Thomas Cartwright

Thomas Cartwright (1671–1748) was an English politician, a Tory Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire 1695–1698 and 1701–1748.

Life

He was the son of William Cartwright, of Aynho in Northamptonshire and Bloxham in Oxfordshire, and his wife Ursula Fairfax, daughter of Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron; his sister Rhoda married Lord Henry Cavendish. He was admitted to St Catherine's College, Cambridge in 1687, had Samuel Bradford as his tutor, and was there for the Glorious Revolution. He served as High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1693, and High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1699.

Cartwright entered parliament for Northamptonshire through an expensive election in 1695; Lord Charles Spencer was a Whig candidate, but his father Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland baulked at the required expenditure. He was defeated in 1698, but in the second election of 1701 accepted a pact with Sir Justinian Isham, 4th Baronet that he had previously declined, and was an MP for the next 40 years.

In the period 1707 to 1711, Cartwright had Aynhoe Park remodelled. The work is attributed to Thomas Archer, on grounds of style. In 1711 the scholar Joseph Wasse came to be rector of Aynho, on the death of Matthew Hutton; in a letter to Jean Le Clerc he praised Armine Cartwright's library. Cartwright was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1716. In 1723–5 Cartwright had Edward Wing rebuild the parish church at Aynho, apart from the tower. He was also a donor to the Fenny Stratford church, commemorated on its ceiling.

Cartwright died on 10 March 1748, aged 77, and was buried at Aynho.

Family

Cartwright in 1699 married Armine Crew, daughter of Thomas Crew, 2nd Baron Crew. They had two sons and three daughters. William Cartwright (died 1768) the Northamptionshire MP was their elder son. William Ralph Cartwright was a great-grandson.