Sir Thomas Harries or Harris, 1st Baronet (1550 - 18 February 1628) was an English lawyer.
Harries was born in 1550, the eldest of four sons of John Harries, of Cruckton in Shropshire. His mother was Eleanor, daughter of Thomas Prowde of Sutton. Thomas Harries is believed to be the Thomas Harris who was Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury in 1586. Another possibility is that it was Thomas Harris of Boreatton, also a resident of Shrewsbury, and who like Harries was also a member of Lincoln's Inn. Thomas Harris of Boreatton was created a baronet at about the same time as Thomas Harries, making precise identification difficult. The History of Parliament however considers this Thomas Harries as the most likely candidate as the MP. [1]
Harries was educated at Shrewsbury School from 1565, and later at Clement's Inn and then Lincoln's Inn from 1575. [1] He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1583. He was active in legal affairs in Shrewsbury, and helped in the securing of a new town charter in 1584. He contested the Parliamentary seat for Shrewsbury that year, but was defeated, coming third in the poll. He was returned unopposed in 1586. [1]
He became a serjeant-at-law in February 1604. [1] [2] He became a bencher at Lincoln's Inn in 1596, and was possibly the Thomas Harris who was appointed justice of the peace of Shropshire c. 1600, and Cheshire in 1601. [1] In 1613 he bought Tong Castle from Sir Edward Stanley, and on 12 April 1623 was created a baronet, of Tong Castle. [1] [2]
He was married to Eleanor, daughter of Roger Gifford, physician to Queen Elizabeth I. The couple had one son, Francis, and three daughters, but Francis and one of the daughters predeceased their father, and the baronetcy became extinct on Sir Thomas's death on 18 February 1628. [1] Tong Castle passed to the family of his daughter Elizabeth, who married William Pierrepont; in 1764 Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull sold it to George Durant. Sir Thomas's second daughter, Anne, married the jurist John Wilde. [3]
Earl of Bradford is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created in 1694 for Francis Newport, 2nd Baron Newport. However, all the Newport titles became extinct on the death of the fourth Earl in 1762. The earldom was revived in 1815 for Orlando Bridgeman, 2nd Baron Bradford. The Bridgeman family had previously succeeded to the Newport estates. The title of the peerage refers to the ancient hundred of Bradford in Shropshire, and not, as might be assumed, to the city of Bradford, Yorkshire, or the town of Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire.
Sir Thomas Myddelton was a Welsh merchant who was Lord Mayor of London before becoming a Member of Parliament for London.
William Pierrepont was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1660. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.
Cruckton is a small village in Shropshire, England. Cruckton is situated approximately five miles from Shrewsbury town centre, off the B4386 road to Montgomery, Powys. The postcode begins SY5. It is within the civil parish of Pontesbury and the Shrewsbury and Atcham parliamentary constituency.
There have been four Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Harris, two in the Baronetage of England and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. One creation is extant as of 2010.
There have been two Charlton Baronetcies:-
This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire
Sir Job Charlton, 1st Baronet KS was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1659 and 1679. He was Speaker of the House of Commons of England briefly in 1673.
The Vernon family was a wealthy, prolific and widespread English family with 11th-century origins in Vernon, Normandy, France. Their extant titles include Baron Vernon and Vernon baronets of Shotwick Park.
John Wilde was an English lawyer and politician. As a serjeant-at-law he was referred to as Serjeant Wilde before he was appointed judge. He was a judge, chief baron of the exchequer, and member of the Council of State of the Commonwealth period.
Sir Heneage Finch was an English nobleman, lawyer, Member of Parliament, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1607 and 1626. He was Speaker of the English House of Commons in 1626.
Sir Philip Wodehouse, 1st Baronet was an English baronet, soldier and Member of Parliament.
Sir Robert Crane, 1st Baronet of Chilton, Suffolk and of Buckenham Tofts, Norfolk, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1614 and 1643.
Sir Vincent Corbet, 1st Baronet was an English lawyer and politician who sat for Shropshire in the House of Commons in the Short Parliament of 1640. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War.
Sir Thomas Skipwith, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and 1660.
Sir Thomas Powys, of Henley, near Ludlow, Shropshire and Lilford cum Wigsthorpe, Northamptonshire, was an English lawyer, judge and Tory politician, who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1701 and 1713. He was Attorney General to King James II and was chief prosecutor at the trial of the Seven Bishops in June 1688. He served as Justice of the King's Bench from 1713 to 1714, but was dismissed.
Sir Robert Townshend of Ludlow, Shropshire was a judge who held a number of positions, including Chief Justice of the Marches of Wales and Chester. He was the founder of the Cheshire and Shropshire branch of the Townshend family.
Thomas Owen was an English judge and politician in the reign of Elizabeth I.
Gervase Pierrepont, 1st Baron Pierrepont, was an English politician.
Sir Paul Harris, 2nd Baronet was an English baronet and Surveyor of the Ordnance.