KYNASTON, Edward (1709-72), of Bryngwyn, Mont. and Hardwick, Salop.

The Kynastons were a leading Tory family in Shropshire, yet Lord Powis, after 1748 leader of the Shropshire Whigs, never attempted to dislodge Kynaston, a nephew of his faithful follower Thomas Hill and used by them both as intermediary in negotiations with the Shropshire Tories.Hill to Kynaston, 29, 30 Aug. 1753; Hill to Powis, 14, 23 July 1753, Attingham mss, Salop RO. In Newcastle’s election lists of 1754 ‘Duke of Beaufort’ is placed against Kynaston’s name,Add. 32995, f. 82. and in the new Parliament he was classed as a Tory; in Bute’s list of December 1761 he is classed ‘Bute and Egmont’. The nature or origin of his connexion with Beaufort and Egmont is not known. Early in December 1762 Fox included him among the Members favourable to the peace preliminaries, and in the autumn of 1763 Jenkinson listed him as ‘pro.’ On 16 Dec. 1763 James Harris names him among the country gentlemen who voted with the Government over Wilkes, and on 31 Jan. 1764, in the division on Dowdeswell’s motion on the cider bill, Kynaston acted as teller on the Government side. He also helped them in election matters, and in trying to secure the attendance of friends over general warrants.Jenkinson Pprs. 1760-66, pp. 223, 265-6. He again acted as teller on 25 Jan. and 27 Feb. 1765; and when during the crisis over the Regency bill Morton moved, on 9 May 1765, the insertion of the Princess Dowager among those capable of being appointed Regents, ‘this motion was seconded by Mr. Kynaston for form only, as he said nothing at all in support of it.’Grenville to the King, 9 May, 1765, Fortescue, i. 84. He adhered to the Grenvilles also after their dismissal from office. On 29 Nov. 1765 Sandwich forwarded to Grenville a letter from ‘our honest friend Ned Kynaston’ asking whether his attendance was required at the opening of the session.Grenville mss (JM). On 18 Dec. he voted for the motion calling for American papers,Harris’s ‘Debates’. and on 22 Feb. 1766 against the repeal of the Stamp Act; similarly, on 27 Feb. 1767 against the Chatham Administration over the land tax. A letter from Grenville to Kynaston, 12 Nov. 1767, is in reply to another inquiry whether his attendance was required.Grenville mss (HL). But over Wilkes and the Middlesex election, Kynaston left Grenville and voted with Administration, 3 Feb. and 8 May 1769; and on the royal marriage bill, March 1772, was classed by Robinson as ‘pro, present’.

‘I shall always be ready to bear witness to your constant attendance at the House for the many years we have sat in it together’, wrote Grenville to Kynaston, 12 Nov. 1767—but he hardly ever spoke in debate. He died 18 May 1772.