Thomas Chicheley

Sir
Thomas Chicheley
P.C.
Master-General of the Ordnance
In office
1670–1674
Personal details
Born 14 March 1614
Died 1 February 1699 (aged 84)

Sir Thomas Chicheley (25 March 1614 – 1 February 1699) was a politician in England in the seventeenth century who fell from favour in the reign of James II. His name is sometimes spelt as Chichele.

Life

Chicheley, who came from Wimpole in Cambridgeshire, was related to the founder of All Souls College, Oxford. He was High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire for 1637-38, and in 1640 was elected to the Long Parliament as one of the MPs for Cambridgeshire; however, being a strong Royalist, he was "disabled from sitting" (in other words expelled) soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. After the Restoration, he was elected once more for Cambridgeshire in the Parliament of 1661–1679, and subsequently sat for the city of Cambridge until his retirement in 1689.[1]

He was appointed a deputy lieutenant for the county by 1639 to 1642 and from 1660 to 1685. he was also custos rotulorum for the county in 1642 and, after the restoration in 1660, for Cambridgeshire and Ely (until 1687).[1]

In 1670, he was knighted, made a member of the Privy Council and appointed Master-General of the Ordnance. He held that office until 1674, when he was succeeded by his son. In 1679 he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, but was ejected from office and expelled from the Privy Council on 2 March 1687.[1] He sat again, however, in parliament for the borough of Cambridge in 1678, 1679, 1685, and 1689, and died in 1694, at the age of seventy-six.[2]

According to Pepys, Chicheley lived extravagantly in London, and this was probably the reason that he sold his estate at Wimpole thirteen years before his death.

References

Attribution
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Thomas Wendy
Isaac Thornton
Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire
16611679
With: Thomas Wendy 16611674
Sir Thomas Hatton, 2nd Baronet 16741679
Succeeded by
Gerard Russell
Edward Partherich
Preceded by
Roger Pepys
Member of Parliament for Cambridge
16791689
With: The Lord Alington 16791685
Sir William Wren 16851689
Sir John Cotton 16851689
Succeeded by
Sir John Cotton
Granado Pigot
Political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
Sir John Cutts
Custos Rotulorum of Cambridgeshire
16421687
Succeeded by
Edward Russell
Preceded by
Sir Robert Carr
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
16821687
Succeeded by
seal in commission
Military offices
Preceded by
In Commission
Master-General of the Ordnance
1670–1674
Succeeded by
Thomas Chicheley
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Sir John Carleton, Bt
High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire
1637
Succeeded by
Thomas Wendy