HALES, Thomas (?1694-1762), of Bekesbourne, Kent.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1722 - 1727
1727 - 1734
1734 - 1741
3 Dec. 1744 - 1761
8 Dec. 1761 - 6 Oct. 1762

Family and Education

b. ?1694, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Hales, 2nd Bt.. educ. Oriel, Oxf. 15 Dec. 1711, aged 17; I. Temple. m. 22 June 1723, Mary, da. of Sir Robert Marsham, 4th Bt., M.P., sis. of Robert Marsham, 1st Baron Romney, 6s. 7da. suc. fa. as 3rd Bt. 7 Jan. 1748.

Offices Held

Clerk of the household to the Prince of Wales, 1718-27; clerk of the Green Cloth 1727-60; lt. of Dover castle 1728-50; mayor, Hythe 1747; vice-warden of the Cinque Ports 1750-d.

Biography

Soon after George I’s accession Hales obtained a post in the household of the future George II, where he remained throughout the next reign. In 1722 he was returned for Minehead, near which his father had acquired an estate by marriage. At the next general election he was brought in by the Government for Camelford, after contesting Hythe unsuccessfully on the Duke of Dorset’s interest. Before the general election of 1734 he wrote to Dorset in Ireland, 22 Sept. 1733: ‘I am often questioned about my standing at Hythe, to which I always give a doubtful answer; when your Grace would have me give any other I hope you’ll let me know, and that your Grace did not forget Camelford before you left England, for I hear they are settling these boroughs now’.1 In the end he was returned by the Administration for Grampound. On his defeat there in 1741, Lord John Sackville wrote to the Duke of Bedford, 11 June: ‘I am told a petition will be offered ... by Mr. Hales ... There has always been between his family and the Duke of Dorset such a particular friendship that I am afraid I must not vote against him.’2 The petition was not proceeded with but he was later returned by Dorset for Hythe without opposition.

He died 6 Oct. 1762.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: A. N. Newman

Notes

  • 1. Sackville mss, Kent AO.
  • 2. Bedford mss.