Thomas Bordley (ca. 1683-1726)
Anne Arundel County Court Clerk, 1703-1708/9
MSA SC 3520-115
Biography:
Born: ca. 1683 in Yorkshire, England; youngest son
Immigrated: in 1694 as a minor with his brother
from England
Resided: in Kent County; Annapolis, Anne Arundel
County, by 1704
Father: Rev. Stephen Bordley, who received an M.A.
from Cambridge University in 1689; prebendary of St. Paul’s, London, England
Siblings: Rev. Stephen Bordley (ca. 1675-1709),
a rector in Maryland from 1694 to 1709, who married Anne, daughter of John
Hynson (?-1705); Mary; Elizabeth
Married: first, in December 1708 Rachel (?-1722),
daughter of Richard Beard (ca. 1648-1703), of Annapolis; second, in September
1723 Ariana (1690-1741), who died in England after a small-pox inoculation,
widow of James Frisby (1684-1719); daughter of Matthias Vanderheyden (?-1729).
She subsequently married Edmund Jennings (?-1756); her half brother was
Henry Ward (?-1734); her sisters were Jane; Francina; and Augustina, who
married James Harris (1682-1743)
Children: Stephen Bordley (ca. 1710-1764); William
(1714-1762), of Cecil County, who married (first name unknown) Pearce;
John; Thomas; Mathias; and John Beale Bordley (1726/27-1804), who married
first, ca. 1750 Margaret (?-1773), daughter of Samuel Chew, and second,
in 1776 Sarah Mifflin, of Philadelphia; Elizabeth
Education: literate; studied law in Annapolis
Religious Affiliation: Anglican; his grandfather,
father, and brother were Anglican clergymen
Social Status and Activites: he visited England
on several occasions, most importantly in 1715; he was a close ally of
Gov. John Hart, who bestowed considerable patronage on him; he was a patron
of the poet Ebenezer Cooke, who wrote “An Elegy on the Death of Thomas
Bordley, Esq.”
Occupation: placeman, by 1703-1721; became a leading
lawyer in the colony, admitted to the following courts: Provincial Court
in 1704; Anne Arundel County Court in 1709; Court of Chancery by 1712;
Prince George’s County Court in 1712
Public Career: Lower House, Annapolis, 1708B-1711
(Accounts 2-4), Anne Arundel County, 1715 (Laws), Annapolis, 1716-1718
(Laws 1-3), 1719 (Laws 1; appointed to Council between the 1st and 2nd
sessions); Upper House, 1720-1721 (appointed by the 2nd session; discharged
by the 5th session); Lower House, Anne Arundel County, 1722-1724 (Laws
1; Aggrievances 3); 1725-1726 (Laws 1-3: Aggrievances 1-3; died before
the 4th session); clerk, Secretary’s Office and Provincial Court, 1703-1707;
clerk, Committees of the Lower House, 1704, 1706, 1714; clerk, Prerogative
Office, 1708-1712; surveyor general, Western Shore, 1717-1718; attorney
general, 1718-1721; commissary general, 1718-1721; Council, April 1720-September
1721.
Local Offices: clerk, Anne Arundel County, 1703-1708;
St. Anne’s Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, 1712-1715, 1718-1722; recorder,
Annapolis, 1721-1726
Stands on Public/Private Issues: acquitted in 1704
by the Lower House of a charge of contempt for his refusal while clerk
of Anne Arundel County to release the county’s book of laws; removed from
the Anne Arundel County clerkship in 1708 by Philemon Lloyd (ca. 1674-1732/33),
for which Bordley went to court in an attempt to regain the office; he
became a leader of the popular or “country” party against the proprietary
interests in the early l720s; he in-curred the anger of Charles Calvert
in 1721, which brought his dismissal from the Council; he espoused publicizing
the action of the Assembly by printing the legislative proceedings; he
edited The Charter of Maryland, Together with the Debates and Proceedings
of the. . . Assembly. . .1722. 1723, 1724 (Philadelphia, 1725), and
was instrumental in bringing the printer William Parks to Annapolis in
1726
Wealth: at least 500 acres; personal property; FB, £3,179.14.8
sterling, £1,964.17.3 current money (including 19 slaves, 6 servants,
and 100 law books); land over 7,500 acres
Died: on October 11, 1726, in England
"Thomas Bordley, sworn 8 June 1703. Resigned after appointed Clerk of the Prerogative Office."
Link to New Dictionary of National Biography Entry
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