EDWARDS, Thomas (?1673-1743), of the Middle Temple, London, and Filkins Hall, Oxon.

Thomas Edwards, whose wife inherited a considerable fortune from her uncle, Edward Colston,1PCC 111 Degg, 236 Buckingham, 163 Farrant. succeeded to Colston’s Bristol seat in 1713. Described as a Tory who might often vote Whig, he was defeated in 1715, his petition, though read three times, making no progress. In 1719 he successfully contested a by-election at Wells, which had been represented under Queen Anne by his wife’s cousin Edward Colston junior. Returned there at the next three general elections, he was unseated in 1735, never standing again. His only recorded vote was against the Government on the repeal of the Septennial Act in 1734. He died intestate about June 1743, when administration was granted to his daughter Sophia Ready, afterwards Colston.