NEWNHAM, Thomas (1697-1761), of Winchester, Hants.

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

Constituency

Dates

1741 - 1754

Family and Education

b. 1 May 1697, 1st s. of Nathaniel Newnham of Streatham, Surr. and bro. of Nathaniel Newnham. m. Penelope, da. of B. R. Shelley of Brockhampton, Salop.1

Offices Held

Biography

Thomas Newnham was the son of a wealthy nonconformist London merchant. The family were old acquaintances of the Pelhams in Sussex,2 where a senior branch had acquired an estate at Maresfield. Defeated at Marlborough in 1734, he petitioned unsuccessfully, ‘notwithstanding the utmost efforts of Sir Robert Walpole’ on his behalf in the House of Commons.3 In 1740 he was believed by his family to be drinking himself to death at Winchester, but a year later he was returned on the Admiralty interest for Queenborough, voting with the Government. In 1753 he decided not to stand again for Queenborough, as the corporation were ‘much dissatisfied with him’ and his health would not stand a contested election. Though Pelham was prepared to find him another borough, Newnham could not afford to pay the current price of £1,500-£2,000, his father, who complained of his extravagance, refusing to advance more than £1,000. So informed by Newnham’s brother-in-law, Sir Dudley Ryder, Pelham replied that

he could not disburse the King’s money [i.e. the secret service money] for him without the King’s knowing it, and that the King did not understand that the Newnham family are on such terms with him.4

He died 18 Sept. 1761.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. H. W. L. Way, Way Fam. 33.
  • 2. Sir Dudley Ryder’s diary, 9 Nov. 1753, Harrowby mss.
  • 3. HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 167.
  • 4. Sir Dudley Ryder’s diary, 23 Dec. 1740, 15 Aug. 1753, 27 Feb., 18 and 20 Mar. 1754.