Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes

Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes (3 July 1686 – 20 March 1722) was a British Member of Parliament.

He was the eldest son of Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham and his wife Catherine, daughter of George Sondes, 1st Earl of Feversham.

He was elected as a Whig for Canterbury on 6 May 1708, sitting until 1710, and then for New Romney on 20 April 1713. He was styled Viscount Sondes from 1714, following his father's elevation as Earl of Rockingham. In 1719 he was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales.

He was married to Catherine, eldest daughter of Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, and they had three sons and a daughter:

• Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham, no issue
• Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham, no issue
• Edward Watson, no issue
• Katherine Watson, married Edward Southwell and had issue.

In 1729 his widow and her four sisters became co-heiresses to the Barony of Clifford. The abeyance was terminated in 1734 for the third sister Margaret, wife of Lord Lovel, but following her death without surviving issue in 1775 the barony was restored in favour of Sondes' grandson Edward Southwell, 20th Baron Clifford.

References

• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/watson-hon-edward-1686-1722
• http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ccommons2.htm
• http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ncommons2.htm
• http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index579.htm
• http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/Clifford1299.htm