FETHERSTONHALGH, Thomas (d.1682), of Stanhope Hall, co. Dur.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1679

Family and Education

1st s. of John Fetherstonhalgh of Stanhope Hall by Alice, da. and h. of William Maire of York. m. 29 Nov. 1654, Anne, da. of John Clavering of Axwell, co. Dur., at least 1s. suc. fa. 1657.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, co. Dur. Aug. 1660-3, 1664-9, 1679-80, capt. of militia ft. by 1666-?d.; freeman, Durham 1673; commr. for recusants, co. Dur. 1675, j.p. by 1680-d.2

Biography

Fetherstonhalgh’s ancestors had resided at Stanhope for many generations, assuming the surname and gaining admission to the gentry in the reign of Edward III. His grandfather sat for Morpeth in 1621, and his father, a Royalist in the second Civil War, compounded for £547 10s. in 1649. Fetherstonhalgh, whose estate was valued for militia purposes at £500 p.a., signed the Durham petition for the re-establishment of the palatinate at the Restoration. On Bishop Cosin’s death he petitioned for the office of receiver-general of the bishopric during the vacancy as a reward for his father’s sufferings. He was returned for the county at the second general election of 1679, but his only committee was to bring in a bill against importing Scottish cattle. When Dean Granville called on his congregation to re-elect Fetherstonhalgh and his kinsman William Bowes in 1681, a local nonconformist objected that the two were neither Protestants nor enemies to Popery; but he was returned with an increased majority. He left no trace on the records of the Oxford Parliament, but at the August assizes was awarded £40 damages against an opponent who had called him a Papist. He died on 28 July 1682 and was buried at Stanhope, the last of his family to sit in Parliament.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: Gillian Hampson / Geoffrey Jaggar

Notes

  • 1. W. M. Egglestone, Stanhope, 91; Dur. RO, Denton par. reg.; Vis. Dur. ed. Foster, 71, 119; CSP Dom. 1684-5, p. 164; PCC Admons. (Index Lib. lxxii), 141; C6/132/235.
  • 2. HMC Var. ii. 116; Durham Cathedral Lib. Sharp mss 109/11; CSP Dom. 1671-2, p. 231; Surtees, Dur. iv. pt. 2, p. 22.
  • 3. Vis. Dur. 119; CSP Dom. 1671-2, p. 424; Royalist Comps. (Surtees Soc. cxi), 200-1; Surtees, i. p. cxliv; Sharp mss 109/11, 41; C. E. Whiting, Nathaniel, Lord Crewe, 116-17; Six N. Country Diaries (Surtees Soc. cxviii), 45; Egglestone, 92.