Sir Thomas Bedingfield (c. 1592 – 23 March 1661) was an English judge and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. Bedingfield was born at Redlingfield, Suffolk, the son of Thomas Bedingfield of

Darsham Darsham is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately north east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Darsham railway station, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the ...

, Suffolk and his wife Dorothy Southwell, daughter of John Southwell of Barham. He was at school at Southwold and admitted at

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

on 24 June 1608, at the age of 16. He was admitted at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

on 1 November 1608 and was called to the bar in 1615. In 1621, Bedingfield was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was ...

. He was elected MP for Dunwich again in 1626. In 1636 he was Lent Reader for his Inn. He became

Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster is the law officer of the Crown for matters arising in the Duchy of Lancaster. Attorneys-General *1478–1483: Richard Empson *1519–1522: John Hales *1522–1526: Ed ...

in 1638 and was knighted in the same year. In 1648, he became

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are w ...

and

Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas ...

. He resigned his judgeship after the execution of Charles I in 1649 and represented

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the ...

. Bedingfield died at the age of about 68 and was buried at

. His granddaughter Elizabeth married William de Grey and was the mother of Thomas de Grey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedingfield, Thomas 1590s births 1661 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn People from Mid Suffolk District 17th-century English judges English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1654–1655