After limited military service on the Parliamentarian side in the Third English Civil War, he represented Shropshire in the House of Commons from 1656 to 1659 during the Second and Third Protectorate Parliaments.
[7] Owen and Blakeway's 1825 History of Shrewsbury includes an abstract from an earlier manuscript listing monuments in the old churchyard: important, as the church fell down in 1788 and was replaced by a building on a new site.
At the time of Thomas's birth, Humphrey Mackworth was a young Gray's Inn lawyer, working in London, although he moved back and began to represent the town of Shrewsbury as his family grew, attaining the rank of alderman in 1633.
[17] At Bridgnorth on 14 October the king issued a royal proclamation threatening with prosecution for high treason Shropshire gentry who had criticised his government: Humphrey Mackworth was one of only three who were named.
When Shrewsbury was fortified against the army of Charles II of Scotland in August 1651, Thomas was in charge of a detachment of soldiers in the garrison.
Thomas Mackworth's first recorded appearance as a justice of the peace in Shropshire, alongside his father, was at the quarter sessions of 10 January 1654.
[25] The cases considered were fairly typical of the time and included local government matters as well as poor relief, the administration of justice and moral policing.
Nevertheless, the magistrates referred to him and Robert Corbet the case of a widow requesting poor relief and appointed him a commissioner of the house of correction, so he was now regarded as an active local justice of the peace.
He heads the list of justices at the 3 October 1654 sessions, traditionally linked with Michaelmas but in the record for this year, apparently wrongly, with St. Martin's Day.
The election results were more favourable to the government on the second attempt, as senior military figures worked hard to vet candidates and to encourage sympathetic electors.
[33] Thomas's brother, Humphrey, now addressed as Colonel, represented Shrewsbury in the same parliament[31] and it is not always easy to distinguish them in the parliamentary record.
[34] It may have been his experience of intestacy, as well as his legal training, that obtained him a place on a committee to discuss an Act for the Probate of Wills a month later.
While Humphrey disappeared as Charles II appeared, Thomas seems to have been largely content to settle into private life.
He appeared at the quarter sessions of July 1689[45] Thereafter he was a regular and active member of the bench until October 1696,[46] a month before his death.
[48] This marriage produced a daughter: Sarah Mackworth outlived her husband, died on 28 August 1698[6] and was buried at St Chad's on 3 September.