Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Thomas Ruscombe Wickham MVO (4 May 1890 – 25 August 1957) was a Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Taunton from 1935 until 1945.

From 1919 to 1921, he acted as officer in attendance for the European tour of the Shah of Persia, who awarded him the Order of the Lion and the Sun, 3rd Class.

[5] After the First World War, he joined the Indian Political Department,[6] and was temporarily granted the rank of lieutenant colonel "while specially employed" as the officer in attendance for the Shah of Persia during his tour of Europe between August and November 1919,[6][7][8] and then again from December 1919 to May 1921.

[6] He then served in a variety of overseas roles: as an assistant financial adviser to the government of Persia, a counsellor at the British embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, a secretary to the Baluchistan chief commissioner,[2] and later became the Deputy Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, his final role in India.

The Taunton branch of the Conservative Party invited Wickham, who was living in London at the time, to contest the election for them.

[16] The election was held on Thursday 14 November, and Wickham was returned with a majority of 8,224, holding the seat for the Conservative Party.

During the election on 5 July, which was a landslide victory for the Labour Party, the Conservatives lost 182 seats, including that of Taunton.