Peter Thellusson, 1st Baron Rendlesham

Peter Isaac Thellusson, 1st Baron Rendlesham (13 October 1761 – 16 September 1808), was a British merchant, banker and politician.

The Lord Rendlesham
Member of Parliament for Bossiney
In office
1807–1808
Preceded byJames Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
Henry Baring
Succeeded byJames Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
The Earl of Desart
Member of Parliament for Castle Rising
In office
1802–1806
Preceded byCharles Bagot-Chester
Horatio Churchill
Succeeded byCharles Bagot-Chester
Richard Sharp
Member of Parliament for Malmesbury
In office
1801–1802
Serving with Philip Metcalfe
Preceded byParliament of Great Britain
Succeeded byClaude Scott
Samuel Scott
Member of Parliament for Malmesbury
In office
1796–1801
Preceded bySir James Sanderson
Francis Glanville
Succeeded byParliament of the United Kingdom
Member of Parliament for Midhurst
In office
1795–1796
Preceded byPercy Charles Wyndham
Charles William Wyndham
Succeeded bySylvester Douglas
Charles Long
Personal details
Born
Peter Isaac Thellusson

(1761-10-13)13 October 1761
Died16 September 1808(1808-09-16) (aged 46)
Spouse
Elizabeth Eleanor Cornwall
(after 1783)
RelationsGeorge Woodford Thellusson (brother)
Children7
Parent(s)Peter Thellusson
Ann Woodford
EducationHarrow School

Early life

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Thelluson was born on 13 October 1761. He was the eldest son of Peter Thellusson, a wealthy London merchant, and his wife Ann Woodford, daughter of Matthew Woodford. Among his siblings were Charles Thellusson, MP for Evesham, and George Woodford Thellusson, MP for Southwark, Tregony, and Barnstaple.[1]

His father had emigrated to Britain from France in 1760 but the Thellusons were originally Huguenots who fled from France to Geneva after the Edict of Nantes. His grandfather, Issac de Thellusson, became Genevan ambassador at Paris to the Court of Louis XV,[2] where his uncle, George, founded a banking house. After his father's death in July 1797, his considerable estate, including the Brodsworth estate, a large house known as Plaistow Lodge at Bromley in Kent, and plantations in Grenada and Montserrat, was embroiled in the Thellusson will case.[1]

He was educated at Harrow School in 1774.[3]

Career

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Thellusson took over the thriving family business from his father. Like his father he also became a director of the Bank of England from 1787 to 1806. He also served as Lt.-Col. Commandant of the Rendlesham Volunteers in 1798 and Captain Commandant in 1803.[3]

He was returned as a Member of Parliament on a vacancy for Lord Egremont's borough of Midhurst from 1795 to 1796, for Malmesbury from 1796 to 1802. At the general election, he was returned for Castle Rising as "a paying guest of the Prince of Wales's friend Lord Cholmondeley" from 1802 to 1806 and for Bossiney from 1807 to 1808.[3]

Thellusson acquired the Rendlesham estate for £51,400 and invested in East India Company stock.[3]

Peerage

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As early as January 1795, Theullusson supported William Pitt and earned a reputation as a peerage-hunter. In July 1805 he asked Pitt to "expedite an earlier promise to recommend him for an Irish peerage by invoking the power vested in the crown" by the Acts of Union 1800 to create one new peer when three Irish titles had become extinct, as they had, so Thellusson claimed, with the deaths of the Earl of Mountrath, Viscount Bateman and Lord Ross in 1802. While Thellusson was mistaken, because Mountrath's barony passed by special remainder to Charles Henry Coote, upon Baron Holmes's death in 1804, the required three were obtained.[3] While the title was delayed, it was eventually conferred on 1 February 1806 as Baron Rendlesham, of Rendlesham in Suffolk.[4]

Personal life

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Rendlesham Hall, 1818

On 14 June 1783 Thellusson was married to Elizabeth Eleanor Cornwall, the daughter of John Cornwall, a Russia merchant of Hendon, Middlesex.[5] Together, they were the parents of six sons and one daughter,[6] including:[1]

Lord Rendlesham, who lived at Rendlesham Hall, died in September 1808, aged only 46, but with a fortune said to be £400,000. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son John.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, [page needed]
  2. ^ a b Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1848. p. 831. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "THELLUSSON, Peter Isaac (1761–1808), of Rendlesham House, nr. Woodbridge, Suff". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ "No. 15889". The London Gazette. 11 February 1806. p. 193.
  5. ^ "Peter Isaac Thellusson 1st Baron Rendlesham". www.ucl.ac.uk. Legacies of British Slavery. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  6. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003: volume 3, page 3317; volume 1, page 1449.
  7. ^ a b Burke, Sir Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1910). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage. Harrison. p. 1532. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Charles Percy Boulton". slowdusk.magd.ox.ac.uk. Magdalen War Memorial. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
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Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Midhurst
1795–1796
With: Percy Charles Wyndham
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Malmesbury
17961801
With: Samuel Smith 1796
Philip Metcalfe 1796–1800
Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Member of Parliament for Malmesbury
18011802
With: Philip Metcalfe
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Castle Rising
18021806
With: Charles Bagot-Chester
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Bossiney
1807–1808
With: James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
New creation Baron Rendlesham
1806–1808
Succeeded by