Family and Education

b. 20 May 1686,1 s. of William Piers of Wells by Catherine, da. of William Coward, recorder of Wells, sis. of William Coward. m. Elizabeth, da. of Harvey Ekins of Weston Favell, Northants., 1s. 2da.

Offices Held

Biography

Descended from a leading Wells family, holding lands in the vicinity of the city, Piers was the mainstay of the Whig interest there. From 1715 to 1747 he stood for Wells at every general election but one, being always defeated at the poll, but three times returned on petition, in 1734 with the active support of Walpole.2 Voting consistently with the Government, he appears in a list published by the Opposition of the division on the Spanish convention with the note ‘his son in the army’.3 After his last defeat in 1747 he presented a petition, but in the end withdrew it. He died in 1755.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Shirley Matthews

Notes

• 1. A. J. Jewers, Wells Cathedral: Mon. Inscriptions and Heraldry , 236.
• 2. HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 161, where he is referred to as ‘Col.’, presumably his rank in the militia.
• 3. Gent. Mag. 1739, p. 306.