Lewis Watson, 1st Baron Sondes

Lewis Watson, 1st Baron Sondes (28 November 1728 – 30 March 1795), called Hon. Lewis Monson before 1746 and Hon. Lewis Watson from 1746 to 1760, was a British Whig politician and peer.

Sondes was the second son of John Monson, 1st Baron Monson, and Lady Margaret Watson, youngest daughter of Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham.[1] He was educated at Westminster School between 1737 and 1745. He assumed the surname of Watson in 1746 after inheriting the estates of his cousin, Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham. Watson afterwards went on the Grand Tour with his second cousin the Earl of Malton (later Marquess of Rockingham) and his third cousin Thomas Pelham.[2]

While abroad in Europe in 1750, his third cousin once removed, the Duke of Newcastle, arranged for Watson to be returned in April as Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge in place of the Earl of Dalkeith, who had died. That autumn, the three kinsmen visited Hanover, where Newcastle presented them, together with Viscount Downe and three other young Englishmen, to George II of Great Britain, who was holding court in the Electorate. The king was not pleased and snubbed the party when they were presented.[2]

On 12 October 1752, he married his third cousin Grace Pelham (d. 30 July 1777), the third surviving daughter and co-heiress of Prime Minister Henry Pelham, Newcastle's brother.[1] They had four sons:

In February 1754, his father-in-law procured for him the lucrative sinecure of auditor of the imprests, in succession to William Benson.[2] The by-election that followed his appointment was not contested.[3] In the 1754 general election that spring, Newcastle had him returned for Boroughbridge again; Watson also led the poll in Kent, where he and Robert Fairfax stood as Whigs and defeated Sir Edward Dering, one of the sitting Tory members. Watson chose to sit for Kent. However, he aspired to the House of Lords, as he enjoyed the estates of the extinct earldom of Rockingham and could well afford to support a title. Nor did he wish to stand for the county again. Newcastle pressed his claims strongly on the King, and was ultimately successful: Watson was created Baron Sondes, of Lees Court in the Peerage of Great Britain on 22 May 1760 and vacated his seat in the Commons. In 1785, the office of auditor of the imprests was abolished, and he received an annuity of £7,000 a year for life in compensation.[4]

He died on 30 March 1795 and was succeeded in his title by his eldest son, Lewis Watson.[1] Sondes was buried at Rockingham, Northamptonshire.[5]

References
  1. Edmund Lodge, The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage: With Sketches of the Family (Saunders and Otley, 1838), p.460. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. Sedgwick, Romney R. (1970). "WATSON, Hon. Lewis (1728-95), of Lees Court, Kent.". In Sedgwick, Romney (ed.). The House of Commons 1715-1754. The History of Parliament Trust.
  3. Sedgwick, Romney R. (1970). "Boroughbridge". In Sedgwick, Romney (ed.). The House of Commons 1715-1754. The History of Parliament Trust.
  4. Newman, A. N. "WATSON, Hon. Lewis (1728-95), of Lees Court, Kent". The House of Commons. The History of Parliament Trust.
  5. Wise, Charles (1891). Rockingham Castle and the Watsons. London: Elliot Stock. p. 113.
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Earl of Dalkeith
William Murray		 Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge
1750–1754
With: William Murray		 Succeeded by
John Fuller
William Murray
Preceded by
Sir Roger Twisden
Sir Edward Dering		 Member of Parliament for Kent
1754–1760
With: Hon. Robert Fairfax		 Succeeded by
Sir Wyndham Knatchbull-Wyndham
Hon. Robert Fairfax
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Baron Sondes
1760–1795		 Succeeded by
Lewis Watson
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