Sir Edward Watson, MP

NOTE: The following history of parliament bio directs one to Dorothy Montagu's half-brother, not her father. The dates do not work.

• WATSON, Edward (c.1549-1617), of Rockingham, Northants.
• Family and Education
• b. c.1549, o.s. of Edward Watson of Rockingham by Dorothy, da. of Edward Montagu I of Boughton. educ. M. Temple 1567. m. Apr. 1567, Anne (d.1612), da. of Kenelm Digby of Stoke Dry, Rutland, 2s. 8da. suc. fa. 1584. Kntd. 1603.
• Offices Held
• J.p. Northants. from c.1577, commr. to inquire after seminary priests and Jesuits 1591, sheriff 1591-2, commr. musters 1595, 1596, 1605.
• Biography
• Watson’s position in Northamptonshire was assured not only by the wealth he inherited from his grandfather, who was receiver to three successive bishops of Lincoln and married into the family of one of them, William Smith, but also by his father’s fortunate marriage, through which the family acquired Rockingham and the oversight of the royal forest. Watson himself added considerably to the estate by purchases from Lord Burghley and his son the Earl of Salisbury.
• In August 1587 Watson attended the funeral of Mary Stuart. That October he was noted as suspect in religion, and about 1593 he helped a Northamptonshire recusant, Thomas Colwell, to obtain his release from the Fleet prison, and received a letter from another recusant, Sir Thomas Tresham, thanking him for his services. Clearly he conformed to the law and both Catholics and government were able to use his services. His own status, his connexion with the Digbys and his friendship with the Cecils, all contributed to his return for Stamford in 1601. James I was his guest for three days in 1605. In 1613 he made over his estates to his eldest son, Sir Lewis, later 1st Baron Rockingham. Watson died on 1 Mar. 1617.
• C. Wise, Rockingham Castle and the Watsons, 19-42; APC, xxiii. 333; xxiv. 41, 354; HMC Hatfield, xvi. 38; M. T. Recs. 161; HMC Var. iii. 33, 61, 75, 77; HMC Bath, v. 83; HMC Buccleuch, iii. 37, 51, 98; CSP Dom. 1591-4, p. 124; 1601-3, p. 131; 1603-10, p. 554; Nichols, Progresses Jas. I, i. 524; Lansd. 54, f. 178; HMC Rutland, i. 313; HMC Montagu, 106.
• Ref Volumes: 1558-1603
• Author: D.O.
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/wa... __________________
• Sir Edward Watson1
• M, #553851
• Last Edited=10 Nov 2013
• Sir Edward Watson lived at Rockingham, Northamptonshire, England.1
• Children of Sir Edward Watson
  • 1.Catherine Watson+2
  • 2.Lewis Watson, 1st Baron Rockingham+1 b. 14 Jul 1584, d. 12 Jan 1652/53
  • 3.Temperance Watson+3 b. 1585, d. c 7 Jun 1624
• Citations
• 1.[S37] BP2003 volume 3, page 3051. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
• 2.[S37] BP2003. [S37]
• 3.[S3268] Hans Harmsen, "re: Chester Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 21 August 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Chester Family."
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p55386.htm#i553851 __________________________
• The history and antiquities of the county of Buckingham (1847) Vol. 4
• http://www.archive.org/details/historyantiquiti04lips
  • PEDIGREE OF DIGBY. From Harl. MSS. 1364.
• http://www.archive.org/stream/historyantiquiti04lips#page/145/mode/1up
• http://www.archive.org/stream/historyantiquiti04lips#page/146/mode/1up
  • CHART
• 1. KENELM DIGBY, of Drystoke. mar. ANNE, dau. of Sir Anthony Cope, Knt. of Hanwell, Co. Oxon. ch: 1. EVERARD DIGBY, 2. ANTHONY DIGBY, of Aston, Co. Rutland; ob. s.p., 3. THOMAS DIGBY, of Olney., 4. JOHN DIGBY, 5. JAMES DIGBY, of Luffenham. 6. MARGARET, mar. to Edward Dudley, of Clopton, Co. Northampton., 7. ANNE, mar. to Edw. Watson, of Rockingham Castle; by whom she had Lewis Lord Rockingham. 8./9./10./11. Four other daughters. _____________________
• Rockingham Castle and the Watsons (1891)
• http://www.archive.org/details/rockinghamcastl00watsgoog
• http://www.archive.org/stream/rockinghamcastl00watsgoog#page/n62/mo...
• Edward Watson, his only son and heir, was, according to genealogists, but thirty-five years of age when his father died. If so he must have married very young, for in April, 1567, he married Anne Digby, a daughter of Kenelm Digby, of Stoke Dry, in Rutland, and their seven daughters were all born during the life of Edward Watson, the elder. He enjoyed the estates and family honors 32 year's, and, as will be seen, the records of his life during that period are full of interest, containing as they do accounts of his active administration of forest and other, now obsolete, laws of the Tudor and early Stuart periods, and thus bringing us into touch with the daily life of the rural population of the age. ....
• http://www.archive.org/stream/rockinghamcastl00watsgoog#page/n63/mo...
• ..... His grandson Kenelm, of Stoke Dry, was the father of Anne Watson. Her eldest brother, Everard, married Mary, daughter and heiress of Francis Nele of Keythorpe. If Nichols' account of this lady may be credited, she must have been a very extraordinary woman. He says she was born in 1513, and was living in 1632. This would make her to have attained the age of at least 119 years. Surely here is a fiction ! She married three husbands. The first was Everard Digby, Esq. of Drystoke, and their eldest son was Sir Everard Digby, of gunpowder-plot notoriety. Her second husband was Sampson Erdeswick of Sandon, Staffordshire ; and her third, Thomas Digby, a relative of her first husband. According to Doctor Plot she was a sort of female Cagliostro, and came near to discovering the elixir of life. He says she was "A most accomplished lady, and by her most exquisite and perspicuous insight into the most hidden recesses of nature, she discovered the restorative properties of the well in Willoughbridge Park, where three score springs are found within the space of ten square acres, and enclosed them for bathing and drinking, with divers appartments for lodging the poorer sort of diseased and impotent folk."
• http://www.archive.org/stream/rockinghamcastl00watsgoog#page/n309/m...
  • CHART - THE DIGBYS OF TILTON AND DRY STOKE.
• 13. KENELM DIGBY, of Dry Stoke, Sheriff of Rutland, 1541, 1554, 1561, 1567, and 1585; M.P. for Rutland, from 1 Ed. VI., to 14 Eliz., died 1590 mar. Anne, d. of Sir Anthony Cope, of Hanwell, co. Oxon. (Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Catherine). ch: EVERARD DIGBY of Dry Stoke, died cir. 1592. (see page 34)., Anne, m. in April, 1567, to Edward (afterwards Sir Edward), Watson, of Rockingham Castle. (See Pedigree No. 1). ____________________
• Collins's Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical (1812)
• http://www.archive.org/details/collinsspeerage05brydgoog
• http://www.archive.org/stream/collinsspeerage05brydgoog#page/n362/m...
• KENELM Digby, of Drystoke, Esq. (by some falsely made a Knight), also Sheriff of the county of Rutland for the years 1541, 1549, 1554, 1561, 1567, and 1585, and representative thereof in parliament from 1 Edward VI. to 14 Eliz. inclusive. He married Anne, daughter to Sir Anthony Cope, of Hanwell, in the county of Oxford, Knt. Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Catbarine, wife of Henry VIII. and deceasing in 159O, was buried in the chancel of Stoke-Dry, adjoining to the partition wall of the chapel, where his father lay, under a tomb, with this memorial on the verge: ......
• http://www.archive.org/stream/collinsspeerage05brydgoog#page/n363/m...
• Their issue were three sons and one daughter: Everard; Anthony, of Aston, who died childless; John, of Seaton, both in Ratlandshire; and Anne, married in April, 1567, to Sir Edward Watson, of Rockingham castle, in the county of Northampton ; and she deceasing February the 17th, 1611, was mother of Lewis, created Lord Rockingham. _____________________
• Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

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Knight of Rockingham Castle, Northampton Co., England. (See Burke's genalogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry, vol. 1, link below)

Sources: http://books.google.com/books?id=YdIKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA339&lpg=PA339&dq...