Thomas Peers Williams

Lt.-Col. Thomas Peers Williams (27 March 1795 – 8 September 1875) was MP for Great Marlow 1820-1868 and Father of the House of Commons December 1867 – 1868.

Peers Williams owned a house and estate called Craig-y-Don, near Beaumaris on Anglesey. He also had a residence at Temple House, Bisham, Berkshire, near Marlow. He was active in the Anglesey Hunt.

He first became an MP in 1820 for the constituency of Great Marlow (usually known as Marlow), and retired in 1868 after serving 48 years. In the last year, he was Father of the House of Commons from December 1867, succeeding Henry Cecil Lowther who had entered the House in 1812 and retired as MP in 1867.

His grandfather Thomas Williams (1737–1802) was a prominent attorney and active in the copper industry. He was the son of one Owen Williams of Cefn Coch in Llansadwrn, who owned also Tregarnedd and Treffos. About 1785, Williams became chief agent of copper mines owned partly by the earl of Uxbridge and partly by the family of Llysdulas; for a time both parties entrusted the management to Williams alone. He was closely associated with the Uxbridge family and helped several sons get elected to Parliament. In 1790, probably with help from the earl of Uxbridge, he was elected for Great Marlow, and held the seat till his death on 30 November 1802. (The seat was won in 1820 by his grandson and retained until 1868). Four generations from Thomas Williams of Llanidan to his great-grandson Lt-General Owen Lewis Cope Peers Williams (d. 1904) held the Great Marlow seat with intervals, from 1790 until 1885.

His son Owen Williams (1764–1832), also MP for Great Marlow, married Margaret Hughes, and had a son Thomas Peers Williams (the subject of this article). Three of the younger Thomas's daughters were married to members of the House of Lords, two others to sons of lords.

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