Thomas Lediard
Thomas Lediard (1685–1743) was an English writer and surveyor. Life In early life, by his own account, he was attached to the staff of the Duke of Marlborough, particularly in 1707, on the occasion of the Duke's visit to Charles XII of Sweden. He is assumed to have been there as a diplomat, an attaché to the embassy at Hamburg, seconded as a foreign secretary. He was then for many years secretary to the British envoy extraordinary in Hamburg. There he manageg the opera there, for his chief, Sir Cecil Wych. Lediard returned to England some time before 1732 and settled in Smith Square, Westminster. In February 1738 he wrote a proposal for Westminster Bridge. Possibly as a consequence, he was appointed Agent and Surveyor of Westminster Bridge. On 13 July 1742 the Crown lands from Westminster Bridge to Charing Cross were granted to him and Sir Joseph Ayloffe, to hold in trust to the Commissioners appointed to build the bridge. On 9 December 1742 Lediard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Early in 1743 he resigned his appointment as Surveyor of the bridge, and died shortly afterwards, in June 1743. He was succeeded in the post by