Richard Thompson (MP for Reading)

Richard Thompson (died 1735), of Coley, Reading, Berkshire, was a merchant in Jamaica and a Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1720 and 1734.

In February 1711 he told the Board of Trade that he did not intend to return to Jamaica and was replaced on the local council.

He married Jane Nicoll, and bought the manors of Whitley and Coley on the outskirts of Reading in 1727.

In the course of the year there was an unexpected by-election at Reading on 15 March 1720, when he was returned in a contest as a Whig Member of Parliament.

[2] Thompson probably died before the end of 1736 leaving three daughters, Frances, Jane and Ann who married Sir Philip Jennings-Clerke, 1st Baronet.