# Thomas Dummer

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For the earlier MP, see [Thomas Lee Dummer](/source/Thomas_Lee_Dummer).

**Thomas Dummer** (1739–1781) was an English [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament) for [Newport (Isle of Wight)](/source/Newport_(Isle_of_Wight)_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) (1765–1768), [Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)](/source/Yarmouth_(Isle_of_Wight)_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) (1769–1774), [Downton](/source/Downton_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in [Wiltshire](/source/Wiltshire) (1774), [Wendover](/source/Wendover_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire) (1775–1780) and [Lymington](/source/Lymington_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire) (1780–1781).

## Political career

Dummer was the son of [Thomas Lee Dummer](/source/Thomas_Lee_Dummer). On his father's death in October 1765, he succeeded him to the family estate at [Cranbury Park](/source/Cranbury_Park) near [Winchester](/source/Winchester), [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire) as well as estates at [Weston](/source/Weston,_Southampton) and [Netley](/source/Netley), near [Southampton](/source/Southampton) and at [Horninghold](/source/Horninghold) in [Leicestershire](/source/Leicestershire). He also took his father's parliamentary seat at [Newport](/source/Newport_(Isle_of_Wight)_(UK_Parliament_constituency)). In 1768, he lost his seat to [Hans Sloane](/source/Hans_Sloane_(MP)) who was in the patronage of the influential [Hans Stanley](/source/Hans_Stanley).[1]

In 1769, he became M.P. for nearby [Yarmouth](/source/Yarmouth_(Isle_of_Wight)_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) (1769–1774). Originally, the election was in favour of [William Strode](/source/William_Strode_(1738-1809)) and [Jervoise Clarke](/source/Jervoise_Clarke_Jervoise_(died_1808)), but on petition the election was reversed in favour of Dummer and [Major General the Hon. George Lane Parker](/source/George_Lane_Parker).[1]

In the 1774 election, Dummer stood for election at [Downton](/source/Downton_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in [Wiltshire](/source/Wiltshire). He and [Thomas Duncombe](/source/Thomas_Duncombe_(died_1779)) were initially declared the victors, but on petition it was decided that they had not been duly elected and their opponents, [John Cooper](/source/John_Cooper_(d._1779)) and [Sir Philip Hales](/source/Sir_Philip_Hales,_5th_Baronet), were declared elected in their place.[1]

The following year, he was elected to represent [Wendover](/source/Wendover_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire) before returning to Hampshire in 1780 as M.P. for [Lymington](/source/Lymington_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) until his death in 1781.[1]

In May 1773, he was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society).[2]

## Cranbury Park

On his father's death in 1765, Dummer inherited the family estate at [Cranbury Park](/source/Cranbury_Park). In 1770, he purchased the City Cross (also known as the [Buttercross](/source/Buttercross)) from the Corporation of [Winchester](/source/Winchester), intending to have it re-erected at Cranbury. When his workmen arrived to dismantle the cross, they were prevented from doing so by the people of the city, who "*organised a small riot*"[3] and they were forced to abandon their task. The agreement with the city was cancelled and Dummer erected a [lath and plaster](/source/Lath_and_plaster) facsimile, which stood in the park for about sixty years before it was destroyed by the weather.[4]

Undaunted by his failure to acquire the City Cross to grace the estate, Dummer turned his attention to the ruins of [Netley Abbey](/source/Netley_Abbey), which he also owned, and moved the north transept of the abbey to Cranbury Park, where it can be still be seen as a [folly](/source/Folly) in the gardens of the house (at [51°00′08″N 01°21′49″W](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?params=51_00_08_N_01_21_49_W)).[5][6] The ruins comprise an arch, the base of a pillar, and a scaled-down gateway tower. The rear of the gateway has been made into a keeper's lodge, and is known to the village of [Otterbourne](/source/Otterbourne) as "the Castle"[4] and is marked as such on the [Ordnance Survey](/source/Ordnance_Survey) map.

Thomas Dummer died without heirs in 1781, leaving his property at Cranbury and [Netley](/source/Netley) and also at [Horninghold](/source/Horninghold) in [Leicestershire](/source/Leicestershire) first to his widow, Harriet, daughter of [Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet](/source/Sir_Cecil_Bishopp,_6th_Baronet) of Parham, with reversion to his lifelong friend Thomas Chamberlayne.[4] Harriet Dummer then married Thomas Chamberlayne, and after his death[7] she married the artist Nathaniel Dance in 1790.[8] Dance, who was later to become Sir [Nathaniel Dance-Holland](/source/Nathaniel_Dance-Holland), Bt., was the brother of [George Dance](/source/George_Dance_the_Younger), who had designed the present-day house at Cranbury, built in 1780.[6]

## References

1. ["DUMMER, Thomas (c.1739-81), of Cranbury, Hants."](http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/dummer-thomas-1739-81). History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 29 December 2017.

1. ["Library and Archive Catalogue"](http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27dummer%27%29). Royal Society. Retrieved 28 November 2010.

1. ["The Buttercross, Winchester"](http://www.cityofwinchester.co.uk/history/html/buttercross.html). City of Winchester. 1998. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

1. Yonge, Charlotte M. (1898). ["Old Otterbourne"](http://www.online-literature.com/charlotte-yonge/john-keble/8/). *[John Keble](/source/John_Keble)'s Parishes – Chapter 8*. www.online-literature.com. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

1. Thompson, A. Hamilton (1953). *Netley Abbey*. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 22. ISBN 0-11-670020-3.

1. Ford, Michael (1999). ["History of Cranbury Park, Hampshire"](http://www.britannia.com/history/chouses/cranbury.html). *The English Country House*. www.britannia.com. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

1. ["Horninghold, Gartree Hundred"](http://www.horninghold.org.uk/history/victoria%20county%20history%20of%20leicestershire_horninghold.pdf). *Victoria County History of Leicestershire*. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

1. George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume I, page 156.

## External links

- [The Family of Dummer of British Origin](https://web.archive.org/web/20101007211741/http://www.dummerfamily.org.uk/)
- [The families of Dummer](http://www.cavillconnections.co.uk/dummer.htm)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Dummer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dummer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dummer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.