Edward Digby, 6th Baron Digby (5 July 1730 – 30 November 1757), was a British peer and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Digby was the son of Hon. Edward Digby, son of

William Digby, 5th Baron Digby William Digby, 5th Baron Digby (20 February 1661 – 27 November 1752) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Life Digby was a younger son of Kildare Digby, 2nd Baron Digby, and Mary Gardiner. He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on ...

. His mother was Charlotte Fox, daughter of

Sir Stephen Fox Sir Stephen Fox (27 March 1627 – 28 October 1716) of Farley in Wiltshire, of Redlynch Park in Somerset, of Chiswick, Middlesex and of Whitehall, was a royal administrator and courtier to King Charles II, and a politician, who rose from ...

and sister of

Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, PC (28 September 1705 – 1 July 1774), of Holland House in Kensington and of Holland House in Kingsgate, Kent, was a leading British politician. He identified primarily with the Whig faction. He held the posts o ...

. He was a close connection of the Foxes, and from 1744 on regularly attended their annual shooting party in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. On 13 June 1751, he was returned at

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...

on Henry Fox's interest after the death of James Douglas. Around this time, he was appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber to George, Prince of Wales. On 27 November 1752, he succeeded his grandfather

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

as Baron Digby, an Irish peerage which did not oblige him to vacate his seat in the Commons. He resigned his bedchamber office in 1753 as a result of his succession, by which he inherited

Sherborne Castle Sherborne Castle is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne in Dorset, England, within the parish of Castleton. It stands in a park which formed a small part of the Digby estate. Old castle Sherborne Old Castle () is the ruin ...

in Dorset. Digby intended to contest

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, where he had large estates, in the next general election and asked for the support of the

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle u ...

, but when George Trenchard nominated him at the county meeting of gentlemen in August 1753, there was no enthusiasm for his candidacy and he dropped the plan. Instead, Fox had him returned for Wells at the 1754 election on a joint interest with Charles Tudway. As befitted a connection of Fox, Digby was a Whig, but took relatively little interest in politics. His health was poor, and he hoped to obtain a higher peerage, either a British title or an Irish earldom, an object left unfulfilled. In 1756, he was operated on for

kidney stone Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine s ...

s by Dr Adair Hawkins. He survived the surgery, but the wound was slow to heal, and he was left an invalid until he died on 30 November 1757. Digby was known for acts of great benevolence. In particular, he was known to visit the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

Debtors' prison at least twice annually, at Christmas and Easter, and each time secure the release of a number of prisoners by paying off their debts. He would then take the newly freed individuals to George Inn in Borough for dinner.The Penny Story-Teller, 2 January 1833.
/ref> Digby never married and was succeeded in the barony by his younger brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, who was created Earl Digby in 1790.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digby, Edward Digby, 6th Baron 1730 births 1757 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 Whig (British political party) MPs

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

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