Thomas Clarges

Sir Thomas Clarges (c 1618 – 4 October 1695) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1656 and 1695. He played an important part in bringing about the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

Origins Clarges was the son of John Clarges and his wife Anne Leaver. He was an apothecary in London. His sister Anne Clarges was the wife of the royalist General George Monck, later 1st Duke of Albemarle.

Career In 1656 Clarges was elected Member of Parliament for the Sheriffdoms of Ross, Sutherland, and Cromarty in the Second Protectorate Parliament. In 1659 he was MP for the Boroughs of Banff and Cullen, and Aberdeen and for the Boroughs of Peebles, Selkirk, Jedburgh, Lauder, North Berwick, Dunbar and Haddington in the Third Protectorate Parliament. When Richard Cromwell became Lord Protector he ordered Clarges to go immediately to Scotland with his letters to George Monck, Clarge's brother-in-law, to obtain Monck's view of his protectorate. Clarges became Monck's main agent as he set about planning the Restoration of the Monarchy.

In 1666 Clarges was elected MP Southwark in the Cavalier Parliament and sat until 1679. He was elected MP for Christchurch in 1679 and sat until 1685. He was elected MP for Oxford University in 1689 and sat until his death in 1695. His properties in Mayfair are commemorated in the name of Clarges Street, which is near Albemarle Street named after the site of the residence of his nephew Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle.

Marriage and children Clarges married Mary Proctor, daughter of George Proctor of Norwell Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire. They had a son Sir Walter Clarges, 1st Baronet.