POSTLETHWAITE, Thomas.

Thomas Postlethwaite cannot be identified with certainty. He is said to have been the son of the Rev. James Postlethwaite of Fleckney, Leics.,N. & Q. (ser. 12), iv. 169. but this identification has not been confirmed. He may have been the banker who died in 1829,Gent. Mag. 1829, i. 283. or one of the many Postlethwaites who lived at this time in Cumberland. All that is definitely known about him is that he was returned for Lord Lonsdale’s pocket borough of Haslemere, was classed by William Adam in May 1784 as a supporter of Administration, and voted for Pitt’s parliamentary reform proposals, 18 Apr. 1785. His name never appears in contemporary correspondence or in the reports of parliamentary debates; and in June 1786 he vacated his seat when it was required for one of Lonsdale’s relations.