Thomas West (captain)
American 18th century planter, military officer and politician

Thomas West of Poplar Neck (c. 1670 – 1710) was a planter, military officer and politician of King William County in the British Colony and Dominion of Virginia who for two consecutive terms represented the county in the House of Burgesses (1703–1706). He followed the planter, military officer and burgess traditions of his father John West and brothers John West and Nathaniel West. His wife Agnes bore a son, also Thomas West, who also served (briefly) in the House of Burgesses.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas West (captain)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.