Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham
Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham, styled Hon. Thomas Watson until 1745, was an English nobleman and politician. He represented Canterbury in the House of Commons and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Kent after succeeding to the earldom, but died shortly thereafter.
The second son of Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes, Watson entered Eton College in 1725 and Lincoln's Inn in 1732. In the 1741 British general election, he stood for Canterbury as an opposition Whig. Watson and the Tory Thomas Best ousted the incumbent Sir Thomas Hales, a Whig supporter of Walpole's administration. He continued in opposition to successive governments during his tenure in the House of Commons, which terminated in 1745 when he became Earl of Rockingham on the death of his elder brother Lewis. Despite his politics, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Kent in succession to his brother, but did not long survive the appointment, dying on 26 February 1746.
Rockingham never married, and upon his death, the titles of Earl of Rockingham, Viscount Sondes, and Baron Throwley became extinct. He was succeeded as Baron Rockingham by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Earl of Malton, his first cousin once removed. Rockingham left his estate to his first cousin Lewis Monson, who thereafter adopted the surname of Watson.
