Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole (1622–1681) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1656 and 1660. Cole was the son of Thomas Cole of Liss and his wife Mary Waller, daughter of Thomas Waller of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He was baptised on 15 January 1622. He entered Gray's Inn in 1641. Cole was commissioner for execution of ordinances for Hampshire in 1645 and commissioner for assessment for Hampshire from 1647 to 1652. In 1648 he was commissioner for militia for Hampshire and was a JP for Hampshire by 1650. He was commissioner for security for Hampshire from 1655 to 1656. In 1656, Cole was elected Member of Parliament for Hampshire in the Second Protectorate Parliament. He was commissioner for assessment for Hampshire in 1657 and commissioner for militia in 1659 and 1660. In January 1660 he was commissioner for assessment for Hampshire and by April 1660 he was freeman of Portsmouth and Winchester. In April 1660 he was elected MP for Petersfield and Winchester and may not have resolved his preference by the time parliament was dissolved. Cole became captain of militia for Hampshire in November 1660 and was reinstated as JP for Hampshire in 1662. Following his second marriage, he lived mainly in Northamptonshire and was commissioner for assessment for Northamptonshire in 1663. He was High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1663 and became Deputy Lieutenant in 1667. In 1670 he became JP for Northamptonshire.