MASTER, Thomas (1690-1770), of the Abbey, Cirencester, Glos.

Thomas Master was descended from one of Queen Elizabeth’s physicians, who obtained a grant of the site of the abbey of Cirencester in 1565, since when each generation of the family had represented the borough. A life-long Tory, he himself was returned there without opposition for thirty-five years, sharing its representation with the Bathursts. Included in 1721 in a list of those likely to support an uprising in favour of the Stuarts,1Stuart mss 65/16. he consistently voted against the Government after George I’s accession. In his only recorded speech on 3 May 1736 he opposed the Quaker tithe bill. He retired in 1747 in favour of his son, on whose death in 1749, leaving an infant heir, he put up a cousin, John Coxe. In 1753 he emerged from his retirement to join with Coxe in standing once again for the borough, but ultimately withdrew.2Add. 32733, f. 610. He died 5 Feb. 1770.