STAPLETON, Sir Thomas, 5th Bt. (1727-81), of Greys Court, Oxon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

19 Nov. 1759 - 1768

Family and Education

b. 24 Feb. 1727, 1st surv. s. of Sir William Stapleton 4th Bt., M.P., by Catherine, da. and h. of William Paul of Braywick, Berks.  educ. Eton 1742; St. Mary Hall, Oxf. 1744.  m. 27 Nov. 1765, Mary, da. of Henry Fane of Wormsley, Bucks., 1s. 1da.  suc. fa. 12 Jan. 1740.

Offices Held

Biography

The Stapletons, of Irish extraction, emigrated to the West Indies temp. Charles II, and settled in Oxfordshire in the early 18th century. Sir Thomas Stapleton’s father was M.P. for Oxfordshire 1727-1740, and Sir Thomas was returned for Oxford without a contest in 1759 and 1761. In Bute’s list of 1761 he was classed as ‘Tory’, and he appears in Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries. In the autumn of 1763 Jenkinson classed him as a Government supporter. Rockingham in July 1765 classed him as ‘contra’, and he voted against the repeal of the Stamp Act, 22 Feb. 1766. No other vote by him is known. There is no record of his having spoken in the House.

In May 1766 the corporation of Oxford offered to secure the return of Stapleton and his colleague Robert Lee, if they would advance £5,670 to pay off the corporation’s debts. The offer was refused—‘As we never intend to sell you, so we cannot afford the purchase’, they wrote to the corporation; and neither stood at the general election of 1768.

Stapleton died 1 Jan. 1781.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes