William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington

William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington (c. 1711 - 13 December 1801), was a British landowner and long-standing Member of Parliament.

Edwardes was the son of Francis Edwardes, Member of Parliament for Haverfordwest, and Lady Elizabeth Rich, only daughter and heiress of Robert Rich, 5th Earl of Warwick. The Edwardes family owned extensive lands in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire. On the death of his cousin Edward Henry Rich, 7th Earl of Warwick, in 1721, he inherited through his mother the estates of the Rich family.

Kensington was elected to his father's old seat of Haverfordwest in 1747, a seat he held until 1801, with a brief exception between 1784 and 1786. In 1776 he was created Baron Kensington in the Peerage of Ireland. This was a revival of the barony held by the Earls of Warwick and Holland which had become extinct on the death of the eighth and last Earl in 1759.

Lord Kensington married Elizabeth Warren in 1762. He died in December 1801 and was succeeded in the barony by his son William, who also succeeded him as Member of Parliament for Haverfordwest. Lady Kensington died in November 1814.

References

• "EDWARDES, William (c.1712-1801), of Johnston, Pemb.". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 12 July 2013. 
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages