MACKWORTH, Sir Thomas, 4th Bt. (d.1745), of Normanton, Rutland.

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

Constituency

Dates

17 Dec. 1694 - 1695
1701 - 1708
1713 - 1715
5 Apr. 1721 - 1727

Family and Education

o. surv. s. of Sir Thomas Mackworth, 3rd Bt., M.P., by his 2nd w. Anne, da. of Col. Humphrey Mackworth, M.P., of Betton, Salop. unm. suc. fa. Nov. 1694.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Rutland 1696-7.

Biography

Of an ancient Rutland family, Mackworth’s father fought on the King’s side in the civil war, went into exile in the Netherlands, and represented his county from 1679 until his death. Returned for Rutland unopposed as a Tory at a by-election in 1721, Mackworth headed the poll in 1722, but was ruined by the expense of the contest. Next year his estates were sold by order of the court of Chancery to pay his debts, Normanton being bought subsequently by Sir Gilbert Heathcote.1 In the winter of 1729 he was in Paris, where he told a Jacobite that

if the King [the Pretender] were Protestant or dissembled to be one, or brought up his son one, his restoration would be secure ... the present government will entirely ruin them in all things and ... if the King had 5,000 or 6,000 good troops, they’d beat the 18,000 they have now in England, if they would not all desert over to him.2

He died at Kentish Town in February 1745, leaving his London property in trust to his illegitimate son, Thomas Mackworth.3

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Blore, Rutland, 132-3.
  • 2. Stuart mss 132/59.
  • 3. PCC 51 Seymer.