Sir Thomas Hales, 3rd Baronet

Sir Thomas Hales, 3rd Baronet ( – October 1762), of Beakesbourne in Kent, was an English courtier and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 37 years between 1722 and 1762.

Hales was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Hales, 2nd Baronet, of Brymore, and his wife Mary Pym, daughter of Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet of Brymore. He matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford in 1711 and was admitted at the Inner Temple. He succeeded his father as 3rd Baronet on 7 January 1748.

The only break in his Parliamentary career came in 1741: at the notoriously corrupt rotten borough of Grampound, his opponents had contrived a disagreement over who was the rightful Mayor and therefore returning officer for the constituency. According to their Mayor, Hales and his pro-government colleague Thomas Trefusis were re-elected by 35 votes to 17; however, his opponents had arranged for the Sheriff to direct the writ for the election to their own nominee, so it was his version of the result (declaring Hales and Trefusis defeated by 27 to 23) which was returned to Parliament. Hales and Trefusis initially petitioned against this outcome, but withdrew their protest before a decision had been reached. Hales returned to the Commons at a by-election for Hythe three years later.

Hales died in 1762. He had married Mary Marsham (1698–1769), daughter of Sir Robert Marsham of the Mote, in 1723, and their children included: Sir Thomas Pym Hales (c. 1726–1773), who succeeded to the baronetcy Sir Philip Hales (died 1824) Mary Hales, who married Charles Moss (1711–1802), Bishop of Bath and Wells Anne Hales (1736–1795), who married (first) Lord Feversham (died 1763) and (second) The Earl of Radnor (1725–1776) Margaretta Hales, who married Samuel Pechell of Richmond