ROUS, Thomas Bates (c.1739-99), of Berners St., London

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

25 Nov. 1773 - 8 Feb. 1774
1774 - 1784

Family and Education

b. c.1739, 1st surv. s. of Thomas Rous, and bro. of George Rous.  m. 25 June 1769, Amelia Hunter, 1 illegit. s.  suc. fa. 1771.

Offices Held

Director, E.I. Co. 1773-4, 1776-9.

Biography

Rous entered the naval service of the East India Company ‘under the patronage of Lord Clive, soon acquired a handsome fortune’,1 and returned to England shortly after his father’s death. In 1773 he contested Worcester on the corporation interest, backed by Clive and probably also by Government; but was unseated on petition for bribery (the election is said to have cost him £10,000). He was successful after a contest at the general election of 1774, and in 1780 he had another contest.

Rous voted steadily against North’s Administration. He voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783; for parliamentary reform, 7 May 1783, and for Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. His defeat at Worcester in 1784 was attributed to his support of the Coalition, but probably a more important reason was the exhaustion of his financial resources—it was his fourth contest in ten years.

He died 1 Feb. 1799.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: I. R. Christie

Notes

  • 1. Gent. Mag. 1799, p. 250.