Thomas Horton (1676-1727) was the owner of Wotton House, Gloucester|Wotton House, in Horton Road, Gloucester, which was built for him around 1707. [1] [2] He was declared a lunatic. [3]
Horton was the son of John Horton of Elkstone, Gloucestershire and his wife Catherine, the daughter of Thomas Child of Northwick, Worcestershire. [4] He acquired Wotton by his marriage to Mary, the daughter of John Blanch. [5] He also inherited the manor of Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire in 1693. [4] By 1722 he was mentally unfit to manage his estate and a petition was presented to the House of Lords by his wife and two daughters for support. [4] He died in 1727 and was commemorated by a memorial stone at Elkstone. [6]
Horton was succeeded by his son Thomas (died 1755), later of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. He married Jane, daughter of Archdeacon Lewis. [4] She died in 1735 and was buried at Elkstone. [7] In 1746 he was subject to a "commission and inquisition of lunacy, into his state of mind and his property", records relating to which are held by the British National Archives. [8] Horton junior's will, which was dated 1735, left his estate to his sisters Eleanor, the wife of Richard Roberts and Elizabeth, the wife of William Blanch. [4] The will was not confirmed until 1763 due to legal disputes over the estate. [9]