Richard Tomlins

Richard Tomlins or Tomlyns (1563–1650)[1] was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1629. He invested in the Virginia Company, founded a lectureship in anatomy at Oxford University and served as Baron of the Exchequer during the Interregnum.

Tomlins was the son of Edward Tomlins, of Tiddenham, Gloucestershire. He was admitted at Inner Temple in November 1605 and was called to bar in 1614.[2] He was resident of Westminster and became an investor in the Virginia Company in 1620.[3][4] In 1621, he was elected Member of Parliament for Ludlow and was re-elected MP for Ludlow in 1624.[5] On 1 October 1624 he founded the Tomlins Readership in Anatomy which was attached to the Regius Chair at Oxford University and nominated "his worthy friend Thomas Clayton" to be first reader.[6] He was elected MP for Ludlow again in 1625, 1626 and 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles dispensed with parliament for eleven years.[5]

Tomlins was assigned to assist John Bastwick and Henry Burton in their complaint against their cruel punishment by the star chamber and in 1641 they were compensated by the Long Parliament. In 1645 all the cursitor barons had gone to join the king at Oxford except for Thomas Trevor who was in poor health. Tomlins was therefore recommended as cursitor baron and became a bencher of his inn in that year. Following the death of the King in 1649 he was sworn as Baron of the Exchequer and held the position until the Restoration in 1660. He was described as a garrulous humourist on the basis of a transcript of a speech he gave to the Sheriffs of London in 1659.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/tomlyns-richard-1563-1650
  2. ↑ Students admitted to the Inner Temple
  3. ↑ John Smith The Generall Historie of Virginia
  4. ↑ Alexander Brown. The genesis of the United States; a narrative of the movement in England, 1605-1616, which resulted in the plantation of North America by Englishmen, disclosing the contest between England and Spain
  5. 1 2 Browne Willis Notitia parliamentaria, or, An history of the counties, cities, and boroughs in England and Wales: ... The whole extracted from mss. and printed evidences 1750 pp176-239
  6. ↑ The Lee Benefactions and the origins of the Christ Church Science Laboratory
  7. ↑ Judges of England
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Sir Henry Townsend
Robert Berry		 Member of Parliament for Ludlow
1621
With: Henry Spencer, Lord Compton 1621
Ralph Goodwin 1624-1629		 Succeeded by
Parliament suspended until 1640
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