Thomas Sheppard

Thomas Sheppard (1766 – 1 June 1858) was a politician in England.

A grandson of the wealthy clothier, William Sheppard, he was elected at the 1832 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the newly enfranchised borough of Frome in Somerset, standing as a Whig. He was re-elected in 1835 as a Conservative,

The election was disputed by two well-known local men: Sir Thomas Champneys and Sheppard, a Tory and a Radical or Whig respectively. Champneys was an acknowledged slave owner. There was no serious trouble until the election itself. The two were personal enemies, with a long history of property dealings between their families over 180 years. Champneys may have been popular but he was disreputable, unmarried, and his Orchardleigh Estate was in decline and in debt. In 1820 Sheppard was a key witness when Sir Thomas was accused of sodomy; the case was not proven.

Writing about the processes of social equalization in the 19th century, George W. E. Russell recorded that Sheppard was the only member of the House of Commons to wear a pigtail after the Reform Act 1832.

Like his election nominator of 1837 Thomas Bunn, Sheppard also supported the Anti-Slavery movement, and was a delegate for Frome at the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Convention at the Freemason's Hall, London on 12 June 1834.

In 1838 Sheppard bought the Folkington and Wootton manors in the South Downs, and built for himself a new Folkington Manor designed by the architect William Donthorne. After the death of his son in 1875, it was sold to another family.