Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (c. 1699 – 11 April 1755, in Bath) was a British peer and Member of Parliament.

Brampton Bryan Hall

Harley was the son of Edward Harley and his wife Sarah Foley and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He succeeded his father in 1735 to the Eywood estate at Titley, Herefordshire and his cousin Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer in 1741 to the earldom and the family seat at Brampton Bryan. ^[1]

One of his first acts on succeeding his brother was to auction off his predecessor's art and coin collection through the auctioneer Cock, at an art sale held under the Piazza, Covent Garden, on 8 March 1741/2 and the five following days, with six more days being required by the coins. Nearly all the leading men of the day, including Horace Walpole, attended or were represented at this sale, and the prices varied from five shillings for an anonymous bishop's "head" to 165 guineas for van Dyck's group of "Sir Kenelm Digby, lady, and son".

He was returned to Parliament as the member for Herefordshire in 1727, sitting until 1741. ^[1]

Family

On 16 March 1724 or 1725, at St. Anne's Church, Soho, he married Martha Morgan (daughter of John Morgan and Martha Vaughan). They had several children:

• Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford.
• John Harley, Bishop of Hereford, whose son Edward became 5th Earl of Oxford.
• Thomas Harley, Lord Mayor of London.
• Jacob Harley, Tax Collector in the colony of Virginia, common law married Mary Adkins.^[2]

References