HARDRES, Sir William, 4th Bt. (1686-1736), of Hardres Court, nr. Canterbury, Kent.

Hardres, whose family had been settled in Kent since the 13th century, was returned as a Tory under Anne but did not stand in 1715. In 1721 his name was sent to the Pretender as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.Stuart mss 65/16. Returned for Canterbury in 1727, after unsuccessfully contesting it in 1722, his only recorded vote was against the Government on the Hessians in 1730. He was re-elected in 1734 but when a petition was presented against him he ‘dropped his friends and quitted’.Notebook of William Gray, Canterbury city archives. He died 8 July 1736.