Thomas Denton

Thomas Denton (before 1515 – 3 October 1558 ) was an English lawyer and politician, a Member of Parliament from 1536 until his death in 1558. He was elected, consecutively, by six parliamentary constituencies: Wallingford, Oxford (1539), Berkshire (1547), Banbury (April 1554), Buckinghamshire (November 1554) and Oxfordshire (1558).

Biography

Thomas Denton, second son of Thomas Denton of Caversfield, and junior brother to Sir John Denton, settled for a career in law. He was sent to the Middle Temple shortly before his father's death. Details of his admission and graduation were lost, but it known that in 1540 he was summoned to report the affairs of the Inns of Court to King Henry VIII. Presumably, his earlier services to the King and Thomas Cromwell were rewarded by his first parliamentary appointment in 1536. Denton, who owned property in Wallingford, and was presumably the mayor of the town, replaced former MP Sir Edward Chamberlain. Denton, like Chamberlain, served without wages.

In 1558 Denton won his last election, for Oxfordshire, where his brother was the returning officer.

According to archival records, Denton possessed properties in London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. He eventually settled in Hillesden, Buckinghamshire and passed his fortunes to his only son Alexander Denton (d.1576). The Dentons of Hillesden routinely represented Buckinghamshire in the Parliament during the 17th century, were prosecuted as royalists and became extinct in 1714.