Richard Watson (politician)
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
The Honourable Richard Watson (6 January 1800 – 24 July 1852) was a British Whig[1] politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury from 1830 to 1835 and briefly in 1852 for Peterborough.
Watson was the fourth and youngest son of Lewis Thomas Watson, 2nd Baron Sondes (1794–1874), by his marriage to the heiress Mary Elizabeth Milles, of North Elmham. His elder brother changed his name to Milles.[2]
Watson was commissioned into the 11th Hussars, a cavalry regiment, and served in the Peninsula.[2] He first stood for parliament at the 1826 general election in Canterbury, where he was nominated in his absence by the Reformers and polled just 107 votes. However, at the 1830 general election he topped the poll at Canterbury, with 1,334 votes, was returned unopposed in 1831, and again won a contested election in 1832, when one of the other candidates was the madman John Nichols Thom, calling himself Sir William Courtenay, otherwise 'Tom of Truro', who gained 375 votes. Watson was so dismayed by the support given to this opponent that he declined to stand again at the 1835 general election.[2][3]
On 21 December 1839 Watson married Lavinia Jane, a daughter of Lord George Quin, granddaughter of Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort, and great-niece of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer. They had three sons (George Lewis, Edward Spencer and Wentworth) and two daughters, Mary Georgiana and Lavinia Grace (the youngest not recorded in his obituary being born after Watson's death)[2]
On 7 July 1852 he was returned at the general election to the Commons as MP for Peterborough,[4] but died a few weeks later on 24 July 1852, at the age of 52, at the Baths in Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt. His body was brought home to England and buried at Rockingham Castle.[2]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Sylvanus Urban, ed., The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 38, p. 307
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)[self-published source][better source needed]
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)[self-published source][better source needed]
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Richard Watson
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Canterbury 1830 – 1835 With: Viscount Fordwich |
Succeeded by Lord Albert Conyngham Frederick Villiers |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Peterborough Jul 1852 – Jul 1852 With: George Wentworth-FitzWilliam |
Succeeded by George Wentworth-FitzWilliam George Hammond Whalley |
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
   |
This article about a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (since 1801), for an English constituency is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Accuracy disputes from March 2012
- Articles lacking reliable references from March 2012
- Wikipedia articles incorporating an LRPP-MP template with two unnamed parameters
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- 1800 births
- 1852 deaths
- Whig (British political party) MPs
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- UK MPs 1830–31
- UK MPs 1831–32
- UK MPs 1832–35
- UK MPs 1852–57
- 11th Hussars officers
- Younger sons of baronets
- UK MP for England stubs
