, an eminent magistrate of the city of London, was one of the younger
, an eminent magistrate of the
city of London, was one of the younger sons of James
Abney, esq. of Willesley, in the county of Derby, where
his ancestors had resided for upwards of five hundred years.
He was born January 1639; and, as his mother died in his
infancy, his father placed him at Loughborough school, in
Leicestershire; to be under the eye of his aunt, lady Bromley, widow of sir Edward Bromley, a baron of the Exchequer in the reigns of queen Elizabeth and James I. At
what time he came to London, we are not told; but he
appears to have carded on business with success and reputation, as in 1693 he was elected sheriff of London, and
in the following year he was chosen alderman of Vintry
ward, and about the same time received the honour of
knighthood from king William. In 1700, some years before
his turn, he was chosen lord mayor, and employecd his
influence in favour of the Protestant religion with much
zeal. He had the courage, at this critical juncture, when
the king of France had proclaimed the Pretender king of
Great Britain, to propose an address from the Corporation
to king William, although opposed by the majority of his
brethren on the bench; and he completely succeeded. The
example being followed by other corporations, this measure
proved of substantial service to the king, who was thereby
encouraged to dissolve the Parliament, and take the sense
of the people, which was almost universally in favour of
the Protestant succession. The zeal sir Thomas had displayed in this affair, as well as his steady adherence to the
civil and religious privileges established by the Revolution,
rendered him so popular, that his fellow-citizens elected
him their representative in parliament. He was also one of
the first promoters of the Bank of England, and for many
years before his death was one of its directors. He died
Feb. 6, 1721-2, aged 83, after having survived all his
senior brethren of the court of Aldermen, and become the
father of the city. He was a man of strict piety and independence of mind, and munificent in his charities. Having
been educated among the dissenters, he attended their
places of worship in common, but in his magistracy attended the church, on all public occasions, and. wjien solicited to support pubirc charities. The most remarkable
circumstance of his hospitality, is the kind and lasting asyr
lum which he provided for the celebrated Dr. Watts at his
house at Stoke Newington. That eminent divine was attacked by an illness in 1712, which incapacitated him for
public service. “This calamitous state,
” says Dr. Johnson,
“made the compassion. of his friends necessary, and drew
upon him the attention of sir Thomas Abney, who received
him into his house; where, with a constancy of friendship
and uniformity of conduct not often to be found, he was
treated for thirty-six years with all the kindness that friendship could prompt, and all the attention that respect could
dictate. Sir Thomas died about eight years afterwards,
but he continued with the lady and her daughters to the end
of his life.
”