Thomas Hughan

Thomas Hughan ( – 29 October 1811) was a Scottish slave trader, merchant and politician affiliated with the West India Dock Company.

Early life Hughan was born in Burns, Kirkmabreck, Kirkcudbright. He was the eldest son of Margaret ( Gerran) Hughan and Alexander Hughan, a merchant from Creetown. He had one brother, Alexander Hughan, who died 30 March 1810. His sister, Jane Hughan, married James Dalzell of Armagh.

Hughan served as a Member of Parliament twice, for the constituency of East Retford from 1806 to 1807, and for Dundalk from 25 July 1808 to 29 October 1811. On 27 February 1807, he used his maiden speech in the House of Commons to protest against the proposed abolition of the slave trade, stating that the bill was "fraught with ruin to the colonies and to the Empire", He voted against the bill twice but failed to defeat it, the bill passing into law as the Slave Trade Act 1807, which formally prohibited the slave trade in the British Empire. (Slavery itself was not abolished until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833).

In 1810, Hughan was called before the Bullion Committee to answer questions regarding the bullion supply in Jamaica and the excessive dividend payments of the West India Dock Company. On 1 February 1810, he married Jean Milligan, eldest daughter of Robert Milligan, the slave-owner and dock promoter in part responsible for the construction of the West India Docks. He had two illegitimate daughters and one son:

Hughan died following a short illness at Hampstead, London, on 29 October 1811,

Descendants Through his son and heir Thomas of Airds House, Parton, Galloway, he was a grandfather of Janetta Hughan, who married John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland;