Thomas_Henry_Hastings_Davies

Thomas Henry Hastings Davies

Thomas Henry Hastings Davies

British Member of Parliament

Thomas Henry Hastings Davies (27 January 1789 – 11 December 1846) was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.

Quick Facts Member of Parliament for Worcester, Preceded by ...

Early life

Davies was born on 27 January 1789. He was the eldest son of Thomas Davies, Advocate General to the East India Company in Bengal, and Anna Baillie (a daughter of Hugh Baillie of Monckton).[1] His brother was General Francis John Davies. He succeeded to his father's estate in 1792 and to the estate of his grandfather, Thomas Davies of New House, Herefordshire (who married Mary Warburton), in 1795.[2]

He was educated at the Royal Military College.[2]

Career

He joined the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot as an ensign, rising to become a captain before, in 1809, he moved to the Grenadier Guards.[3] He served at the Battle of Waterloo,[4] and was made a lieutenant-colonel the same year. He eventually became a colonel in 1939, retiring the same year.[3]

Political career

In 1816 he purchased Elmley Castle in Worcestershire. At the 1818 UK general election, Davies stood for the Whigs in Worcester, winning the seat.[4] In Parliament, he tended to oppose government spending, and was critical of what he saw as waste in the British Army. He argued for the Army to intervene in support of Spain when French troops invaded in 1823. He supported Catholic emancipation. He supported electoral reform, and introduced a bill which limited polling to eight days, but introduced multiple polling places in larger towns and cities; this was successful.[3]

Davies held the seat repeatedly, but was defeated at the 1835 UK general election.[4] While campaigning in the election, he was thrown from his carriage, and as a result was partly paralysed.[3] He stood again at the 1837 UK general election, regaining the seat without facing an opponent, then he retired at the 1841 UK general election,[4] as the paralysis worsened.[3]

Personal life

On 17 January 1824 Davies was married to Augusta Anne Champion de Crespigny (c. 1800–1892), a daughter of Thomas Champion de Crespigny, MP for Sudbury, and the former Augusta Charlotte Thellusson (a daughter of merchant Peter Thellusson and granddaughter of Genevan banker and diplomat Isaac de Thellusson).

Davies died on 11 December 1846. By his 1841 will, he left all his property to his wife, which further directed that on her death it was to be divided equally between his brothers and executors, Warburton Davies and Francis John Davies (grandfather of Gen. Sir Francis Davies and Maj.-Gen. Henry Rodolph Davies).[5] After his death she married Sir John Pakington, Bt, the Secretary of State for War, in 1851.[6] In 1874 he was made Baron Hampton and Augusta became Baroness Hampton.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    Frantz, Adolf Ingram (1949). Half a Hundred Thralls to Faust: A Study Based on the British and the American Translators of Goethe's Faust, 1823-1949. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 192, 312. ISBN 978-0-8078-0577-0. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  2. [2]
    Salmon, Philip. "DAVIES, Thomas Henry Hastings (1789-1846), of Elmley Castle, Worcs". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  3. [3]
    Fisher, D. R. (2009). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521193146. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  4. [4]
    Stenton, Michael (1976). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament. Vol. 1. Hassocks: Harvester Press. p. 103. ISBN 0855272198.
  5. [5]
    Burke, Bernard (1900). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain. Harrison & Sons. p. 407. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  6. [6]
    Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William Hall, Samuel Carter (2018). The Stately Homes of England. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 550. ISBN 978-3-7340-1212-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. [7]
    Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1910). Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour. London and Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack. p. 1239.
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