Thomas D Duncombe, MP

Family and Education b. ?1724, 1st s. of Thomas Duncombe, M.P., of Duncombe Park, and bro. of Henry Duncombe. educ. Westminster, Dec. 1732, aged 8; Ch. Ch. Oxf. 18 May 1742, aged 17. m. (1) 9 Feb. 1749, Lady Diana Howard (d. 6 Mar. 1770), da. of Henry, 4th Earl of Carlisle, 2da.; (2) 24 Feb. 1772, Anne (d. 24 July 1777), da. of Sir Philip Jennings Clerke, 1st Bt., 1da.; (3) 25 June 1778, Charlotte, da. of William Hale of King’s Walden, Herts.; she m. (2) Thomas Onslow. suc. fa. 1746; and kinsman Lord Feversham 1763.

Offices Held

Biography Duncombe sat for Morpeth on the Howard interest; and in 1754 was classed by Dupplin as a Tory but in 1761 was sent Newcastle’s parliamentary whip. He appears neither in Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries nor in any list of the minority against them; voted against general warrants in one division, 15 Feb. 1764; and was classed by Rockingham in July 1765 as ‘doubtful’. His parliamentary attendance was irregular, and nobody knew what to make of him: Rockingham in November 1766 classed him as ‘Whig’, Townshend in January 1767 as ‘Government’, and Newcastle in March as ‘doubtful or absent’. He voted with Opposition on the nullum tempus bill, 17 Feb. 1768.

On the death of his cousin Lord Feversham in 1763 he inherited an interest at Downton, and in 1768 was returned unopposed. His first recorded vote in this Parliament, 6 Feb. 1772, was for the petition of the clergy against the 39 Articles. In Robinson’s first survey on the royal marriage bill he is classed as ‘doubtful, present’; in the second, as ‘contra, present’; and he voted against the commitment of the bill on 11 Mar. 1772. His only other vote in this Parliament was for Grenville’s Election Act, 25 Feb. 1774, when he was classed in the King’s list as normally a friend of Government.

In 1774 his control of Downton was challenged by Lord Radnor, and Duncombe was unseated on petition. He was returned unopposed in 1779, but died a few weeks later, 23 Nov. 1779. There is no record of his having spoken in the House.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790 Author: J. A. Cannon