William Edwardes, 2nd Baron Kensington
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.
Kensington was the son of
fencible regiment stationed in Gibraltar in 1801[1]
He succeeded his father as second Baron Kensington in 1801 but as this was an
Irish peerage it did not entitle him to an automatic seat in the House of Lords. 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.[2] He belonged to the Whig Party
.
In 1831, he was a prominent supporter of the Reform Bill.[3]
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
St Helena in 1845[4] and was still there whenhis father died.[5] In 1856 he became Governor of Labuan.[6] He was a "bitter enemy of the Brookes...deeply jealous of Sarawak" (the adjacent British-ruled, albeit independent, power).,[7] 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 and threaten to fire a broadside at Sarawak forces unless they ceased their activities against Sherip Masahor.[8] Never married,he died at Chandos House London on 21 February 1879[9] and was buried in Kent.[10]
References
- ^ "Died". Sun (London). 24 December 1801. p. 2.
- ^ Williams 1960, p. 40.
- ^ "Pembrokeshire Reform Meeting". Carmarthen Journal. 8 April 1831. p. 3. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ Sun, 1 April, p.11, The London Gazette (this evening)
- ^ Obituary of his father, Lord Kensington, Gentleman's Magazine (1852)
- ^ London Gazette announcement
- ^ Pringle, Robert (1970), Rajahs and Rebels: The Ibans of Sarawak Under Brooke Rule, 1841-1941
- ^ Baring-Gould,S. and Bampfylde,C.A., A History of Sarawak (1909), pp.246-262
- ^ Sporting Gazette, 1 March 1879, p.7
- ^ Find a Grave
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [better source needed]
Sources
- Williams, David (1960). "The Pembrokeshire Elections of 1831" (PDF). Welsh History Review. 1 (1): 37–64. Retrieved 9 March 2020.