Thomas Benson (1708–1772)

Thomas Benson (1708–1772), of Knapp House, (alias Nap) Appledore, on the north Devon coast, England, was a ship-owner and merchant who was Sheriff of Devon in 1746-7 and MP for Barnstaple between 1747 and 1754. In 1753 he fled to Portugal from British justice, having been accused of customs duty evasion and maritime insurance fraud.

He was the second son of John Benson (died 1739) of Nap by his wife Grace Melhuish. The Bensons were long established merchants at Bideford, with an established trade to France, Portugal and Placentia in Newfoundland. They also owned lime-kilns in Bideford, near Appledore. In 1737 Benson married his cousin Frances Melhuish (died 1752), a daughter of Roger Melhuish by his second wife Eleanor Barber. By Frances he had two sons and two daughters.

On his father's death in 1739 Benson inherited some of his ships and some property in Appledore together with £1,000. This was augmented when he became heir to his elder brother Peter, who died in 1743. In his will Peter tried to dissuade his brother Thomas from continuing in the family trade, as he considered the future economic climate to be unfavourable.

In 1745 Benson presented a silver punch bowl, inscribed with his armorials, to Barnstaple mayor and corporation. He was elected to Parliament as the member for Barnstaple in 1747, and the following year he acquired a lease of the Island of Lundy, off the North Devon coast, for a rent of £60 per annum from John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower. Some time before 1753, Benson also purchased the estate of Halsbury in the parish of Parkham, near Bideford, from Roger Giffard (died 1763).

In 1747 he obtained a contract from the Government to transport convicts, and gave the usual bond to the Sheriff to ship them to Virginia or to Maryland. However he shipped them instead to Lundy where he employed them as slave labourers in building walls, etc. His defence was that sending convicts to Lundy was the same as sending them to America, saying "they were transported from England, no matter where it was so long as they were out of the kingdom". His interpretation of the law was upheld.

...
Wikipedia