Thomas Phipps (c. 1648 – 1715) was an English merchant who became briefly a Member of Parliament for, first, Wilton and, secondly, Westbury.

Origins and career

Thomas Phipps was the second son of Thomas Phipps of

Westbury Leigh Westbury may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Westbury, Buckinghamshire *Westbury, Shropshire *Westbury, Wiltshire *Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire *Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol *Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset United States *Westbury, Connect ...

, Wiltshire, whose family had emerged as prominent clothiers in the 16th century; and his wife Eleanor, daughter of James Hayes of

Beckington Beckington is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, across the River Frome from Lullington about three miles north of Frome. According to the 2011 census the parish, which includes the hamlet of Rudge, which has a population of 9 ...

, Somerset. Phipps himself sought his fortune in London, becoming involved in trading to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

, West Africa and New England. He bought property in west Wiltshire, namely Dilton manor, near Westbury, in 1693 and the nearby Heywood House around 1700.

Political career

Phipps was elected to Parliament in January 1701 as the member for Wilton, but did not contest the seat at the general election in November 1701. In July 1702, he was elected as member for Westbury, but was swiftly unseated on petition. Thereafter, he played little active role in politics, though he gave evidence to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

in 1712 in defence of the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of Eng ...

.PHIPPS, Thomas (?1648-1715), of Clerkenwell, Mdx. and Heywood Place, nr. Westbury, Wilts.
''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690–1715'', ed. D.Hayton, E.Cruickshanks, S.Handley, 2002

Personal life

In 1674, Phipps married Bridget, daughter of Peter Short, a merchant tailor of All-Hallows-in-the-Wall, London. Among their children, James Phipps was Captain-General of the Royal African Company at

Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle () is one of about forty slave fort, "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast (region), Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or Factory ( ...

between 1719 and 1722,David Henige, ''“Companies are always ungrateful”: James Phipps of Cape Coast, a victim of the African trade'', African Economic History, no.9 (1980), pp.27-47 while William Phipps was

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

between 1722 and 1729. Towards the end of his life, Phipps suffered financial difficulties. He died in 1715, and his son (also Thomas) inherited the Heywood estate with a mortgage of some £6,000. Bridget died in 1724.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, Thomas 1640s births 1715 deaths English MPs 1701 English merchants People from Westbury, Wiltshire