William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704 – 11 March 1793) was a British politician and public servant. He was an Irish and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

peer Peer may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm" Computing * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a net ...

and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

(styled Hon. William Ponsonby from 1723 to 1739 and Viscount Duncannon from 1739 to 1758). He served in both the Irish and the British House of Commons, before entering the House of Lords, and held office as a

Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requ ...

Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a Government agency, commission for the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer, Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord o ...

, and as

Postmaster General of the United Kingdom The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain elec ...

. He was also a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

, Chief Secretary for Ireland and

Earl of Bessborough Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749, he was given t ...

Education

Ponsonby was educated at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Political life

Jean-Étienne Liotard - Sir William Ponsonby

In 1725 Ponsonby was returned to the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fr ...

for

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the civil parish of Newtownards and the historic baronies ...

and in 1727 for

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the ...

, holding the seat until 1758, when his father died and he took his father's titles. From 1741 to 1745, he served as Chief Secretary for Ireland under his father-in-law, then

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

. As Viscount Duncannon, Ponsonby was first appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty on 27 June 1746, a position he held until 1756, when he was appointed a

. He also represented the British constituencies of Derby from 1742 to 1754, Saltash from 1754 to 1756 and Harwick from 1756 to 1758. Upon the death of his father on 4 July 1758, Ponsonby succeeded him in the House of Lords under the title Baron Ponsonby of Sysonby on 23 November of that year.

Postmaster General

On 2 June 1759 Ponsonby left the Treasury and was appointed Postmaster General of Great Britain jointly with Robert Hampden-Trevor, 1st Viscount Hampden. He resigned the position when his brother-in-law,

William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, (8 May 1720 – 2 October 1764), styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal 5th Prime Mini ...

, was dismissed as

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

in October 1762. He was reappointed to the position (and sworn of the Privy Council) in July 1765 jointly with

Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, (c. 169530 September 1770), of Newby, Yorkshire, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. Early life Robinson was a younger son of Sir William Robi ...

, until he resigned in 1766, his initial offer to resign having been refused. Upon William Ponsonby's death on 11 March 1793 his son, Frederick Ponsonby, succeeded to his titles.

Family

William Ponsonby was the son of Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Sarah Margetson, and elder brother of John Ponsonby. On 5 July 1739, William married Lady Caroline Cavendish, eldest daughter of

William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, (26 September 1698 – 5 December 1755) was a British nobleman and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1729 when he inherited the Dukedom. Life Cavendish was the son of Wil ...

, who died in 1760 aged 40. They had three surviving children: * Lady Catherine Ponsonby (b. 1742), married Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans * Lady Charlotte Ponsonby (b. 1747), married William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam * Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough (1758–1844) Parkstead House,

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

, was built in 1750 for William Ponsonby, and now forms part of

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

References

External links

ODNB The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

article {{DEFAULTSORT:Bessborough, William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of 1704 births 1793 deaths Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Ponsonby, William Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Members of the Privy Council of Ireland United Kingdom Postmasters General Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Chief Secretaries for Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Derbyshire Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Down constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies

William William is a masculine given name of Norman French 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 conq ...

Alumni of Trinity College Dublin