Thomas Prothero

Thomas Prothero (or Protheroe) (1780–1853) was a Welsh lawyer, mine owner and businessman, known as an opponent of John Frost. Life He was born in Usk, the son of Thomas Prothero, a lawyer who was involved also in local politics in Usk and the Beaufort estate. The supposition that he was illegitimate, based on his birthplace in the 1851 census for Malpas being entered simply as "Monmouthshire", is doubtful, given that the enumerator completed all entries in the same way. Law and local politics The younger Thomas Prothero began life in the same directions as his father. He set up in business in Newport, Monmouthshire; and he became town clerk of Newport in 1807. He was later joined in his law firm by Thomas Phillips, who became another influential local figure; they were in partnership from 1824 to 1840. Prothero and his law firm were drawn into the electoral politics of the two local constituencies, Monmouthshire and Monmouth Boroughs. Land and political agent He worked as agent for Sir Charles Morgan, 2nd Baronet M.P., both in politics and in management of the Tredegar Estate. The two were related: a local comment was that the antipathy Morgan's son Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan felt for Prothero was unjustified, because the younger Morgan was intending to stand for Parliament at Brecon, and Prothero's rent-gathering tactics in Monmouthshire would not matter there.