LAMBERT, Edmund (1666-1734), of Boyton, Wilts.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1708 - 1713
1715 - 1722

Family and Education

bap. 26 July 1666, 1st s. of Thomas Lambert† of Boyton by Eleanor, da. of Edward Topp of Stockton, Wilts.  educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1682; M. Temple 1683, called 1689.  m. bef. June 1689, Sarah, da. of Peter Blake of Andover, Hants, 4da.  suc. fa. 1692.1

Offices Held

Biography

Originally from Norfolk, Lambert’s family settled in southern Wiltshire in the 16th century, developing an interest in Hindon, which was represented in Parliament by both Lambert’s father and great-grandfather, through the purchase of a number of manors, including Boynton, within a few miles of the borough. Lambert himself first became involved in electoral politics in 1702 when he tried unsuccessfully to put a stop to a Whig petition against the return of the Tory George Morley* for Hindon. Chosen himself in 1708, Lambert was erroneously classed as a Whig in a list of 1708. He voted against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell, however, and after the 1710 election was classed as a Tory on the ‘Hanover list’ and as a ‘Tory patriot’ opposed to the continuance of the war. A member of the October Club, he supported the French commerce bill, a decision which may have lowered his standing with the Hindon voters, because of the feared repercussions of the peace on the woollen industry. His refusal ‘to be at any expense’ in the 1713 election guaranteed his defeat, but he was again returned as a Tory, for Salisbury, in 1715.2

Lambert made his will on 6 Mar. 1733, leaving all his lands in Boynton, Corton and Sherrington, Wiltshire, to his nephew, Edmund, and £1,000 to his eldest daughter and heir, Jane. His wife received an estate in Bentley, Hampshire. Lambert died on 29 Jan. 1734 and was buried at Boynton.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: D. W. Hayton / Henry Lancaster

Notes

  • 1. Wilts. RO, 1507/2; PCC 207 Fane, 23 Fane.
  • 2. Hoare, Wilts. Heytesbury, 180; Vis. Wilts. (Harl. Soc. cv–cvi), 106–7; Wilts. I.P.M. (Brit. Rec. Soc. xxiii), 332–4; Hants RO, Jervoise mss, George Stevens to Thomas Jervoise*, 3 Aug. 1702, James Harris to same, 30 Oct. 1713.
  • 3. PCC 201 Ockham.