Early life

Edward Dering was the elder son and heir of Sir Cholmeley Dering, 4th Baronet

Sir Cholmeley Dering, 4th Baronet

Sir Cholmeley Dering, 4th Baronet was an English politician and duellist.He was the eldest son of Sir Edward Dering, 3rd Baronet of Surrenden in Pluckley, Kent by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Cholmeley, 2nd Baronet of Whitby, Yorkshire...

 of Surrenden in Pluckley

Pluckley

Pluckley is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, United Kingdom. It is located close to the North Downs, and is approximately 5 miles west of Ashford...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 by his wife Ellen, only child of Edward Fisher of Mitcham

Mitcham

Mitcham is a district in the south west area of London, in the London Borough of Merton. A suburban area, Mitcham is located on the border of Inner London and Outer London. It is both residentially and financially developed, well served by Transport for London, and home to Mitcham Town Centre,...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

. He succeeded to the baronetcy

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

 in 1711, while still a child, following his father's death in a duel

Duel

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

; his mother had died in 1707.

He entered Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

 in 1719 and matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford on 31 January 1721/2, where he graduated MA on 17 December 1725.

Career

Dering's political career began when he stood for Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Kent

Kent (UK Parliament constituency)

Kent was a parliamentary constituency covering the county of Kent in southeast England. It returned two "knights of the shire" to the House of Commons by the bloc vote system from the year 1290...

 in the election of 1727

British general election, 1727

The British general election, 1727 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was triggered by the death of George I; at the time elections...

; he was unsuccessful on that occasion, but was returned unopposed in a by-election in 1733 following the death of Sir Robert Furnese

Sir Robert Furnese, 2nd Baronet

Sir Robert Furnese, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1733.Furnese was the son of Sir Henry Furnese, 1st Baronet, of Gunnersbury House, and his first wife Anne Brough, daughter of Robert Brough.In 1708 Furnese was elected MP for Truro and held the...

. He retained the seat in the elections of 1734

British general election, 1734

The British general election, 1734 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's increasingly unpopular Whig government lost ground to the...

, 1741

British general election, 1741

The British general election, 1741 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707...

 and 1747

British general election, 1747

The British general election, 1747 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw Henry Pelham's Whig government increase its majority and...

 but was defeated in 1754

British general election, 1754

The British general election, 1754 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 11th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707....

.

Politically, Dering was a Tory

Tories (political faction)

The Tories were members of two political parties which existed, sequentially, in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain and later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the 17th to the early 19th centuries.-Overview:...

, and consistently voted against the Whig government. He was to have had a seat at the Board of Trade

Board of Trade

The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...

 had Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

 succeeded to the throne.

Personal life

Dering was married twice: firstly, 24 February 1727/8 at St George the Martyr

St George the Martyr Holborn

St George the Martyr Holborn is an Anglican church located at the south end of Queen Square, Holborn, London Borough of Camden. It is dedicated to Saint George, and is so-called to distinguish it from the later nearby church of St...

, Queen Square, London to Elizabeth daughter and coheiress of Charles Henshaw by his wife Elizabeth, daughter (and sole heiress in her issue) of Edward Roper of Well Hall, Eltham, great-great-grandson of William and Margaret Roper

Margaret Roper

Margaret Roper was an English writer and translator. She was the daughter of Thomas More and wife of William Roper. During More's imprisonment in the Tower of London, she was a frequent visitor to his cell, along with her husband.Roper married William Roper in 1521 in Eltham, Kent...

. She was buried at Pluckley 17 March 1734/5. Dering remarried some six months later, 11 September 1735, at St Anne's Church, Soho, to Mary, widow of Henry Mompesson, and daughter and coheiress of Charles Fotherby of Barham Court

Barham Court

Barham Court is a fine old house in the village of Teston, Kent.It was once the home of Reginald Fitz Urse, one of the knights who murdered Thomas Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170....

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, by Mary daughter of George Elcocke. She died 16 December 1775.

Sir Edward Dering died 15 April, and was buried at Pluckley 22 April 1762, leaving issue from both marriages. His heir was Edward

Sir Edward Dering, 6th Baronet

Sir Edward Dering, 6th Baronet , was the British Member of Parliament for New Romney.He was the son of Sir Edward Dering, 5th Baronet and Elizabeth Henshaw....

, his elder son by Elizabeth Henshaw.