Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, 6th Baronet (May 1740 – 14 April 1821) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1761 and 1812. He was the first husband of Lady Sarah Lennox, and a breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses.
Sir Charles Bunbury was born the eldest son of Reverend Sir William Bunbury, 5th Baronet, Vicar of Mildenhall, Suffolk, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Vere Graham, in May 1740. The caricaturist Henry Bunbury was his younger brother. He was educated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.[1] Bunbury was returned to Parliament as one of two representatives for Suffolk in 1761, a seat he held until 1784, and again from 1790 to 1812. He was also High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1788.[2]
While serving as a Whig politician, Bunbury became a strong opponent of the slave trade.[3] He was also a supporter and ally of Charles James Fox when the latter entered politics in 1768;[4] Fox was the son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, and Lady Caroline Lennox, a daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. Bunbury would become Fox's uncle by marriage.
Bunbury married firstly Lady Sarah Lennox, another daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond - a grandson of King Charles II through his illegitimate son, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond - and one of the famous Lennox sisters, on 2 June 1762. Their notorious marriage, which produced no children - although Sarah gave birth to a daughter fathered by her lover, Lord William Gordon, on 19 December 1768 - was dissolved by Act of Parliament on 14 May 1776, on the grounds of Sarah's adultery.
He married secondly Margaret Cocksedge on 21 November 1805, again without children. Bunbury died in April 1821, aged 80, and was succeeded to the baronetcy by his nephew, Henry. Margaret, Lady Bunbury, died in February 1822.
Bunbury was an important, "crucial" figure in the field of horse racing and Thoroughbred breeding.[5] He was a steward of the Jockey Club, and his horses included the Epsom Derby winners Diomed, Eleanor, and Smolensko. His racing silks were pink and white stripes.[6] Bunbury also bred the racehorse and leading sire Highflyer (1774 – 18 October 1793), one of the most important sons of Herod (April 1758 – 12 May 1780), the progenitor of the Byerley Turk sire line in the Thoroughbred horse breed.