LODER, Thomas (1652-1713), of Prince's Harwell and Balsdon Park, Kintbury, Berks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. 30 Aug. 1652, 1st s. of John Loder of Welford and Hinton Waldrist by Mary, da. and h. of Thomas Barrett of Balsdon Park. educ. Brasenose, Oxf. 1670, BA (Queen’s) 1675. m. bef. 17 Nov. 1679 (with £5,000), Elizabeth, da. of Sir Jonathan Raymond, Brewer, of Houndsditch, Mdx. and Barton Court, Kintbury, 1da. suc. fa. 1701.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Berks. 1690-d.

Biography

Loder’s ancestors had held the manor of Prince’s Harwell since 1557, raising themselves from yeoman status to the ranks of the gentry by enterprising husbandry combined with careful bookkeeping; but none had aspired to a seat in Parliament. His father apparently ignored a request from Charles I for a loan during the Civil War, and was named to three local commissions during the Protectorate; after the Restoration he acquired much of the property of the profligate republican, Henry Martin, allowing him £2 a week (subsequently halved) for ‘necessaries’. Loder’s mother brought into the family the Balsdon Park estate, about seven miles from Great Bedwyn, which was entailed on him in 1682. He married the daughter of a Tory alderman of London by another Kintbury heiress. Returned to James II’s Parliament for Great Bedwyn, Loder left no trace on its records. His father was appointed a deputy lieutenant in March 1688, but Loder seems to have held no local office till after the Revolution. Much of his property appears to have passed to his father-in-law, who sat for Great Bedwyn from 1690 to 1695. He died in 1713, the only member of the family to sit in Parliament. His great-granddaughter eventually brought the Raymond estate to Charles Dundas, MP for Berkshire from 1794 to 1832.2

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Kintbury par. reg.; C7/297/89.
  • 2. VCH Berks. iii. 488; iv. 207, 211, 464-5; C5/56/41; CSP Dom. 1673, p. 235; J. R. Whitehead, Rulers of London, 136; PCC 44 Dyer; Lysons, Berks. 305; Berks. Arch. Jnl. lxii. 68.