, issue-link = , issue-pipe = , full name = , native_name = , styles = , other_titles = , noble family = Watson , house-type = , father = Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham , mother = Lady Catherine Sondes , birth_name = , birth_date = 3 July 1686 , birth_place = , christening_date = , christening_place = , death_date = {{Death date and age, 1722, 03, 20, 1686, 07, 03, df=y , death_place = Kensington Gravel Pits , burial_date = 31 March 1722 , burial_place = Rockingham church , occupation = politician , memorials = , website = , module = Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes (3 July 1686 – 20 March 1722) of Lees Court, Sheldwich, Kent, and Park Place, London, was a British Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

between 1708 and 1722.{{sfn, Handley, 2002 Watson was the eldest son of Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham and Lady Catherine Sondes, daughter of George Sondes, 1st Earl of Feversham. He matriculated at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

on 1 June 1703, aged 16 and travelled abroad to Germany in 1707.{{sfn, Handley, 2002{{sfn, Foster, 1891, pp=1577–1600 Watson arrived back from Germany in 1708, in time to be elected as a Whig Member of Parliament for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whi ...

. He proposed a motion on 25 January 1709 for an address to the Queen that she should consider remarrying. He also supported the naturalization of the Palatines. He was appointed to a committee to draft a bill to limit the time allowed for public mourning, since this was felt to be having an adverse effect on Canterbury's silk trade. He also voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell and possibly in consequence he lost his seat at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

. He was returned unopposed as MP for

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

at a by-election on 20 April 1713. Following his father's elevation as Earl of Rockingham in 1714, he was styled Viscount Sondes. In 1718, he went over to the Opposition and in 1719 he was appointed a

Gentleman of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Households of the United Kingdo ...

the Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

.{{sfn, Handley, 2002 He married, on 21 March 1709, Lady Catherine Tufton, eldest daughter of

Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, PC (30 August 1644 – 30 July 1729)G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, G ...

in 1709, and had three sons and a daughter:{{sfn, Handley, 2002{{sfn, Cokayne, 1949, p=58{{sfn, Wise, 1891,
101
} * Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham, no issue * Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham, no issue * Edward Watson, no issue * Catherine Watson, married Edward Southwell and had issue. Watson died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

at Kensington Gravel Pits 20 March and was buried 31 March 1722 at Rockingham, predeceasing his father by 2 years.{{sfn, Cokayne, 1949, p=58 In 1729 his widow and her four sisters became co-heiresses to the Barony of Clifford.{{sfn, Cokayne, 1913,
297
} She died 13 February and was buried 20 February 1734 at Rockingham.{{sfn, Cokayne, 1949, p=58 The abeyance was terminated in 1734 for the third sister

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

, wife of Lord Lovel, but following her death without surviving issue in 1775 the barony was restored in favour of Viscount Sondes' grandson, Edward Southwell, 20th Baron Clifford.{{sfn, Cokayne, 1913,
297
}

References

{{reflist

Sources

*{{cite book , last1=Cokayne , first1=G. E. , author-link=George Edward Cokayne , editor1-last=Gibbs , editor1-first=Vicary , editor1-link=Vicary Gibbs (St Albans MP) , editor2-last=Doubleday , editor2-first=H. Arthur , title=The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, volume=3 , location=London , publisher=St Catherine Press , year=1913 , url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo03coka/page/298/mode/2up?view=theater *{{cite book , last1=Cokayne , first1=G. E. , date=1949 , editor1-last=White , editor1-first=Geoffrey H. , title=The Complete Peerage, or a History of the House of Lords and all its Members from the Earliest Times , volume=11 , location=London , publisher=St Catherine Press , pages=57–58 *{{cite book , editor1-last=Foster , editor1-first=Joseph , editor1-link=Joseph Foster (genealogist) , title=Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 , date=1891 , orig-year=1st pub. Oxford: University of Oxford:1891 , publisher=

British History Online ''British History Online'' is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on medieval and modern history of Great Britain and Ireland. It was created and is managed as a cooperative venture by the Institute of Historical Research, Universit ...

, pages=1577–1600 , url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1577-1600 , chapter=Wasborow-Wesley *{{cite book , last1=Handley , first1=Stuart , editor1-last=Hayton , editor1-first=D. , editor2-last=Cruickshanks , editor2-first=E. , editor3-last=Handley , editor3-first=S. , title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715 , date=2002 , chapter=Watson, Hon. Edward (1686-1722), of Lees Court, Sheldwich, Kent, and Park Place, London , chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/watson-hon-edward-1686-1722 , via=

History of Parliament Online The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

*{{cite book , last1=Henning , first1=Basil Duke , editor1-last=Henning , editor1-first=Basil Duke , title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690 , date=1983 , chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/watson-hon-lewis-1655-1724 , chapter=Watson, Hon. Lewis (1655-1724), of Rockingham Castle, Northants , via=

*{{cite book , last1=Newman , first1=A. N. , editor1-last=Sedgwick , editor1-first=Romney , editor1-link=Romney Sedgwick , title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754 , date=1970 , chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/watson-edward-1686-1722 , chapter=Watson, Edward, Visct. Sondes (?1686-1722) , via=

*{{cite book , last1=Wise , first1=Charles , title=Rockingham Castle and the Watsons , date=1891 , publisher=Elliot Stock , location=London , url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t70w1vt9h&view=1up&seq=139 , pages=101, 247, oclc=902976023 {{s-start {{s-par, gb {{s-bef , before = Henry Lee , before2 =

John Hardres John Hardres (2 October 1675 – 14 January 1758) of St Georges, Canterbury was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England and then the House of Commons of Great Britain in two periods between 1705 and 1722. Hardres was the ...

{{s-title , title = Member of Parliament for

, years =

1708 In the Swedish calendar it was a leap year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–June * January 1 – Charles XII of Sweden invades Russia, by crossing the ...

–

1710 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Saturday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 1 – In Prussia, Cölln is merged with Alt-Berlin ...

, with = Thomas D'Aeth {{s-aft , after =

, after2 = Henry Lee {{s-bef , before = Robert Furnese , before2 = Walter Whitfield {{s-title , title = Member of Parliament for

, years =

1713 Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take ...

–

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel '' Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), ...

, with = Robert Furnese {{s-aft , after = Robert Furnese , after2 = David Papillon {{s-end {{DEFAULTSORT:Sondes, Edward Watson, Viscount 1686 births 1722 deaths British courtesy viscounts Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 Heirs apparent who never acceded 18th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England