The Hon. Thomas Watson (later Watson-Wentworth, the third son of Edward Watson, 2nd Baron Rockingham)
married Alice, a daughter of Sir Thomas Proby, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Proby, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Proby, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1660 and 1685....

.

In 1695 Watson inherited the fortune of the Earl of Strafford

Earl of Strafford

Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history.The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I...

, including the Wentworth Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house near the village of Wentworth, in the vicinity of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. "One of the great Whig political palaces", its East Front, long, is the longest country house façade in Europe. The house includes 365 rooms and covers an...

 estate, being the second earl

William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford

William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford was a member of England's House of Lords.He was a son of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and his second wife Arabella Holles. When his father, Thomas, was executed in 1641, William left the Kingdom of England for several years. In 1652 he was...

's wife's nephew. This was in preference to the earl's nearer relative, Thomas Wentworth, and led to a fierce rivalry between the two men and their families. In recognition of the bequest, Watson adopted the name Wentworth, becoming Thomas Watson-Wentworth thereafter.

He was a 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 the Malton

Malton (UK Parliament constituency)

Malton, also called New Malton, was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England in 1295 and 1298, and again from 1640, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885...

 constituency from 1713 until 1722 and for Higham Ferrers

Higham Ferrers (UK Parliament constituency)

Higham Ferrers was a parliamentary borough in Northamptonshire, which was represented in the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act...

 in 1703–1714 and from 1722 until his death.

He has a monument in York Minster

York Minster

York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...

.

One of his sons was Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham

Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham

Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, KB, PC was a British peer and Whig politician.Watson-Wentworth was the only son and heir of Hon...

, KB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, PC (I)

Privy Council of Ireland

The Privy Council of Ireland was an institution of the Kingdom of Ireland until 31 December 1800 and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801-1922...

 (13 November 1693 – 14 December 1750, a British peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

 and Whig

British Whig Party

The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

politician.