Edward Southwell Sr. PC (Ire) (4 September 1671 – 4 December 1730) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer and politician.
Edward Southwell | |
|---|---|
 Edward Southwell Sr. in 1702 | |
| Secretary of State | |
| In office 1702–1730 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Robert Southwell |
| Succeeded by | Edward Southwell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 September 1671 Kings Weston, Bristol, England |
| Died | 4 December 1730 (aged 59) Kings Weston, Bristol, England |
| Spouse(s) |
Anne Blathwayt
(m. 1716; died 1717) |
| Children | Edward Southwell |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Edward (son) |
| Education | Kensington School, London |
| Merton College, Oxford, England | |
Early life
editHe was the second but only surviving son of Sir Robert Southwell of Kings Weston, near Bristol.
He was educated at Kensington School, Lincoln's Inn (1686) and Merton College, Oxford (1687).[1]
Career
edit
He served in a number of high public offices including Chief Prothonotary of the Common Pleas in Ireland (1692–1700), clerk of the Privy Council (1693 to death), judge of the Admiralty court and vice-admiral of Munster (1699 to death). He was several times joint commissioner of the Privy Seal (1701–1702, 1715 and 1716). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1692 and twice served on their council.[2]
He sat in the Irish House of Commons for Kinsale from 1692 to 1699, for Dublin University from 1703 to 1713 and then again for Kinsale from 1713 to his death.[3]
In 1702 Southwell succeeded his father as Principal Secretary of State (Ireland) and was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland the same year. Both appointments were for life.[4]
He sat in the House of Commons of England and the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1702 and 1715 as MP for Rye, Tregony and Preston.[5]
Personal life
edit_School_-_Anne_Blathwayt_(1691–1717),_Mrs_Edward_Southwell_-_453757_-_National_Trust.jpg)
He had married Elizabeth Cromwell, 8th Baroness Cromwell, the daughter and heiress of Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th Earl of Ardglass and Catherine Hamilton. Before her death in 1709, they were the parents of:
- Edward Southwell (1705–1755), who married Lady Katherine Watson, a daughter of Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes and Lady Katherine (née Tufton), in 1729.
In 1712 he commissioned Sir John Vanbrugh to build Kings Weston House in Kingsweston, Bristol. After the death of his first wife, he married Anne Blathwayt (1691–1717), daughter of William Blathwayt of Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire, in 1716. Sadly, she died the following year.[6]
He died in 1730 and was buried at Kingsweston. His son Edward from his first marriage, succeeded in turn to the Secretaryship and to the Kings Weston estate.
Descendants
editThrough his son Edward, he was a grandfather of Edward Southwell, who later became the 20th Baron de Clifford.
Works
editBefore entering political office, Southwell translated Henry More's ethical treatise Enchiridion Ethicum from Latin into English, published by Benjamin Tooke as An Account of Virtue in 1690 and regarded as an exemplary literary exercise. Tooke published a second edition in 1701, and Tooke's son Samuel added a third in 1723, excising the names of both More and Southwell and changing the title to An Epitome of Ethics or A Short Account of the Moral Virtues for the Use of Schools.[7]
References
edit- ↑ "SOUTHWELL, Edward (1671–1730), of Kings Weston, Glos. and Spring Garden, Westminster". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ↑ "Fellows Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 15 January 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's historical List of Members of the Irish House of Commons. Cites: Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2002). The History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800 (6 volumes). Ulster Historical Foundation.
- ↑ "PRIVY COUNSELLORS - IRELAND". Archived from the original on 7 June 2008.
- ↑ "SOUTHWELL, Edward (1671-1730), of Kings Weston, Glos. And Spring Garden, Westminster | History of Parliament Online".
- ↑ "Anne Blathwayt (1691–1717), Mrs Edward Southwell". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ↑ Chatterjee, Jacob Donald (2023). "An Unnoticed 1723 Edition of Edward Southwell's Translation of Henry More's Enchiridion Ethicum". Notes and Queries. 70 (4): 271–272. doi:10.1093/notesj/gjad096.
