Sir Thomas Chicheley (25 March 1614 – 1 February 1699) of

Wimpole Hall Wimpole Estate is a large estate containing Wimpole Hall, a country house located within the civil parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its of parkland and farmland are owned ...

, Cambridgeshire was a politician in England in the seventeenth century who fell from favour in the reign of James II. His name is sometimes spelt as Chichele.

Life

He was born the eldest surviving son of Thomas Chicheley (1578–1616) of

Wimpole Wimpole is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. Until 1999, the main settlement on the A603 was officially known and signed as ''New Wimpole and Orwell, Camb ...

and was related to

Henry Chichele Henry Chichele ( ; also Checheley; – 12 April 1443) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–1443) and founded All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Chichele was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364; Chichele told Pope Eu ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

and founder of

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, Oxford. He succeeded his father to

, the largest house in Cambridgeshire. He was

High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire This is a list of sheriffs and since 1974 high sheriffs of Cambridgeshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the ...

for 1637–38, and in 1640 was elected to the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

as one of the MPs for

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

. However, being a strong

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

, he was "disabled from sitting" (in other words expelled) soon after the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. After the Restoration, he was elected once more for Cambridgeshire in the Parliament of 1661–1679, and subsequently sat for the city of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

until his retirement after the

Convention Parliament (1689) The English Convention was an assembly of the Parliament of England which met between 22 January and 12 February 1689 (1688 old style, so its legislation was labelled with that earlier year) and transferred the crowns of England and Ireland from ...

. History of Parliament Online - Chicheley, Thomas
/ref> He was appointed a deputy lieutenant for the county by 1639 to 1642 and from 1660 to 1685. He was also custos rotulorum for the county in 1642 and, after the restoration in 1660, for Cambridgeshire and Ely (until 1687). In 1670, he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

, made a member of the Privy Council and appointed

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

. He held that office until 1679, when he was succeeded by three Commissioners of the Ordnance, including his son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. The same year he became

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. Excluding the prime minister, the chancellor is the highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the prime minister ...

, but was ejected from office and expelled from the Privy Council on 2 March 1687 by James II. He sat again, however, in Parliament for the city of Cambridge in 1678, 1679, 1685, and 1689, and died in 1699, at the age of eighty-four. According to

Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is most remembered today for the diary he kept for almost a decade. Though ...

, Chicheley lived extravagantly in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and this was probably the reason that he was forced to sell his Wimpole estate to Sir John Cutler thirteen years before his death. He had married Sarah, the daughter of Sir William Russell, and had 3 sons (who all predeceased him) and 2 daughters. After Sarah's death in 1654 he married again ''circa'' 1655 to Anne, the daughter of Sir

Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry (157814 January 1640) was a prominent English lawyer, politician and judge during the early 17th century. Education and early legal career He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1592, and the Inner Temple in ...

of Aylesborough and the widow of

Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet of Thornhill (1612 – 24 January 1644) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons between 1640 and 1642. He fought on the Cavaliers, Royalist side in the English Civil ...

, of Thornhill, Yorkshire and had 2 further sons.

References

;Attribution * * D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) 1614 births 1699 deaths People from Wimpole Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Members of the Privy Council of England Knights Bachelor Lords of the Admiralty English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 High sheriffs of Cambridgeshire Deputy lieutenants of Cambridgeshire People expelled from the Privy Council of England {{1689-England-MP-stub