THOMAS, Sir Edmund, 3rd Bt. (1712-67), of Wenvoe Castle, Glam.

Thomas’s marriage to William Northey’s widow gained him influence in Wiltshire, for which his uncle John Howe, afterwards Lord Chedworth, sat till 1741. His return, with Edward Bayntun Rolt, for Chippenham in that year led to the unsuccessful petition by the defeated court party candidates on which Walpole resigned.See BAYNTUN ROLT and CHIPPENHAM Taken into the Prince’s service, he at first supported the new Administration, speaking in favour of the motion for continuing British troops in Flanders on 11 Jan. 1744.Yorke’s parl. jnl. Parl. Hist. xiii. 393. In 1747 he followed Frederick into opposition, supporting the 2nd Lord Egmont’s motion of 7 Feb. 1749 for laying before the House copies of all proposals made for peace with France between 1744 and 1747.

In Egmont’s list of future office holders on Frederick’s accession Thomas is variously placed as a lord of the Admiralty, second secretary to the Admiralty, groom of the bedchamber with £800 p.a., and auditor to the Queen or Prince. On Frederick’s death in 1751 Sir Thomas Webster wrote to Newcastle asking that Thomas, Webster’s son-in-law, should be given a place with Prince George,Webster to Newcastle, 12 Apr. 1751, Add. 32724, f.231. but the King had already shown his disfavour to this.Newcastle to Pelham, 10 Apr. 1751, Newcastle (Clumber) mss. However, he wrote shortly afterwards to his friend Sir John Cust:

[I] have (between friends) all the reason in the world to be satisfied of [H.] R. H. [’s] good and gracious intentions towards me, from which I have reason to hope for the earliest good effects.Thomas to Cust, 11 June 1751, Recs. Cust Fam. (ser. 3), p. 143

Later in the year he applied for an interview with NewcastleThomas to Newcastle, 24 Nov. 1751, Add. 32725, f.435. but he was not given a place till 1756, when he was out of Parliament. He died 10 Oct. 1767.