Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Herbert,_8th_Earl_of_Pembroke

Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke and 5th Earl of Montgomery KG PC FRS (c. 1656 – 22 January 1733), styled The Honourable Thomas Herbert until 1683, was an English and later British statesman during the reigns of William III and Anne.

Background

Herbert was the third son of Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke and his wife Catharine Villiers, daughter of Sir William Villiers, 1st Baronet. Both of his brothers having died without a male heir, he succeeded to the earldoms in 1683.

Public life

From 1690 to 1692 Pembroke was First Lord of the Admiralty. He then served as Lord Privy Seal until 1699, being in 1697 the first plenipotentiary of Great Britain at the congress of Ryswick. On two occasions he was Lord High Admiral for a short period; he was also Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, while he acted as one of the Lords Justices seven times; and he was President of the Royal Society in 1689–1690. He is the dedicatee of John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Greenhill's The Art of Embalming".

Family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Herbert,_8th_Earl_of_Pembroke#F...