CHAMBERLAYNE, Francis (d.1728), of Thorpe, Warws.

Chamberlayne’s uncle, a London merchant, bought the estate of Thorpe, which he left to his younger brother, Chamberlayne’s father, a London cooper. Chamberlayne himself seems to have been connected with the slave trade,Bd. Trade Jnl. 1709-15, p. 490; 1718-22, pp. 144-9 passim; CSP Col. 1719-20, pp. 309, 356, 362. for, in 1723, he made representations to the board of Trade against a Virginian Act for laying a duty on liquors and slaves.Bd. Trade Jnl. 1723-28, pp. 55, 646. Returned for Shoreham in 1713, he lost his seat in 1715, but recovered it at a by-election in 1720, sitting there without opposition for the rest of his life. He was referred to by Newcastle in 1722 as one of the only three Sussex Members who could be called Tories.Newcastle to Sunderland, 31 Mar. 1722, Sunderland (Blenheim) mss. Towards the end of his life he ran into financial difficulties. He died intestate 26 Sept. 1728, owing money to the father of Sir James Colebrooke, Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale, and the East India Company.PCC Admon. Act Bk. 1728.