Thomas Phipps

{{Short description|English merchant and Member of Parliament (c. 1648–1715)}} {{about||the English landowner|Thomas Peckham Phipps}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=January 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name =  | image =  | alt =  | caption = | office1 = Member of the <br> House of Commons of the United Kingdom <br> for Wilton | term_start1 = January 1701 | term_end1 = November 1701 | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | office2 = Member of the <br> House of Commons of the United Kingdom <br> for Westbury | term_start2 = July 1702 | term_end2 = 1 December 1702 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{circa}} 1948 | birth_place = | death_date = 1715 (age ~67) | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = {{Marriage|Bridget|1674}} | father = Thomas Phipps | mother = Eleanor | children = At least 5 including: {{Bullet list |James Phipps |William Phipps |Thomas Phipps }} }}

'''Thomas Phipps''' ({{circa}} 1648 – 1715) was an English merchant who became briefly a Member of Parliament for, first, Wilton and, secondly, Westbury.

==Origins and career== Thomas Phipps was the second son of Thomas Phipps of Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, whose family had emerged as prominent clothiers in the 16th century; and his wife Eleanor, daughter of James Hayes of Beckington, Somerset.<ref name="Commons" /> Phipps himself sought his fortune in London, becoming involved in trading to the East Indies, West Africa and New England.

He bought property in west Wiltshire, namely Dilton manor, near Westbury, in 1693 and the nearby Heywood House around 1700.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol8/pp148-163 |title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 8 |date=1965 |publisher=University of London |series=Victoria County History |pages=148–163 |chapter=Westbury: Manors |access-date=16 September 2022 |via=British History Online}}</ref>

==Political career== Phipps was elected to Parliament in January 1701 as the member for Wilton, but did not contest the seat at the general election in November 1701. In July 1702, he was elected as member for Westbury, but was swiftly unseated on petition. Thereafter, he played little active role in politics, though he gave evidence to the House of Commons in 1712 in defence of the Royal African Company.<ref name="Commons">[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/phipps-thomas-1648-1715 PHIPPS, Thomas (?1648-1715), of Clerkenwell, Mdx. and Heywood Place, nr. Westbury, Wilts.] ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690–1715'', ed. D.Hayton, E.Cruickshanks, S.Handley, 2002</ref>

==Personal life== In 1674, Phipps married Bridget, daughter of Peter Short, a merchant tailor of All-Hallows-in-the-Wall, London.<ref name="Commons" /> Among their children, James Phipps was Captain-General of the Royal African Company at Cape Coast Castle between 1719 and 1722,<ref>David Henige, ''“Companies are always ungrateful”: James Phipps of Cape Coast, a victim of the African trade'', African Economic History, no.9 (1980), pp.27-47</ref> while William Phipps was Governor of Bombay between 1722 and 1729.

== Death == Towards the end of his life, Phipps suffered financial difficulties. He died in 1715, and his son (also Thomas) inherited the Heywood estate with a mortgage of some £6,000.<ref name=Commons/> Bridget died in 1724.<ref name="Commons" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, Thomas}} Category:1640s births Category:1715 deaths Category:English MPs 1701 Category:17th-century English merchants Category:People from Westbury, Wiltshire