Thomas Bedford Bolitho (5 January 1835 – 22 May 1915) was a British banker and industrialist. He was a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for St Ives in Cornwall from 1887 to 1900.
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Early life
Born in Penzance, Bolitho was the third son, and the only one to survive to adulthood, of Edward and Mary Bolitho (née Stephens). He was educated at Harrow School.
Politics and industry
In 1882, Bolitho bought at auction, the Greenway and Galmpton estates, near Dartmouth for £42,500 plus approximately £3,000 for timber and fixtures. He also bought the tenements of Catchall, Kerris and Rospletha to add to the Hendra and Trevelloe estates he already owned.
He was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1884. Following the elevation to the peerage of the St Ives MP, Sir John St Aubyn, Bolitho became MP at a by-election in 1887. He was re-elected in 1892 and 1895. He was unopposed on all three occasions.
Bolitho was a director of Barclays Bank and Bolitho, Williams, Foster, Coode, Grylls & Co. He was President of the Institute of Bankers from 1893 to 1895. He was also a director of the Great Western Railway and owner of the Consolidated Tin Smelting Company.