Edward Southwell Sr. (4 September 1671 – 4 December 1730) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

lawyer and politician. He was the second but only surviving son of Sir Robert Southwell of Kings Weston, near Bristol and educated at

Kensington School The Kensington Proprietary Grammar School, colloquially referred to as the Kensington School,''William Haig Brown of Charterhouse : a short biographical memoir'' (1908) - London : Macmillan was an educational establishment founded in 1830 that is ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

(1686) and

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

(1687). He served in a number of high public offices including Chief Prothonotary of the Common Pleas in Ireland (1692–1700), clerk of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

(1693 to death), judge of the

Admiralty court Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences. Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest ...

and vice-admiral of Munster (1699 to death). He was several times joint commissioner of the

Privy Seal A privy seal refers to the personal seal of a reigning monarch, used for the purpose of authenticating official documents of a much more personal nature. This is in contrast with that of a great seal, which is used for documents of greater impor ...

(1701–1702, 1715 and 1716). He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1692 and twice served on their council. He sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

for

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

from 1692 to 1699, for

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

from 1703 to 1713 and then again for Kinsale from 1713 to his death. In 1702 Southwell succeeded his father as Principal Secretary of State (Ireland) and was appointed to the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

the same year. Both appointments were for life. He sat in the

House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

and the

House of Commons of Great Britain The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of th ...

between 1702 and 1715 as MP for Rye,

Tregony Tregony ( kw, Trerigoni), sometimes in the past Tregoney, is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Tregony with Cuby, in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies on the River Fal. In the village there is a post office (now ...

and Preston. Kings Weston House crop

In 1712 he commissioned Sir

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...

to build

Kings Weston House Kings Weston House () is a historic building in Kings Weston Lane, Kingsweston, Bristol, England. History It was built between 1712 and 1719 was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Edward Southwell on the site of an earlier Tudor house, remodell ...

in Kingsweston, Bristol. He died in 1730 and was buried at Kingsweston. He had married

Elizabeth Cromwell, 8th Baroness Cromwell Lady Elizabeth Southwell ( née Cromwell), called Lady Cromwell (1674–1709) was an English noblewoman, the only daughter of Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th Earl of Ardglass and wife Catherine Hamilton. Title When her father died in 1687, she claimed ...

, who died in 1709, and their son

Edward Southwell Edward Southwell may refer to: * Edward Southwell, 20th Baron de Clifford (1738–1777), British politician * Edward Southwell Sr. (1671–1730), Irish politician * Edward Southwell Jr. (1705–1755), Irish politician {{hndis, Southwell, Edward ...

succeeded in turn to the Secretaryship and to the Kings Weston estate. He had later married Anne, daughter of William Blathwaite of Derham, Gloucestershire.

References

* 1671 births 1730 deaths People from Gloucestershire (before 1904) Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn 17th-century Anglo-Irish people 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Irish MPs 1692–1693 Irish MPs 1695–1699 Irish MPs 1703–1713 Irish MPs 1713–1714 Irish MPs 1715–1727 Irish MPs 1727–1760 English MPs 1702–1705 English MPs 1705–1707 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1707–1708 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 Chief Secretaries for Ireland Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Dublin University Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Prothonotaries {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub