Sir Thomas Sewell ( – 6 March 1784) was an English judge and

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 ...

, and

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...

from 1764 to 1784. He was the son of Thomas Sewell of West Ham,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He is said to have been "bred up under an attorney". Sewell was a member of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, called to the bar in 1734, and practised in the

Chancery Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Chancery (diplomacy), the principal office that houses a diplomatic mission or an embassy * Chancery (medieval office), responsible for the production of official documents * Chancery (Scotlan ...

courts, where he was highly successful. He became a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

of his inn and

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in 1754, and Treasurer of the Inn in 1765. By 1764, he was thought to be making between £3000 and £4000 a year from his practice, and was popular among religious dissenters as their champion in the courts.

Political career

He stood for Parliament in 1754 at Wallingford and was defeated, despite spending more than £2000 (some from the Prime Minister's election fund) in the attempt,Page 198 note 2,

Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Amer ...

, ''

The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' was a book written by Lewis Namier. At the time of its first publication in 1929 it caused a historiographical revolution in understanding the 18th century by challenging the Whig view ...

'' (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957) but was elected in 1758 as member for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton- ...

. Harwich was a "Treasury borough", where the government candidate was certain of success, but Sewell had his own interest in the town as well, since his father-in-law, Thomas Heath had been its MP earlier in the century. However, he made little impact in the Commons and at the next election was not re-nominated at Harwich. He stood instead at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal c ...

, where he was heavily defeated despite Prime Minister Newcastle's support, though this time at his own expense rather than the government's. Nevertheless, later in the year, he was returned instead as the government candidate at

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...

. In 1761, Sewell was one of two candidates considered for appointment as Solicitor General, but the post went instead to Fletcher Norton. However, in 1764 he was knighted and appointed

, apparently to the surprise of many including himself, after a number of other candidates had refused the post; he held it until his death twenty years later. He earned a reputation as an able and efficient judge. He was also made a member of the Privy Council.

Family

He married firstly Catherine Heath, daughter of Thomas Heath, MP for Harwich, by whom he had eight children, including Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell, his eldest son and heir, and Frances, who married Matthew Lewis, the Deputy

Secretary at War The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Aft ...

by whom she was the mother of the writer Matthew Lewis. She and her husband were later separated. He married secondly Mary Elizabeth Sibthorpe, daughter of Humphry Sibthorp, professor of

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and his first wife Sarah Waldo, by whom he had no surviving issue. Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell married Lady Elizabeth Bermingham, eldest daughter and co-heiress of

Thomas Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth Thomas Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth (16 November 1717 – 11 January 1799) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. He was also the last man to be summoned to parliament as Baron Athenry. Bermingham was the son of Francis Bermingham, 14th Bar ...

. Their son, also Thomas, made out a claim to the older Bermingham title

Baron Athenry Baron Athenry is one of the oldest titles in the Peerage of Ireland, but the date of its creation is thoroughly uncertain; each of the first four Berminghams listed below is claimed by some writers to have been Lord Athenry, but the evidence is di ...

, but failed to establish his right, the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

ruling, as they also did in another case, that the title could not descend in the female line.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Thomas 1710 births 1784 deaths British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Masters of the Rolls Year of birth uncertain