SAUNDERS, Thomas I (1626-c.70), of Mongewell Park, Crowmarsh, Oxon.

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

Constituency

Dates

16 June 1660

Family and Education

b. 5 Dec. 1626, o.s. of John Saunders, barrister, of the Middle Temple and Reading, Berks. by Margaret, da. of John Evelyn of Godstone, Surr. m. Anne, da. of Thomas Morris of Great Coxwell, Berks., 2s. 1da. suc. fa. 1638.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Berks. Aug. 1660-d., Oxon. 1661-d.; j.p. Oxon. 1661-d., Wallingford 1664, Berks. 1664-d.; asst. Wallingford 1663.2

Biography

Saunders came from a family seated at Woolstone in Berkshire since Elizabethan times. His father, a younger son, became a barrister and represented Reading in all five Parliaments from 1621 to 1629. Saunders took no part in public life during the Interregnum. He probably bought Mongewell Park, only one mile from Wallingford on the other bank of the Thames, with the £2,350 appropriated for that purpose in his father’s will. His sister married William Knollys, and no doubt he enjoyed the Knollys interest when he contested Wallingford at a by-election in June 1660, defeating Sir Humphrey Bennet. He made no speeches and was named to no committees, but probably supported the Court. He did not stand in 1661, but assisted George Fane in his unauthorized attempt to remodel the corporation, to which he was nominated in the new charter of 1663. His will, dated 25 Oct. 1669, was proved on 15 Feb. 1671. His estate was estimated at £800 p.a., which is in general accord with the power given to his son to make a jointure of £300 p.a.; but the further history of the family is obscure.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Leonard Naylor

Notes

  • 1. The Gen. o.s. vi. 87; Bodl. Top. Oxon. b.219(R); Wards 7/93/200.
  • 2. C66/3037.
  • 3. VCH Berks. iv. 545-6; Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvi), 277; PCC 62 Lee, 195 Bowyer, 28 Duke; SP29/33/51; Salisbury Cathedral Lib., Bp. Seth Ward, Liber Notitiae, f. 53.