CHAFIN (CHAFFIN), Thomas II (1675-1711), of Chettle, Dorset

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

25 Feb. 1699 - Nov. 1701
1702 - Mar. 1711

Family and Education

bap. 27 Jan. 1675, 1st s. of Thomas Chafin I* and bro. of George Chafin*.  educ. Wadham, Oxf. 1693; M. Temple 1693.  unm. suc. fa. 1691.

Offices Held

Biography

Shortly after his coming of age, Chafin was returned as a Tory at a by-election for Shaftesbury in 1699. In February 1701 he was listed as likely to support the Court over the ‘Great Mortgage’, and was later blacklisted with other Tories for having opposed preparations for war with France. After a brief hiatus in his parliamentary career, Chafin transferred to the county in 1702. Continuing to hold this seat until his death, he remained a staunch Tory. He voted against the Lords’ amendments to the bill for enlarging the time for taking the oath of abjuration on 13 Feb. 1703, and was forecast as a supporter of Lord Nottingham (Daniel Finch†) over the ‘Scotch Plot’ in March 1704. It was predicted that he would vote for the Tack, and he duly did so on 28 Nov. 1704. In a list of 1705 he was classified as ‘True Church’. On 25 Oct. he divided against the Court candidate for Speaker. Listed as a Tory in two analyses of the House in 1708, he voted against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. The ‘Hanover list’ of 1710 repeated the classification of Chafin as a Tory, and he was included in the list of ‘Tory patriots’ who opposed the continuance of the war and that of ‘worthy patriots’ who detected the mismanagements of the previous administration. He was also a member of the October Club.

Chafin died in 1711 and was buried at Chettle on 16 Mar.1

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Hutchins, Dorset, iii. 565.