DONE, Thomas (c.1651-1703), of Park Street (Queen Anne's Gate), Westminster.

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

Family and Education

b. c.1651, 6th s. of Sir Ralph Done (d.1660) of Duddon, Cheshire, being 3rd s. by 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Savage of Clifton, Cheshire. educ. L. Inn 1672; G. Inn 1672, called 1677. m. lic. 2 July 1678, aged 27, Jane, da. of Sir Thomas Griffith, merchant, of Bishopsgate, London, 1s. 3da.1

Offices Held

Auditor of imprests 1677-d.; commr. of inquiry into abuses in the Mint 1678; j.p. Westminster 1682-9; commr. for assessment, Mdx. and Westminster 1689-90.2

Biography

Done was descended from a cadet branch of a family established in Cheshire since the 13th century. His great-uncle sat for the county in 1593. His father, a Royalist, was taken prisoner at Nantwich in 1644, but was not required to compound for his estate. After qualifying as a barrister, Done obtained a grant for life of an Exchequer office, valued at £1,000 p.a. or more and served on the jury which awarded the Duke of York £10,000 for scandalum magnatum against Titus Oates. He was elected for Newtown on the government interest in 1685, and became a very active Member of James II’s Parliament, serving on 19 committees, including that to recommend expunctions from the Journals. He took the chair for the inspection of the disbandment accounts. In the second session he was instructed with Charles Bonython to see that the streets between Temple Bar and Westminster Hall were kept clear for Members to pass to and from the House, and he presented a petition against a defaulting banker. Although he was clearly a strong Anglican, he was one of the Middlesex justices who asked for a dispensation in 1687. He was on the jury which acquitted the Seven Bishops; nevertheless he was told on 15 Sept. 1688 that ‘the King thinks fit you should stand for Newtown’, and recommended by Sunderland to Sir Robert Holmes as court candidate. He was duly returned at the general election after the King’s flight.3

Done was again a very active Member in the Convention, being appointed to 57 committees and acting as teller in six divisions. He was one of the Members appointed to thank Burnet for his sermon on the day of thanksgiving, Jan. 1689. As one of the champions of the Church, he was sent with William Leveson Gower to thank the archbishops for the steadfast refusal of most of the Anglican clergy to read the Declaration of Indulgence. A Tory, he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. The accounts of the Treasury solicitors of the previous reign were in his hands, and on 22 Feb. 1689 he was added to the committee to search for evidence of tampering with the courts of justice. He was appointed to the committees to inquire into the authors and advisers of recent grievances, to bring in the first mutiny bill, to draft new oaths of supremacy and allegiance, to repeal the Corporations Act and to prepare a comprehension bill. Although he was not named to the committee to draw up the address of thanks for the King’s message of 12 Apr. on religion, he took the chair and presented the report, and on 16 Apr. was sent to the Lords to agree to their amendments. On 6 May he acted as teller for the unsuccessful motion that the auditor of the receipt should be paid £4,000 for his pains over the poll-tax. He was also teller for putting the Tory motion to replace the word ‘hereafter’ in the Bill of Rights. He was proposed as chairman of the grand committee on the bill of indemnity, but was defeated by Sir Thomas Littleton, 3rd Bt. He was appointed to the committee for the toleration bill, but acted as teller against reading the London petition for admitting dissenters to office. He took the chair in the committee to consider the petition from the creditors of the army, but although the report was said to be ready at the end of May he did not present it till 28 June, when the petitioners had promised him a gratuity of 1d. in the £ on their claims. On 19 Aug. he was sent to the Lords to desire a conference on the bill for the better recovery of tithe.4

When the House reassembled on 19 Oct. Done seconded the motion of (Sir) Joseph Tredenham for an adjournment to Monday week. He was appointed to the committees to inspect war expenditure and examine miscarriages. On 30 Dec. he was teller for the unsuccessful motion to debate the Lords’ amendments to the tithe bill. He was sent to desire Dr Scott to preach to the House on the anniversary of Charles I’s execution. He continued to represent Newtown as a Tory in the next two Parliaments. His refusal to sign the Association, however, caused some surprise. He died in January 1703.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Ormerod, Cheshire, ii. 249; London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 411; PCC 5 Degg.
  • 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. v. 627, 641, 791, 810, 986.
  • 3. State Trials, x. 131; CJ, ix. 751; Christ Church Oxf. Evelyn mss, Luttrell, i. 396, 446; CSP Dom. 1687-9, p. 276.
  • 4. CJ, x. 16, 86, 126, 197, 199; Simpson thesis, 175; R. Morrice, Entering Bk. 2, p. 556; Add. 29564, f. 66.
  • 5. Morrice, 3, p. 617; CJ, x. 339; HMC Lords, n.s. ii. 211; Luttrell, v. 258; Cal. Treas. Bks. xviii. 111.