Thomas Rumbold

Sir Thomas Rumbold, 1st Baronet (15 January 1736 – 11 November 1791) was a British politician and administrator in India, who served as Governor of Madras from 1777 to 1780.

Rumbold was the third son of William Rumbold, an officer of the East India Company's naval service. He joined the Company's service as a writer at the age of 16, then transferred to the Company's military service. Promoted to Captain in 1757, he served as Clive's aide-de-camp at the Battle of Plassey. He subsequently transferred back to the Civil Service, becoming chief at Patna in 1763 and a member of the Bengal Council from 1766 to 1769; he was mentioned as a possible Governor of Bengal in 1771, but Warren Hastings was appointed.

In 1769 Rumbold returned to Britain with a large fortune, knowing the importance of parliamentary influence in the internal politics of the East India Company. He was elected to Parliament in 1770, initially as MP for New Shoreham, a notoriously corrupt and expensive borough where he probably bribed extensively. He received the majority of the votes, but so many were disallowed by the returning officer on grounds of bribery that he was defeated; however, on petition the result was overturned and Rumbold declared duly elected. Initially he voted with the opposition but by 1773 had joined his former commander, Clive, in supporting the government and its conduct of Indian affairs.

At the next election, in 1774, Rumbold was embroiled in another election-bribery scandal at Shaftesbury: he and Sir Francis Sykes were initially declared elected, but their defeated opponent petitioned to have the result overturned and produced copious evidence of corruption. Rumbold and Sykes were both shown to have bribed at a rate of 20 guineas (£21) a man, the total spent amounting to several thousand pounds. The Commons Committee not only overturned the election result, but ordered that Sykes, Rumbold, and a long list of other inhabitants of the town should be prosecuted by the Attorney General for bribery and perjury. However, the prosecution never took place, and the Commons was eventually persuaded to reverse its condemnations of Sykes and Rumbold so that both were able to stand for the same borough at the next general election, in 1780.

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