Thomas H. Bayly
Thomas Henry Bayly was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and judge from Virginia. He was the son of Thomas M. Bayly.Biography
Born at the family estate called "Mount Custis" near Drummondtown, Virginia, Bayly attended the common schools as a child and went on to study law at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1829. Admitted to the bar in 1830, he practiced law in Accomac County, Virginia and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1836 to 1842 and was appointed brigadier general of the 21st Brigade in the Virginia Militia in 1837 which he served as until 1846. Bayly was elected judge of the Superior Court of Law and Chancery in 1842.
In 1844, he left that post when he was elected as a Democrat to fill a vacancy in the United States House of Representatives. He served in the House until his death in 1856, acting as chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means from 1849 to 1851 and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1851 to 1855. He died on June 23, 1856 at his estate, Mount Custis, near Drummondtown, Virginia, and was interred in the family cemetery there. Bayly also has a cenotaph at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C..
The University of Virginia Art Museum is housed in the Thomas H. Bayly Building.Elections
- 1844; Bayly was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 54.5% of the vote, defeating Whig Hitt Carter.
- 1845; Bayly was re-elected with 53.54% of the vote, defeating Whig George W. Southall.
- 1847; Bayly was re-elected with 52.47% of the vote, defeating Whig John J. Jones.
- 1849; Bayly was re-elected with 64.75% of the vote, defeating Whig Francis Mallory.
- 1851; Bayly was re-elected unopposed.
- 1853; Bayly was re-elected with 58.93% of the vote, defeating Independents Louis C.H. Finney and George W. Lewis.
- 1855; Bayly was re-elected with 79.09% of the vote, defeating Independents Robert L. Montague, Richard Lee Turberville Beale, Joseph Eggleston Segar, and a man identified only as Jennings.
