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Continental Congresses

Edward Lloyd (1744-1796)

A longtime Maryland politician who rose to serve on that state’s Executive Council (1777-79) and in the state Senate (1781-91), Edward Lloyd sat in the Continental Congress (1783-84), and was one of Maryland’s representatives at the constitutional convention in 1788.

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He was born at his family estate, “Wye House,” in Talbot County, Maryland, on 15 December 1744, the son of Edward Lloyd III and his wife Ann (née Rousby) Lloyd. [1] Edward Lloyd is known as “Edward Lloyd IV.” The first to hold this name, Edward I, came from an English family, and moved to the American colonies, establishing himself in Virginia in 1635 with his brother Cornelius, receiving grants from Captain John West a grant of land along the Elizabeth River. Edward I served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, but in 1649 he moved to a Puritan colony in what is now Maryland. The county was named Anne Arundel, and Edward I was named as a commander of the local troops. He began construction of his estate along the Wye River in 1660, completing it some eight years later as “Wye House.” He and his son, Edward, would return to England and die there, but succeeding members of the family situated themselves at “Wye House” and making it a center of arts and culture and politics in the region. Edward IV’s grandfather, Major General Edward Lloyd (1670-1718) served as the 11th royal governor of Maryland (1709-14). [2] Eventually, “Wye House” was sold to another family, to be known as “The Old Chase House.” In 1914, historian John Martin Hammond wrote, “The Old Chase House, Annapolis, Maryland, as it is affectionately spoken of by residents of this quaint and delightful city, is one of the largest of the colonial mansions which have made that place a Mecca for artists and students of architecture. It faces the Hammond House on the north side of Maryland Avenue, over which it gazes to the sleepy harbor front and the broad waters of Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, its three stories and a half above the pavement giving it an advantage of height over any other residence in Annapolis.” [3]

Edward Lloyd “completed preparatory studies.” [4] In November 1767, he married Elizabeth Tayloe; together, the couple had at least seven children, four of whom reached adulthood.

In 1771, Lloyd entered the political arena in Maryland, elected to a seat in the General Assembly, where he served until 1774. The onset of the American Revolution found him elected in 1775 as a member of the Committee of Safety for the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and, the following year, to the Provincial Convention. A newspaper reported from Baltimore that on 18 February 1777, “The General Assembly of this state have elected Thomas Johnson, jun. Esq; Governor—Charles Carroll, sen[ator]. Josiah Polk, John Rogers, Edward Lloyd, and John Contee, Esqrs. are chosen Members of the [Executive] Council . . .” [5] In 1779, Lloyd was a candidate for governor, but he was defeated. Historian Esther Mohr Dole wrote, “Governor Thomas Johnson[,] the first governor[,] was reelected to his office [for] two successive terms. By Constitutional limitation, he was no longer eligible. There were two candidates, Colonel Edward Lloyd of Talbot County and Thomas Sim Lee. The latter was chosen Governor [on] 8 November 1779.” [6] On 22 December 1779, Lloyd was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress, but for some reason he never attended, and the election was ultimately voided. [7] In 1780, Lloyd was elected to a seat in the Maryland state House of Delegates; one newspaper announced from Baltimore that “[t]he general assembly of this state have chosen the following gentlemen delegates in congress [sic] for the year ensuing, viz., the hon. George Plater, James Forbes, Thomas Johnson, John Hall, Edward Lloyd, and John Hanson, jun. esqrs.” [8] In 1781, he was elected to the state Senate, where he served in that year, as well as 1786 and 1791.

During this period, Lloyd became one of the wealthiest citizens of Maryland. Historian Hester Dorsey Richardson wrote, “The Colonel Edward Lloyd who was [the] master at Wye House . . . was a man of large wealth, as the assessment of his personalty [sic] will show. In the year 1783 we find that he owned 261 slaves, 799 head of sheep, 147 of horse kind, 571 head of cattle, 215,000 pounds of tobacco, 500 ounces of plate, 30 barrels of pork, 1 schooner of six tons burden and 11,884 acres of land in Talbot County. He also owned large tracts in Anne Arundel County.” [9]

On 26 November 1783, the Maryland legislature once again elected Lloyd to a seat in the Continental Congress; this time, he did attend, from about 10 December 1783, then from 2 January to 6 February 1784. [10] The dates of his election are confirmed by contemporary sources: a newspaper reported from Annapolis that on 27 November 1783, “The Honorable James M’Henry, Thomas Stone, Samuel Chase, and Edward Lloyd, Esquires, are chosen [as] Delegates to represent this State in Congress for the year ensuing.” [11] Unfortunately, there is no printed correspondence to or from Lloyd during his Continental Congress service.

Edward Lloyd lived a little more than a decade after leaving the Continental Congress, but in that time he continued to contribute to the affairs of the state of Maryland. The Maryland Journal reported on 23 September 1786 that the previous day, “the Electors of the Senate, for this State, met at Annapolis, and made choice of the following Generals to compose that honorable Body for the ensuing Five Years, agreeable to our Constitution and Form of Government . . .” Among the names were Charles Carroll, Thomas Johnson, George Plater, William Paca, Daniel Carroll, and Edward Lloyd. [12] In 1788, he served as a member of the state convention that ratified the US Constitution signed the previous year in Philadelphia.

Lloyd’s residence, “Wye House” was burned down by the British, and Lloyd spent the remainder of his life rebuilding it to its previous luster. Loyd died there on 8 July 1796 at the age of 51. He was interred in the Lloyd family vault at “Wye House,” located ten miles northwest of what is now Easton, Maryland. His son, Edward Lloyd (1779-1834) served as a member of the US House of Representatives (1806-09), governor of Maryland (1809-11), and a member of the US Senate (1819-26).

[1] [1] Lloyd family tree, online at http://www.geni.com/people/Edward-Lloyd/6000000001937713410.

[2] [2] Bordley, James, “The Hollyday and Related Families of the Eastern Shore of Maryland; including the Truman, Vaughan, Covington, Lloyd, Robins, Chamberlaine, Hayward, Carmichael, Murray, Bennett, Earle, Chew, Hemsley, Tilghman, Goldsborough, and other families. Prepared for Publication by Walter Blake Norris and Walter D. Sharp” (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1962). For further information on the early years of the Lloyd family in Maryland, see J.D. Warfield, “The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland: a Genealogical and Biographical Review from Wills, Deeds and Church Records” (Baltimore: Kohn & Pollock, 1905).

[3] [3] Hammond, John Martin, “Colonial Mansions of Maryland and Delaware” (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1914), 15. A detailed description of “Wye House” can be found in John Henry Kelley Shannahan, “Tales of Old Maryland: History and Romance on the Eastern Shore of Maryland” (Baltimore: Press of Meyer & Thalheimer, 1907), 11.

[4] [4] Lloyd official congressional biography, online at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000375.

[5] [5] “Baltimore, February 18,” The Pennsylvania Evening Post, 22 February 1777, 95.

[6] [6] Dole, Esther Mohr, “Maryland During the American Revolution” (Baltimore: Printed by Waverly Press, 1941), 224.

[7] [7] Edmund Cody Burnett, ed., “Letters of Members of the Continental Congress” (Washington, DC: Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington; eight volumes, 1921-36), V:lvii.

[8] [8] The Pennsylvania Evening Post, 10 January 1780, 4.

[9] [9] Richardson, Hester Dorsey, “Side-lights on Maryland History, with Sketches of Early Maryland Families” (Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Company, 1913), 167-68.

[10] [10] Burnett, “Letters of Members,” op. cit., VII:lxviii.

[11] [11] “Annapolis, Nov. 27,” The Providence Gazette [Rhode Island], 27 December 1783, 2.

[12] [12] “Baltimore, September 22,” The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser, 23 September 1786, 2.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
"Edward Lloyd (1744-1796)." Continental Congresses, edited by Mark Grossman, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0263.
APA 7th
Edward Lloyd (1744-1796). Continental Congresses, In M. Grossman (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0263.
CMOS 17th
"Edward Lloyd (1744-1796)." Continental Congresses, Edited by Mark Grossman. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0263.