The Honourable Thomas Harley (24 August 1730 – 1 December 1804) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 41 years from 1761 to 1802.
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Harley was the fourth son of Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer and educated at Westminster School.
He became an alderman of London, Sheriff of London in 1764 and Lord Mayor of London in 1767. He served as Member of Parliament for London from 1761 to 1774 and then for his native Herefordshire for most of the rest of his life.[1]
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In 1775 he bought the Berrington estate near Eye, Herefordshire from the Cornewall family and built Berrington Hall in 1778–1781 in place of an older house.[2] It is now classified as a Grade I listed building.[3]
He was elected Mayor of Shrewsbury for 1784–85 and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire for April 1791 to August 1804.
He died in December, 1804. He had married in 1752, Anne, the daughter of Edward Bangham, deputy Auditor of the Imprest. They had two sons, who both predeceased him, and five daughters. He gave Berrington to his daughter Anne when she married George Rodney (1753–1802), the son of Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney. Another daughter Martha married George Drummond of Stanmore.[4]
- ^ "HARLEY, Hon. Thomas (1730-1804), of Berrington, Herefs. and Hooley House, nr. Croydon, Surr". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- ^ "Ledbury & District U3A Local History Group". Malvern Gazette. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ Historic England. "BERRINGTON HALL AND ADJOINING OUTBUILDINGS (1082564)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- ^ "Portrait of Lady Rodney [née Anne Harley]". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 19 March 2018.