HOBY, Thomas (1642-c.1707), of Breamore, Hants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1681
1689 - 1698

Family and Education

bap. 7 Jan. 1642, 4th but 2nd surv. s. of Peregrine Hoby† (d. 1679) of Bisham Abbey, Berks. by Katherine (d. 1687), da. of Sir William Doddington of Breamore and coh. to her bro. Edward.  educ. L. Inn 1659.  m. aft. 1677, his cos. Anne (d. 1691), da. and h. of John Doddington of Breamore, wid. of Robert, 4th Baron Brooke, s.p.1

Offices Held

Verderer, New Forest c.1689–aft. 1694, commr. of inquiry into encroachments 1691; freeman, Winchester by 1695.2

Biography

The Hampshire estate which came to Hoby on his marriage, lying as it did only some 12 miles down the Avon valley, gave him a strong electoral base in Salisbury. He also enjoyed the favour of the Duke of Bolton (Charles Powlett II†), to whom he owed his appointment in the New Forest, and was quite wealthy in his own right, being able to lend the crown £10,000 in 1689–90. He was classed as a Whig by Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) after his safe re-election for Salisbury in 1690. In April 1691 Robert Harley* listed him as a doubtful supporter of the Country party. However, Grascome’s list of 1693 accounted him a Court supporter. Hoby spoke on 19 Jan. 1692, in a debate on the poll tax, joining Anthony Bowyer* in making an unsuccessful proposal, the details of which are not known. He was granted leave of absence for a fortnight on grounds of ill-health on 2 Feb. An advocate with Henry Goldwell* on 13 Dec. 1692 in favour of the principle of equality between counties in the land tax ‘by way of a pound rate’, he also complained to the House three days later ‘of the violent abuses and insolencies of soldiers about him’, returning to the subject towards the end of the session, on 8 Feb. 1693, when he ‘gave an account of divers great abuses committed by press-masters’. His only other recorded speech was also made on 8 Feb., on the New Forest timber bill, which he opposed, with several other ‘friends to the Duke of Bolton’. He was given a fortnight’s leave of absence on 10 Feb. 1694, but by 26 Mar. was acting as a teller in favour of adjourning the debate on the East India Company loan.3

Forecast as likely to support the Court in the division of 31 Jan. 1696 over the proposed council of trade, Hoby signed the Association and voted in March for fixing the price of guineas at 22s. He voted on 25 Nov. 1696 for the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. He was granted leave of absence on 22 Mar. 1697 and again on 19 Apr. 1698. In a comparative list of the old and new Parliaments after the 1698 general election he figured as a supporter of the Court. James Vernon I* also noted him as one of the ‘honest men’ lost from the Commons. He had not put up, having earlier offered to resign his ‘interest’ at Salisbury to Thomas Jervoise*, in a vain attempt to assist Bolton’s heir, Lord Winchester (Charles Powlett I*), in his negotiations with Jervoise over the Hampshire election.4

Hoby, who served in the lieutenancy for both Hampshire and Wiltshire, was still active in this capacity as late as March 1705. His will, in which he made his elder brother Sir John Hoby, 2nd Bt., the heir to all his estates (in Hampshire and Gloucestershire) except some lands in Wales reserved for a nephew, was proved on 14 Oct. 1707. Smaller bequests included £100 to the corporation of Salisbury.5

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

  • 1. Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvi), 228; Bisham Par. Reg. (Par. Reg. Soc. xv), 11.
  • 2. Cal. Treas. Pprs. 1557–1696, p. 141; Cal. Treas. Bks. ix. 422, 427–9, 908, 1384; x. 507; Hants RO, Winchester bor. recs. ordnance bk. 7, f. 128.
  • 3. Cal. Treas. Bks. ix. 1988, 1996; Luttrell Diary, 141, 311, 324, 409, 411.
  • 4. Northants. RO, Montagu (Boughton) mss 47/63, Vernon to Shrewsbury, 30 July 1698; Bolton mss at Bolton Hall, Thomas Cobbe to Winchester, 16 May 1698.
  • 5. CSP Dom. 1700–2, pp. 252–3; HMC Lords, n.s. vi. 419; PCC 230 Poley; Hoare, Wilts. Salisbury, 505.