William FitzHardinge Berkeley, 1st Earl FitzHardinge (26 December 1786 – 10 October 1857), known as The Lord Segrave between 1831 and 1841, was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

landowner and politician.

Background

Berkeley was born at Mount Street,

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable re ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the eldest son of

Frederick Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley Frederick Augustus Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley (24 May 1745 – 8 August 1810) was a British peer. Origins and education Berkeley was the eldest son and heir of Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley by Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Drax, of E ...

, by Mary Cole, daughter of William Cole. He was the brother of

Maurice Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge Admiral Maurice Frederick FitzHardinge Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge, (3 January 1788 – 17 October 1867) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he commanded gunboats on the Tagus, reinforcing the Lines of Torres Vedras, in Autumn 18 ...

Francis Henry FitzHardinge Berkeley Francis Henry FitzHardinge Berkeley (7 December 1794 – 10 March 1870) was a British politician. Background and education Berkeley was the fourth son of Frederick Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley, and Mary, daughter of William Cole. The validit ...

George Charles Grantley Fitzhardinge Berkeley The Honourable George Charles Grantley FitzHardinge Berkeley (10 February 1800 – 20 February 1881), known as Grantley Berkeley, was a British politician, writer and sportsman. Background and education Berkeley was the sixth son of Frederick Be ...

and

Craven Berkeley Craven FitzHardinge Berkeley (May 1805 – 1 July 1855) was a British Whig politician. Background Berkeley was the seventh son of Frederick Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley, and Mary, daughter of William Cole. He was the younger brother of Willi ...

and the nephew of Sir George Cranfield Berkeley.thepeerage.com William FitzHardinge Berkeley, 1st and last Earl FitzHardinge
/ref>

Dispute over legitimacy

Great uncertainties were raised about whether his parents had two marriage ceremonies, or whether his mother was as with other children she conceived with his father a different/same but unmarried lady. On 16 May 1796 the Earl of Berkeley had married Mary Cole at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

. The Earl then maintained they had married at

Berkeley, Gloucestershire Berkeley ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, parish in the Stroud (district), Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway. The town is ...

, officiated by the Vicar of Berkeley, on 30 March 1785. This ceremony was, however, kept secret until after the Lambeth marriage, with Mary being known as Miss Tudor between the two dates. Shortly after the Lambeth marriage a certificate of the Berkeley ceremony was produced, having been recovered, it was alleged, under very strange circumstances. The couple had had six sons up to the marriage of 1796, including William Berkeley. In 1799, after the Earl announced his earlier marriage/ceremony, William Berkeley (commonly styled Viscount Dursley, the normal

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

for the heir apparent to the earldom) obtained leave (permission) to prove his legitimacy before the

Committee for Privileges The Committee for Privileges and Conduct was a select committee of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom which considered issues relating to the privileges of the House of Lords and its members, as well as having oversight fo ...

of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, and in 1801 the Earl made a deposition giving full details of the Berkeley marriage.

Claim to barony and earldom of Berkeley

Lord Berkeley died in August 1810, when William Berkeley applied to be summoned to the House of Lords as Earl of Berkeley. In March 1811 the Committee for Privileges decided that the Berkeley marriage of 1786 was "not then proved" and that the petitioner's claim was not made out. William received

Berkeley Castle Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, and it has been desi ...

and the other estates by will, and on 2 July, after the adverse decision of the Lords Committee, he claimed a writ of summons as a Baron as

Baron by tenure In the kingdom of England, a feudal barony or barony by tenure was the highest degree of feudal land tenure, namely ''per baroniam'' (Latin for "by barony"), under which the land-holder owed the service of being one of the king's barons. The du ...

of Berkeley Castle. The claim was fully laid before the Committee for Privileges in 1828 and 1829, but the Lords gave no judgement on the case. The eldest son born after the 1797 Lambeth marriage of the fifth Earl, Thomas Moreton FitzHardinge Berkeley, became on the Earl's death in 1810 ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' 6th Earl of Berkeley — however, he refused to claim his right to the earldom. In 1831 William Berkeley was raised to the peerage as Baron Segrave, of Berkeley Castle in the County of Gloucester.

Public appointments

Berkeley was returned to parliament as one of two representatives for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1810 (succeeding his uncle Sir George Cranfield Berkeley), a seat he only held until 1811. He succeeded his father as

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

of the Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry Militia in 1810 and commanded it until his death. In 1836 he was appointed

Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. Since 1694, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Gloucestershire. *Edmund Brydges, 2nd Baron Chandos 1559–? *Giles Brydges, 3rd Baron Chandos ...

, a post he retained until his death. In 1841 he was further honoured when he was made Earl FitzHardinge.

Personal life

Berkeley never married. He had several mistresses, and in 1821 John Waterhouse succeeded in an action for "

criminal conversation At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term. It is similar to breach of p ...

" (adultery) against him, being awarded £1000 damages at Gloucester Assizes over Berkeley's affair with Mrs Waterhouse. He died at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, in October 1857, aged 70. The barony of Segrave and earldom of FitzHardinge died with him. The FitzHardinge title was revived in 1861 when his younger brother Maurice Berkeley was created Baron FitzHardinge.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:FitzHardinge, William Berkeley, 1st Earl 1786 births 1857 deaths Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Lord-Lieutenants of Gloucestershire Gloucestershire Militia officers Berkeley, William Berkeley, William UK MPs who were granted peerages Peers of the United Kingdom created by William IV Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria