Charles Thellusson, MP

Family and Education b. 2 Feb. 1770, 3rd s. of Peter Thellusson, merchant, of Philpot Lane, London and Brodsworth by Anne, da. of Matthew Woodford of Southampton; bro. of George Woodford Thellusson* and Peter Isaac Thellusson*. educ. Harrow 1785. m. 15 Jan. 1795, Sabine, da. of Abraham Robarts*, 2s. 1da.

Offices Held Officer, London and Westminster light horse 1794.

Biography Thellusson, a partner in the family’s London mercantile house, received £7,600 by his father’s celebrated will and, with his brothers, signed the London merchants’ declaration of loyalty, 2 Dec. 1795. Earlier in the year he had married the niece of George Tierney*, but it was as a supporter of government that he successfully contested Evesham at the general election of 1796 and he voted for the assessed taxes augmentation bill, 4 Jan. 1798. He topped the poll again at Evesham in 1802, visited France during the peace and survived a petition lodged against his election on the grounds of bribery and intimidation. Although he seems to have given general support to Addington’s ministry he, rather than his eldest brother Peter, may have been the ‘shuffling’ Thellusson who unexpectedly voted against government’s proposal to adjourn pending confirmation of the renewal of war, 6 May 1803.1 Unlike Peter, he did not join in the combined attack on Addington in 1804; and it was presumably his vote in favour of the Prince of Wales’s financial claims, 4 Mar. 1803, which led to his inclusion among the Prince’s followers in the ministerial list of May 1804.

Both his brothers supported Pitt’s second administration, but Charles voted against the additional force bill, though apparently only in the division of 18 June 1804, and was placed under ‘doubtful Addington’ in the lists of September 1804 and July 1805. He is not known to have spoken in the House. In contrast with his brothers, he was friendly towards the ‘Talents’. Tierney, Lord Holland and Lord Spencer all tried to exert influence on his behalf at Evesham in 1806, but he was said to have become ‘obnoxious in the borough’ and withdrew the day before the election.2

Thellusson, who had evidently withdrawn from the London business by 1810, later lived at Brodsworth, where he owned a farm and other property as well as real estate in Kent.3 He died 2 Nov. 1815.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820 Author: David R. Fisher Notes 1. Add. 35714, f. 81; 35717, f. 90. 2. Add. 51584, Tierney to Holland [14 Oct.]; 51823, Northwick to same, 22 Oct.; Spencer mss, W. to J. Preedy, 2 Nov. 1806. 3. PCC 49 Wynne.