Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield

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Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield PC FRS (1666–1732) was an English politician.

He was born in Staffordshire, the son of Thomas Parker, an attorney at Leek. He was educated at Adams' Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was married to Elizabeth Carrier, whose sister was married to George Anson, 1st Baron Anson. He was called to the bar in 1691, and became a Whig MP in 1704, knighted in 1705. In 1710 he refused the office of Lord Chancellor, but was made a Privy Councillor. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and was involved in the prosecution of Dr Sacheverell. He made a vehement attack on Sacheverell and the high church clergy.[1] He was also a friend of Bernard de Mandeville, whose satirical Fable of the Bees became highly controversial in the 1720s.

He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1713. He also had a grammar school built at Leek, his home town. In 1714 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Parker of Macclesfield. In 1716 he became Lord Chancellor and given a pension for life, and was a favourite of the King. In 1718 he was advanced to the title Earl of Macclesfield with the additional subsidiary title of Viscount Parker. In 1721 he was implicated in financial irregularities, however he did not resign as Lord Chancellor until 1724.

In 1725 he was impeached and tried in the House of Lords.[2] He was unanimously found guilty of corruption for taking more than one hundred thousand pounds in bribes (more than eleven million in today's currency). He was fined £30,000 and placed in the Tower of London until payment was received. He was also struck off the roll of the Privy Council. He was a fabulously wealthy man possibly due to his corruption, but as this money was confiscated he had no resources with which to pay his fine. He spent most of the rest of his life at Shirburn Castle, where he was buried.

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Legal Offices
Preceded by: Sir John Holt	Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1710–1718	Succeeded by: Sir John Pratt
Political offices
Preceded by: The Lord Cowper	Lord Chancellor 1718–1725	Succeeded by: In Commission
Honorary Titles
Preceded by: The Earl of Northampton	Custos Rotulorum of Warwickshire 1719–1728	Succeeded by: The Duke of Montagu
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by: New Creation	Earl of Macclesfield 1718–1732	Succeeded by: George Parker
Preceded by: New Creation	Baron Parker 1714–1732	Succeeded by: George Parker