William Edwardes, 2nd Baron Kensington (24 April 1777 – 10 August 1852), styled The Honourable William Edwardes until 1801, was a British peer and Member of Parliament. He was the instigator of the infamous ''

Kensington Canal The Kensington Canal was a canal, about two miles long, opened in 1828 in London from the River Thames on the parish boundary between Chelsea and Fulham, along the line of Counter's Creek, to a basin near Warwick Road in Kensington. It had one l ...

''.

Biography

Kensington was the son of

William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington (c. 1711 – 13 December 1801) of Johnston Hall, Pembrokeshire, was a British landowner and a long-standing Member of Parliament. Biography Edwardes was the second surviving son of Francis Edwardes ...

, who represented

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest ( , ; ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a Community (Wales), community consisting of 12,042 people, making it the secon ...

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 ...

for over 50 years, and Elizabeth Warren. He was commander of the Cambrian Rangers a

fencible The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Frenc ...

regiment stationed in Gibraltar in 1801 He succeeded his father as second Baron Kensington in 1801 but as this was an

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

it did not entitle him to an automatic seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was instead elected to succeed his father as Member of Parliament for Haverfordwest in 1802, a seat he held until 1818. Haverfordwest was considered a pocket borough of the Picton Castle estate and both Kensington and his father held the seat as part of an arrangement with Lord Milford, the owner of the estate and

Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire. After 1715, all Lord Lieutenants were also Custos Rotulorum of Pembrokeshire. The county corporate of Haverfordwest was included in this lieutenancy, except for the per ...

. He belonged to the Whig Party. In 1831, he was a prominent supporter of the Reform Bill. Lord Kensington married Dorothy Patricia Thomas, daughter of Richard Thomas, in 1797; they had six sons and two daughters. He died in August 1852, aged 75, and Edwardes Square, London W8 is named in his honour. He was succeeded in the barony by his son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

. Another son, George Warren Edwardes (1802–1879), joined the army and then the colonial service. London and Edinburgh Gazette entries record his early career: he joined the 17th

Dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

as a Cornet by purchase in 1824, transferred to be a Cornet and Sub-Lieutenant in 2nd Life Guards in the same year, and had risen to captain in 32nd Foot by 1828. In 1836 he went on half-pay in the

14th Foot The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) (14th Foot) was an infantry regiment of the British Army. In 1958 it amalgamated with the East Yorkshire Regiment (15th Foot) to form the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire which was, ...

until transferring to the

72nd Foot The 72nd Highlanders was a British Army Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line. Raised in 1778, it was originally numbered 78th, before being redesignated the 72nd in 1786. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 78th (Highlanders) ...

in 1840. He was appointed Colonial Auditor at

St Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in 1845 and was still there when his father died. In 1856 he became Governor of Labuan. He was a "bitter enemy of the Brookes...deeply jealous of Sarawak" (the adjacent British-ruled, albeit independent, power)., which led to his being relieved of his position as Consul-General to Brunei, and his Governorship terminated, in 1861 after he had incurred British government displeasure for his use of the HEIC steamer Victoria to travel to

Muka Muka is prepared fibre of New Zealand flax (). Prepared primarily by scraping, pounding and washing, it is a key material in Māori traditional textiles where it is usually used in tāniko or twined weaving. Some varieties produce different g ...

and threaten to fire a broadside at Sarawak forces unless they ceased their activities against Sherip Masahor. Never married, he died at Chandos House London on 21 February 1879 and was buried in Kent.Find a Grave
/ref>

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. *

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kensington, William Edwardes, 2nd Baron 1777 births 1852 deaths

UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs who inherited peerages Whig (British political party) MPs for Welsh constituencies Lords of the Admiralty Hereditary peers elected to the House of Commons