Thomas Lucas MP, West India merchant, was treasurer of Guy's Hospital 1764-1774 then president of its board of governors until his death.

Business interests

His directorships included Union Society from 1759, South Sea Company 1763, Union Fire Office 1764, all held until he died.

Thomas Lucas's West Indies interests were in St Kitts, Leeward Islands

Leeward Islands

The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...

 and, in partnership with William Coleman, as a London agent for other Leeward Islands planters.

He was very probably a close relative of Eliza Lucas

Eliza Lucas

Eliza Lucas Pinckney changed agriculture in colonial South Carolina, where she developed indigo as one of its most important cash crops. Its cultivation and processing as dye produced one-third the total value of the colony's exports before the Revolutionary War. Manager of three plantations at...

 born in Antigua

Antigua

Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

 Leeward Islands in 1723.

Charities

His continuing public involvement in aiding other charities besides Guy's included:

a governor then vice president of the Hospitals for Smallpox and Inoculation

a governor of St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics

St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics

St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics was founded in London in 1750 for the treatment of incurable pauper lunatics by a group of philanthropic apothecaries and others. It was the second public institution in London created to look after mentally ill people, after the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlem...

The Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor

Private life

Lucas's origins were considered a mystery soon after his death. His easy association with the nobility and other ties suggest he could have been, if not illegitimate, heir to the barony of Lucas of Shenfield and so a part of the family of Henry Grey (c1664-1740) Duke of Kent.

Lucas married three times: Ann Jones, Mary Page and Elizabeth Payne; within his circle of business associates but left no surviving issue. His widow, Elizabeth daughter of Rev. Joseph Payne and a niece of Lewis Way a previous president of Guy's Hospital, married John Julius Angerstein

John Julius Angerstein

John Julius Angerstein , was a London merchant, Lloyd's under-writer, and patron of the fine arts. The imminent prospect that his collection of paintings was about to be sold by his estate, in 1824, galvanized the founding of the National Gallery, London.Angerstein was born in St Petersburg, Russia...

. Their portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is in the Louvre. It is believed that after her mother's early death Eliza and her sister were raised by their childless great-uncle and aunt, Mr & Mrs George Payne

His London residence was in Albemarle Street

Albemarle Street

Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair in central London, off Piccadilly. It has historic associations with Lord Byron, whose publisher John Murray was based here, and Oscar Wilde, a member of the Albemarle Club, where an insult he received led to his suing for libel and to his eventual imprisonment...

. He also maintained a country residence at Lee Place, Kent, the property of the Boone family. About 1770 he employed the East India Company architect Richard Jupp

Richard Jupp

Richard Jupp was an 18th century English architect, particularly associated with buildings in and around London.He served for many years Richard Jupp (1728 – 17 April 1799) was an 18th century English architect, particularly associated with buildings in and around London.He served for many years...

 to build him a new house on an old site on land which he had purchased from the Lethieullier family. The new house where he died on 29th September 1784 was later known as Lee Manor. It is now used as a public library and its gardens have become a public park, Manor House Gardens.

Parliament

His newly achieved, 1780, parliamentary seat for the Grampound

Grampound (UK Parliament constituency)

Grampound in Cornwall, was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1821. It was represented by two Members of Parliament.-History:Grampound's...

 constituency was lost in the General Election

British general election, 1784

The British general election of 1784 resulted in William Pitt the Younger securing an overall majority of about 120 in the House of Commons of Great Britain, having previously had to survive in a House which was dominated by his opponents.-Background:...

 completed in May 1784 His seat was taken by Francis Baring who also purchased the new house from Lucas's widow in 1796.

Sources

Newspapers of his day.

Edward Hasted: The History and Topographical Survey of the county of Kent. 1797