness, near Queenborough, where he was returned for the ninth time in 1715. Classed as a Whig who would often vote Tory, he voted against the septennial bill in 1716, was absent on the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts, and voted for the peerage bill in 1719. He was defeated by two government nominees in 1722, and died 17 July 1725.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: A. N. Newman

Notes

  • 1. PCC 157 Romney.
  • 2. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 209.