Introduction
Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, KB, PC (I) (13 November 1693 – 14 December 1750) was a British peer and Whig politician.
Life and career
He was the only son and heir of the Hon. Thomas Watson (later Watson-Wentworth, the third son of Edward Watson, 2nd Baron Rockingham) and his wife, Alice, a daughter of Sir Thomas Proby, 1st Baronet. He was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge (1707). In 1708, he bought Hallfield House, near Sheffield, and succeeded his father in 1723.
From 1715 to 1727, he was Member of Parliament for Malton, and for Yorkshire from 1727 to 1728. He was appointed a Knight of the Bath in 1725, admitted to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1733, and was Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1733 to 1750.
In 1728, he was created Baron Malton. At this time, he deliberately burned most of the manuscripts left by the 17th-century antiquary Richard Gascoigne; this act has been attributed to legal advice from his attorney. In 1734, he was created Earl of Malton, and in 1746, Marquess of Rockingham. He had inherited the barony of Rockingham from his cousin, Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham, earlier in 1746.
Family
On 22 September 1716, he married Lady Mary Finch, a daughter of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, and his second wife, Ann Hatton. They had five children:
- William, styled Viscount Higham (1728–1739).
- Charles, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730–1782), Prime Minister of Great Britain.
- Lady Anne (d. 1769), married William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam.
- Lady Mary, married John Milbanke.
- Lady Henrietta Alicia, married William Sturgeon.