Lewis Watson, 1st Baron Sondes

[2] While abroad in Europe in 1750, his third cousin once removed, the Duke of Newcastle, arranged for Watson to be returned in April as Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge in place of the Earl of Dalkeith, who had died.

That autumn, the three kinsmen visited Hanover, where Newcastle presented them, together with Viscount Downe and three other young Englishmen, to George II of Great Britain, who was holding court in the Electorate.

[4] In the 1754 general election that spring, Newcastle had him returned for Boroughbridge again; Watson also led the poll in Kent, where he and Robert Fairfax stood as Whigs and defeated Sir Edward Dering, one of the sitting Tory members.

However, he aspired to the House of Lords, as he enjoyed the estates of the extinct earldom of Rockingham and could well afford to support a title.

Newcastle pressed his claims strongly on the King and was ultimately successful; Watson was created Baron Sondes, of Lees Court in the Peerage of Great Britain on 22 May 1760, the title being linked to his ancestors and vacated his seat in the Commons.