Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth
|
The Right Honourable The Viscount Weymouth FRS PC |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| President of the Board of Trade | |
|
In office 8 January 1702 – 1705 |
|
| Preceded by | The Earl of Stamford |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Stamford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1640 |
| Died | 28 July 1714 aged 74 |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Finch |
Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth (1640 – 28 July 1714) was a British peer in the peerage of England.
He was born the son of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne of Caus Castle, Shropshire, and Kempsford, Gloucestershire, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry of Aylesborough. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet (1681) and married Frances, daughter of Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea. He was descended from the first Sir John Thynne of Longleat House. He was educated at Kingston Grammar School and entered Christ Church, Oxford on 21 April 1657. He was invested as a Fellow of the Royal Society on 23 November 1664.
He held the office of Envoy to Sweden between November 1666 and April 1669.
He was returned as Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Oxford University between 1674 and 1679 and for Tamworth between 1679 and 1681. He succeeded to the title of 2nd Baronet Thynne, of Kempsford on 6 March 1679. He was High Steward of Tamworth from 1679 and also High Steward of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield from 1679 until his death.
He was created 1st Viscount Weymouth, on 11 December 1682, with a special remainder failing male heirs of his body to his two brothers, James and Henry Frederick. He was created 1st Baron Thynne of Warminster on 11 December 1682. On 13 December 1688 he carried an invitation to the Prince of Orange at Henley on Thames, along with the Earl of Pembroke, after the flight of King James II.
He held the office of First Lord of Trade and Foreign Plantations between 30 May 1702 and April 1707. In this role he is reputed to have introduced the Lord Weymouth Pine (Pinus strobus), in 1705 and planted it extensively on the estate at Longleat. The Lord Weymouth Pine was useful for ship masts in that it grew tall and slender, but in truth this was a bit of a cheat, in that the name really derived from George Weymouth, totally unrelated, who first discovered this pine growing in Maine. All Thomas did was to arrange for its importation, and prefix a Lord in front of the Weymouth in the tree's official appellation.
...
Wikipedia