Herbert, Thomas, 8th Earl of Pembroke (1656 -1733)

Thomas Herbert was the third son of Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke, and his wife Catharine Villiers. Both of his brothers having died without a male heir, he succeeded to the earldoms in 1683. In 1684, he married Margaret, only daughter of Sir Robert Sawyer of Highclere Castle, and Margaret Suckeley, by whom he had seven sons and five daughters: He married secondly Barbara (d. 1721), daughter of Sir Thomas Slingsby, 2nd Baronet, by whom he had one daughter. From 1690 to 1692 he was First Lord of the Admiralty, before serving as Lord Privy Seal until 1699. In 1697 he was the first plenipotentiary of Great Britain at the Congress of Ryswick. On two occasions he was Lord High Admiral for a short period, and was also Lord President of the Council, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, while he acted as one of the Lords Justices seven times. He was elected President of the Royal Society 1689–1690. John Locke' dedicated An Essay Concerning Human Understanding to him, as did Thomas Greenhill in his The Art of Embalming.