READE, Sir Thomas, 4th Bt. (c.1684-1752), of Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxon.

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

Constituency

Dates

1713 - 1741
24 Dec. 1741 - 1747

Family and Education

b. c.1684, 2nd s. of Sir Edward Reade, 2nd Bt., of Shipton Court, and bro. of George Reade. m. 29 Oct. 1719, Jane Mary, da. of Sir Ralph Dutton, 1st Bt., M.P., of Sherborne, Glos., 1s. suc. e. bro. Sir Winwood Reade, 3rd Bt., 30 June 1692.

Offices Held

Clerk of the household to Prince of Wales c.1722-7; clerk of the Green Cloth 1727-d.

Biography

Reade’s estates were some 20 miles from Cricklade, for which he was returned five times, after contesting Oxfordshire unsuccessfully in 1710. He is described by Hearne in 1710 as ‘a young gentleman that never had any literary education; he is a staunch Whig, a loose debauchee and has little or nothing of religion’.1 After 1715 he regularly voted with the Government, except on the peerage bill in 1719. On his death, 25 Sept. 1752, Henry Pelham referred to him as ‘an old servant of the King’s, and a very honest man, but he has been declining for many years’.2

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

  • 1. Hearne, Colls. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), ii. 348.
  • 2. To Newcastle, 29 Sept. 1752, Add. 32729, f. 396.