William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp (25 July 1747 – 21 October 1816), known as Lord Beauchamp of Powyke between 1806 and 1815, was a British politician.

Early life

Lygon was the son of Reginald Lygon (originally Reginald Pyndar), of

Madresfield Court Madresfield Court is a country house in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. The home of the Lygon family for nearly six centuries, it has never been sold and has passed only by inheritance since the 12th century; a line of unbroken family ownership ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, son of Reginald Pyndar and Margaret Lygon, daughter of William Lygon, of Madresfield Court, a descendant of Richard Lygon, of Madresfield Court, husband of the Honourable Anne Beauchamp (d. 1535), second daughter and co-heiress of

Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Beauchamp of Powick ( 1435 – 19 January 1502/3) was an English peer. Family origins He was the son of John Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp (fifth creation), 1st Lord of Powick (d. 1475) and Margaret de Ferrers, poss ...

("of Powyk"). His mother was Susanna Hanmer, daughter of William Hanmer, of Bettisfield,

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

. His father had assumed the surname of Lygon on succeeding to the Lygon estates of his maternal grandfather. He was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

Parliament

Lygon was returned to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as one of two representatives for

in 1775, a seat he held until 1806, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Beauchamp of Powyke, in the County of Worcester. He was further honoured in 1815 when he was made Viscount Elmley, in the County of Gloucester, and Earl Beauchamp.

Marriage

Lord Beauchamp married Catherine Denn, daughter of James Denn, in 1780. They had several children, including two British Army generals,

Henry Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp General Henry Beauchamp Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp DL (5 January 1784 – 8 September 1863), styled The Honourable Henry Lygon from 1806 until 1853, was a British Army officer and politician. Background Beauchamp was the third son of William Ly ...

and

Edward Pyndar Lygon General the Hon. Edward Pyndar Lygon, CB (3 April 1786 – 11 November 1860) was a senior officer in the British Army and a Member of Parliament. Background Edward was the fourth son of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp, by his wife Catharine, ...

. He died suddenly at

St James's Square St James's Square is the only square in the St James's district of the City of Westminster and is a garden square. It has predominantly Georgian and Neo-Georgian architecture. For its first two hundred or so years it was one of the three or fou ...

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 ...

, in October 1816, aged 69, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son,

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 ...

. The Countess Beauchamp died in March 1844.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp, William Lygon, 1st Earl 1747 births 1816 deaths People from Worcestershire (before 1974) Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Worcestershire British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Worcestershire UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs who were granted peerages William 1

Peers of the United Kingdom created by George III