Thomas Panton

Colonel Thomas Panton, reformed gambler, is buried in a vault in the chapel of St John the Baptist in Westminster Abbey. Until the 19th century there was nothing to mark his grave. A stone near the Earl of Exeter's monument in this chapel now records his name and that of his wife.

Thomas was a son of John Panton of Leicestershire and obtained a commission in Charles II's Lifeguards. He was also a captain in the foot guards but resigned his commissions when he became a Roman Catholic. His skill at gambling and his intrigues gained him a reputation but one night he won so much money that he reformed and never played again. He purchased estates in Herefordshire and had a mansion in the Haymarket in London and built a street of houses nearby which still bears his name. He was buried on 26th October 1685 and his wife Dorothy (nee Stacy) was buried on 5th April 1725. Their eldest son was Brigadier General Thomas Panton who died in 1753, being the oldest general in the army. Their daughter Elizabeth married Henry, 5th Lord Arundell of Wardour and daughter Dorothy married William Stanley.

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography