SEBRIGHT, Sir Thomas Saunders, 4th Bt. (1692-1736), of Beechwood, Herts.

Sebright’s father, a Worcestershire baronet, acquired by marriage an estate in Hertfordshire, for which Sebright himself was returned soon after coming of age. He was one of the Members who were credited by the South Sea Company with stock without paying for it, while the South Sea bill was before Parliament in 1720.1CJ, xix. 573. A high Tory, he voted against the Government in all recorded divisions, including that on the partial pardon of Bolingbroke, whom he detested for betraying the Pretender. In 1731 he introduced a bill to prevent the carrying of excessive weights on public roads, which was defeated on the third reading. He was one of the reputed Jacobites in the opposition list for a committee on frauds in the customs in 1733.2Mahon, Hist. of England (1858), ii. p. xxiii; Knatchbull Diary, 48; CJ, xxi. 704, 732; HMC Egmont Diary, i. 365. A book collector, whose library is often referred to by Hearne, the antiquary, he continued to represent his county till his death, 12 Apr. 1736.