British nobleman and politician
The Earl Fitzwilliam
Born Charles William Wentworth-FitzWilliam
4 May 1786Died 4 October 1857(1857-10-04) (aged 71) Nationality
British Alma mater
Eton College Spouse
Hon. Mary Dundas
(
m. 1806; died 1830)
Children 13, including: Parents
Quartered arms of Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, KG
Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Ireland, and 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Great Britain,
KG (4 May 1786 – 4 October 1857) was a British nobleman and politician. He was president three times of the
Royal Statistical Society in 1838–1840, 1847–1849, and 1853–1855; and president of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science in its inaugural year (1831–2).
[1]
Early life
He was born on 4 May 1786 as the only son of
William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam , who served as
Lord President of the Council and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , and his first wife, Lady Charlotte Ponsonby (daughter of
William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough ).
[2] After his mother's death in 1822, his father married the Louisa, Baroness Ponsonby (daughter of
Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth and widow of
William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby ), in 1823, however, she died soon after in February 1824.
[2]
[a]
His paternal grandparents were
William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam and Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth (daughter of
Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham , and sister to
Prime Minister
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham ). His father inherited the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham's estates in 1782.
[2]
He was a pupil at
Eton College from 1796 to 1802.
[2]
Career
Before inheriting the Earldom on 8 February 1833 on the death of his father, he was known by the
courtesy title of Viscount Milton . Under that name, he was the
Whig Member of Parliament for
Northamptonshire between 1831 and 1832. Fitzwilliam became a strong supporter of Parliamentary Reform and one of the principal advocates of repeal of the Corn Laws.
[3]
[4]
[5]
The
family seat was
Wentworth Woodhouse , reputedly the largest private house in England.
[6]
Personal life
On 8 July 1806, Viscount Milton married
his cousin , the Hon. Mary Dundas (1787–1830). Mary was the daughter of
Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas and Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam (the
4th Earl 's sister).
[7] They had thirteen children:
[8]
Lady Charlotte Wentworth-FitzWilliam (b. 1807)
[9]
Hon. Margaret Bruce Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1809–1809)
[9]
Lady Mary Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1810–1893), who married Leonard Thompson, Esq.
[9]
William Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1812–1835), who married Lady Selina Charlotte Jenkinson, daughter of
Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool , in 1833.
[9] They had two children; the younger survived:
[2]
Lady Frances Laura Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1813–1887), who married Rev. William Bridgman-Simpson in 1837.
[9] They had five children:
[2]
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902)
[9]
Hon. George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1817–1874), who married Alice Louisa Anson, daughter of daughter of
Maj.-Gen. Hon. George Anson in 1865.
[9] They had three children:
[2]
George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1866–1935), who married Daisy Evelyn Lyster, daughter of Charles Stephan Lyster, in 1888. They had two sons:
Alice Mary Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1869–1956)
[2]
Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1871–1949)
[2]
Lady Anne Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1819–1879), who married
Sir James John Randoll Mackenzie of Scatwell, 6th Bt at the Chapel at Wentworth Woodhouse in 1838.
[9]
Lady Dorothy Wentworth-FitzWilliam (b. 1822)
[9]
Hon. John Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1823–1824)
[9]
Hon.
Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1826–1894), who married Anne Dundas, daughter of Reverend Hon. Thomas Lawrence Dundas, in 1854.
[9] Died without issue.
[a son] (b. and d. 18 Mar 1828)
[9]
Lady Albreda Elizabeth Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1829–1891), who married
Fitzpatrick Henry Vernon, 2nd Baron Lyveden in 1853.
[9]
Lord Fitzwilliam died on 4 October 1857.
[10]
Notes
References
^ Fitzwilliam, Charles William, Earl (1844) Correspondence ... of Edmund Burke , London.
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t Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.
Wilmington, Delaware :
Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 4284.
^ Wasson, Ellis Archer (1987) Whig Renaissance: Lord Althorp and the Whig Party 1782-1845 , Garland, London.
^ Spring, David (1954) "Earl Fitzwilliam and the Corn Laws", American Historical Review . v. 59, n. 2. Pages 287-304.
^ Fitzwilliam, Charles William, Earl (1834) Address to the Landowners of Great Britain on the Corn Laws (Second Address 1835).
^ Pagnamenta, Peter (2012) USA W.W.Norton & Co. Prairie Fever: British Aristocrats in the American West 1830-1890 . Page 136,137.
^ Cokayne, George Edward (1916).
The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: Dacre to Dysart . St. Catherine Press, Limited. p. 522. Retrieved 8 February 2024 .
^
Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: Comprising Information Concerning All Persons Bearing Hereditary Or Courtesy Titles, Companions of All the Various Orders, and the Collateral Branches of All Peers and Baronets . Dean and Son. 1888. p. 753. Retrieved 8 February 2024 .
^
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m Lodge, Edmund (1843).
The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility . Saunders and Otley. p. 231. Retrieved 8 February 2024 .
^
Stephen, Leslie , ed. (1889).
"Fitzwilliam, Charles William Wentworth" .
Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 19. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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