Sir William Thompson (1678 – 27 October 1739), of Middle Temple, was an English judge and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1709 and 1729.
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Early life
Thompson was second son of Sir William Thompson (died 1695), serjeant-at-law, and his wife, Mary Stephens of Bermondsey. He was educated at Brentwood Grammar School (Essex) and admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge on 25 April 1691, aged 14. He was awarded BA in 1695.
In 1688, he was admitted a student at the Middle Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1698. He married by licence dated 16 July 1701, Mrs Joyce Brent, a widow of St Clement Danes, Middlesex. He married, as his second wife, on 7 November 1710, Julia Blackett, widow of Sir William Blacket, Bt, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the daughter of Sir Christopher Conyers, Bt, of Horden, Durham.
Career
Thompson stood for Orford, Suffolk at the 1708 British general election on the recommendation of Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet and though defeated in the poll with only three votes, was seated on petition as Member of Parliament for Orford on 29 January 1709. He voted for the naturalization of the Palatines, and was probably a teller on 7 March 1709 against a Tory amendment to the bill to prevent naturalized persons from standing or voting at parliamentary elections. He was put forward to sit on the committee to draw up the articles of impeachment against Dr Sacheverell on 14 December 1709, spoke on 11 January 1710 against the recommittal of the articles, and voted for the impeachment. He was involved in the prosecution of Sacheverell's riotous supporters, Daniel Dammaree, Francis Willis, and George Purchase over the period March to April 1710. At the 1710 British general election he stood at Ipswich but was unsuccessful. At the 1713 general election, he was returned as MP for Ipswich but was unseated by petition on 1 April 1714.