HARRISON, Thomas (b.1681).

Thomas Harrison, a professional soldier, brought back James Stanhope’s despatches after the victory at Saragossa in 1710, for which he received £1,000 from the Queen. In the Fifteen he was present at Sheriffmuir and brought the Duke of Argyll’s despatches to George I, who gave him £500.Cal. Treas. Bks. xxiv. 465; xxx. 129; Dalton, Geo. I’s Army, i. 334-5. He sold his regiment in March 1716. After contesting Steyning unsuccessfully in 1724, he was brought in for Old Sarum at a by-election in 1728 by Thomas Pitt, who recruited two voters to defeat the single supporter of Henry Fox.Ilchester, Ld. Holland, i. 29-30. In Parliament he voted with the Administration on the Hessians in 1730 but against them on the excise bill in 1733 and the repeal of the Septennial Act in 1734. He was not re-chosen in 1734. On a vacancy at Old Sarum in 1735 he proposed himself for the seat to Thomas Pitt, offering to pay his brother, William, to give up his claim to it, a proposal which William regarded as absurd and impertinent.Rosebery, Chatham, 74-75. Never standing again, he died before 1755.