page_title: Thomas Hawkes (MP)
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Hawkes (MP) / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Stone Street Square The square in front of Dudley Museum.
context_page_description: Thomas Hawkes was an English industrialist and politician. He inherited a glass-making business from his father. He was elected as MP for Dudley in 1834, defeating the sitting candidate, Sir John Campbell. He thus became the second person to represent Dudley at the UK Parliament. He retained his Parliamentary seat in three subsequent elections, stepping down in 1844 after having financial problems. He served as Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1811 and he was appointed as captain of the Himley Troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry in 1819, in which he served for more than twenty years. One of his daughters married the brother of Baron Ward, the Lord of Dudley Castle. He was declared bankrupt shortly before his death in 1858.
context_section_description: Thomas Hawkes was born in 1778, the son of Abiathar and Mary Hawkes. His father was involved in the glass industry and had founded the Dudley Flint Glassworks situated in  King Street, Dudley. Abiathar Hawkes built a new glassworks on the corner of Stone Street and Priory Street in the early 1780s. A price list issued in 1794 indicates that Thomas was already active in his father's firm at this date. Abiathar Hawkes died on 17 January 1800, leaving his glass business to two of his sons, Thomas and George Wright. Thomas Hawkes became a large scale glass manufacturer in his own right in the town of Dudley trading as Thomas Hawkes and Co.
  On 26 February 1810, Hawkes was promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel in the Dudley Volunteer Infantry. In 1811, Hawkes served as Sheriff of Worcestershire.
  On 2 April 1812, Hawkes convened a public meeting in the town of Dudley in order to petition parliament requesting free trade with the East Indies.
  In 1814 he married Alice Anna Blackburne, daughter of John Blackburne of Hawford House, Worcester and of Wavertree Hall, Lancashire. John Blackburne had been Mayor of Liverpool in 1788 and owned land and had mining interests and a saltworks in Lancashire. As Alice was his only daughter, most of this property was inherited by Mr and Mrs Hawkes on Blackburne's death in 1826. The couple went on to have a large family including at least five daughters.
  On 25 October 1816, Thomas and George Wright presented a "beautiful glass vase" on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of St Thomas' Church, Dudley. Inside the vase were placed "several medals commemorative of remarkable recent public events" and the vase itself placed in a recess in a stone block and incorporated in the wall of the church.
  In 1816, Hawkes was listed as a magistrate for Staffordshire, residing at Himley.
  In a commercial directory published in 1818, Thomas Hawkes & Co. is listed as a cut-glass manufacturer based at Stone Street, Dudley. In the same year, Thomas Hawkes was listed as residing at Himley in Staffordshire.
  On 29 December 1819, Thomas Hawkes became a captain in the Himley Troop of the Queen's Own Royal Regiment of Staffordshire Yeomanry. In 1821, he attended the festivities at Dudley to celebrate the coronation of King George IV, when "Captain Hawkes, with the Himley and Enville Troop of Yeomanry, was met with a brass band of music by the principal gentlemen and escorted to the Town Hall." Hawkes served as captain of this Troop until at least 1840, although in 1843 his position was taken by the Hon. Dudley Ward.
  George Wright Hawkes, Thomas's brother and business partner died in 1821 at Dudley, aged 40. By this time, a younger brother, Roger Wright Hawkes, had joined the business.
  In July 1826, the Himley Troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry were called out when disturbances were expected due to the wages of Dudley and Tipton colliers being reduced. According to the records of the Staffordshire Yeomanry: "it was thought necessary to read the riot act, which was done amidst the shouts of the colliers, followed by a shower of stones, by one of which Captain Hawkes was struck on the face, and several of the Yeomen were also wounded".
  In the general elections of 1830 and 1831, Hawkes stood for Parliament for the constituency of Stafford, losing both times. after the 1830 election, Hawkes was given a dinner at the George Inn in Stafford with the mayor presiding to thank him for his gentlemanly conduct during the election period. He was presented with an inscribed tureen at the occasion.
  Thomas Hawkes was listed as being a magistrate of "Stourbridge and its vicinity" in 1830.
  In 1834, Hawkes helped establish the Dudley and West Bromwich Banking Company and became the Chairman of the company.
  In 1834 he challenged Sir John Campbell (one of his opponents at the Stafford elections of 1830 and 1831) at a by-election to become MP for Dudley. Campbell had succeeded in becoming the first member of parliament for Dudley in modern history when he won the seat at the general election in 1832. However, when subsequently appoi
caption: Stone Street Square, Dudley: the site of the glassworks built by Abiathar Hawkes and later owned and operated by Thomas Hawkes
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