TYRRELL (TIRRELL), Thomas (c.1594-1672), of Castle Thorpe, Bucks.

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

Constituency

Dates

11 Apr. - 27 July 1660

Family and Education

b. c.1594, 3rd s. of Sir Edward Tyrrell (d.1606) of Thornton, being 2nd s. by his 2nd w. Margaret, da. of John Aston of Aston, Cheshire, wid. of Thomas Egerton of Wall Grange, Staffs. educ. I. Temple 1612, called 1621. m. (1) Frances (bur. 1 Dec. 1653), da. of Thomas Saunders of Long Marston, Herts., wid. of Richard Grenville of Wotton Underwood, Bucks., 2s. 2da.; (2) 14 Feb. 1655, Jane, wid. of Francis Windebank, gov. of Bletchington House, Oxon., s.p.; (3) 28 Aug. 1662, Bridget (d.1685), da. of Sir Edward Harrington, 2nd Bt., of Ridlington, Rutland, wid. of Sir John Gore of Gilston, Herts., 1s. Kntd. 16 July 1660.1

Offices Held

J.p. Bucks. by 1641-9, Mar. 1660-d., dep. lt. 1642; commr. for defence, midland assoc. 1642, assessment, Bucks. 1643, 1647-8, 1657, Jan. 1660-9, sequestration 1643, levying of money 1643, militia, Bucks. 1648, 1659, Bucks. and Westminster Mar. 1660; custos rot. Buckingham 1654-8, Bucks. Mar.-July 1660; freeman, Denbigh 1655; bencher, I. Temple 1659; commr. for oyer and terminer, Mdx. and Western and Midland circuits July 1660, London Nov. 1660, Wales 1661.2

Capt. of horse (parliamentary) 1642, col. 1644-5.3

Serjeant-at-law 1659; commr. of great seal June-Oct. 1659, Jan.-May 1660; Councillor of State 2 Jan.-25 Feb. 1660; j.c.p. July 1660-d. 4

Biography

Tyrrell came from a cadet branch of the Essex family which acquired Thornton by marriage in 1526. Tyrrell himself, a younger son, became a lawyer. He took the popular side at the outset of the Civil War, assisting John Hampden to raise forces for Parliament, and later served as colonel under the Earl of Essex. He stood unsuccessfully for Aylesbury at the recruiter election of 1645. Apart from one assessment commission, he held no county office between the execution of Charles I and the collapse of the military junta; nor does he seem to have achieved eminence in his profession. Despite his second marriage to the widow of a Cavalier, he was returned for Aylesbury to Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, and made a commissioner of the great seal by the Rump a few months later.5

Tyrrell was returned for the county in 1660. A moderately active Member of the Convention, he made no recorded speeches, but was named to ten committees, including those for giving legal form to the Restoration, considering the indemnity bill, continuing judicial proceedings, confirming parliamentary privileges, and inquiring into the unauthorized printing of parliamentary proceedings. Presumably a supporter of the Restoration, he was unanimously approved as commissioner of the great seal, and raised to the bench before the summer recess. In June 1663 he acquired the freehold of the crown manor of Hanslope, to which Castle Thorpe belonged. He was buried at Castle Thorpe on 16 Mar. 1672, aged 78.6

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Leonard Naylor / Geoffrey Jaggar

Notes

  • 1. Lipscomb, Bucks. i. 600; iv. 175; Ormerod, Cheshire, i. 724; PCC 25 Tirwhite, 144 Cann; Mems. St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 367.
  • 2. Lipscomb, i. 597; J. Williams, Recs. of Denbigh, 135.
  • 3. E. Peacock, Army Lists, 51; CSP Dom. Add. 1625-49, p. 666.
  • 4. CJ, vii. 801.
  • 5. Vis. Bucks. (Harl. Soc. lviii), 117-18; VCH Bucks. iv. 245, 351-2.
  • 6. Voyce from the Watch Tower, 123; CSP Dom. 1663-4, p. 188; Lipscomb, iv. 92.