William FitzWilliam (Lord Deputy)
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Sir William FitzWilliam (1526–1599) was an English
Lord Justice of Ireland The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...
and afterwards
Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...
. In 1587, as Governor of
Fotheringhay Castle Fotheringhay Castle, also known as ''Fotheringay Castle'', was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England (). It was probably founded a ...
, he supervised the execution of the death sentence on
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
. He was the Member of Parliament for
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
and represented
County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ga, Contae Cheatharlach) is a county located in the South-East Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow Cou ...
in 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 fra ...
. He lived at Gainspark,
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, and
Milton Hall Milton Hall near Peterborough, is the largest private house in Cambridgeshire, England.This Milton Hall should not be confused with the other Milton Hall just to the north of Cambridge in the village of Milton. The Milton Hall near Cambridge is ...
.


Early life

FitzWilliam was born at
Milton Hall Milton Hall near Peterborough, is the largest private house in Cambridgeshire, England.This Milton Hall should not be confused with the other Milton Hall just to the north of Cambridge in the village of Milton. The Milton Hall near Cambridge is ...
, Northamptonshire, the eldest son of Sir William (died 1576) and Anne Shapcote, daughter of Sir Richard Shapcote of Elton, and grandson of William Fitzwilliam,
Sheriff of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery company, livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have ...
, who had been treasurer and chamberlain to
Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...
and purchased
Milton Hall Milton Hall near Peterborough, is the largest private house in Cambridgeshire, England.This Milton Hall should not be confused with the other Milton Hall just to the north of Cambridge in the village of Milton. The Milton Hall near Cambridge is ...
in 1506. On his mother's side FitzWilliam was related to the
Earl of Bedford Earl of Bedford is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England and is currently a subsidiary title of the Dukes of Bedford. The first creation came in 1138 in favour of Hugh de Beaumont. He appears to have been degraded fr ...
, to whom he owed his introduction to
King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour ...
.


Family

In 1543, FitzWilliam married Anne (Agnes) Sidney (d. 1602), daughter of
Sir William Sidney Sir William Sidney (1482?–1554) was an English courtier under Henry VIII and Edward VI. Life He was eldest son of Nicholas Sidney, by Anne, sister of Sir William Brandon. In 1511 he accompanied Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy into Spa ...
of
Penshurst Place Penshurst Place is a historic building near Penhurst, Kent, south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The origi ...
. She was the sister of
Frances Radclyffe, Countess of Sussex Frances Radclyffe, Countess of Sussex ( Sidney; 1531–1589) was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I and the founder of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She was the daughter of Sir William Sidney,Chisholm, 1911, pp. 164–165 of ...
, who founded
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...
. Her brother,
Sir Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586), Lord Deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received ...
, was married to Lady Mary Dudley and they were the parents of
Mary Sidney Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (born Sidney, 27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621) was among the first Englishwomen to gain notice for her poetry and her literary patronage. By the age of 39, she was listed with her brother Philip Sidney ...
,
Sir Philip Sidney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
and
Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester (19 November 1563 – 13 July 1626), second son of Sir Henry Sidney, was a statesman of Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and James I of England, Jacobean England. He was also a patron of the arts and a poet ...
. Her brothers-in-law included Sir William Dormer, Sir James Harington and
Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex Thomas Radclyffe (or Ratclyffe), 3rd Earl of Sussex KG (c. 15259 June 1583), was Lord Deputy of Ireland during the Tudor period of English history, and a leading courtier during the reign of Elizabeth I. Family He was the eldest son of Henr ...
. The Fitzwilliams were the parents of five children: *Sir William Fitzwilliam (died 1618), of Gainspark and
Milton Hall Milton Hall near Peterborough, is the largest private house in Cambridgeshire, England.This Milton Hall should not be confused with the other Milton Hall just to the north of Cambridge in the village of Milton. The Milton Hall near Cambridge is ...
. He was MP for
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
in 1571,1584 and 1586. He married Winnifred, daughter of Sir Walter Mildmay and niece of
Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...
. Their son, William, was created the 1st
Baron FitzWilliam Earl Fitzwilliam (or FitzWilliam) was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family (later Wentworth-Fitzwilliam). History The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in th ...
, 1620. *John Fitzwilliam (1554–1612) *Anne Fitzwilliam * Phillipa Fitzwilliam, married Sir Thomas Coningsby, of
Hampton Court, Herefordshire Hampton Court Castle, also known as Hampton Court, is a castellated country house in the English county of Herefordshire. The house is in the parish of Hope under Dinmore south of Leominster and is a Grade I listed building, which is the h ...
. They were the parents of
Fitzwilliam Coningsby Fitzwilliam Coningsby (died August 1666) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1621 and in 1640. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Biography Coningsby was born at Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the ...
. * Mary Fitzwilliam (died 1601), married Sir
Richard Dyer Richard Dyer (born 1945) is an English academic who held a professorship in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London. Specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment ...
of
Great Staughton Great Staughton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Great Staughton lies approximately south-west of Huntingdon. Great Staughton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan dis ...
.John Burke & John Bernard Burke, ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies'' (London, 1841), p. 179: Henry George Watson, ''A History of the Parish of Great Staughton'' (St Neots, 1916), p. 14.


Member of Parliament

He was elected MP for
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
in October 1553, 1559 and replaced the deceased existing member in 1581.


Irish career

In 1559 FitzWilliam was appointed Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and elected a member of 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 fra ...
to represent Co Carlow. His conduct as treasurer provoked allegations of corruption against him and, although these were never proven, they dogged him throughout his career. Between 1559 and 1571 he served five times as Lord Justice of Ireland (during the absences of the
Earl of Sussex Earl of Sussex is a title that has been created several times in the Peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. The early Earls of Arundel (up to 1243) were often also called Earls of Sussex. The fifth creation came in the Peera ...
, and of his successor,
Sir Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586), Lord Deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received ...
). In 1571 he was appointed to the office of
Lord Deputy The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland. The plural form is '' ...
itself, but like Queen Elizabeth's other servants he received scant and infrequent allotments from the Treasury. His government was thus marked by penury and its attendant evils, inefficiency, mutiny and general lawlessness. FitzWilliam quarrelled bitterly with the
Lord President of Connaught The Lord President of Connaught was a military leader with wide-ranging powers, reaching into the civil sphere, in the English government of Connaught in Ireland, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The office was created in 1569, and in 1 ...
,
Sir Edward Fitton Sir Edward Fitton the elder (31 March 1527 – 3 July 1579), was Lord President of Connaught and Thomond and the Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. Biography Fitton was the eldest son of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth (d.1548) and Mary Harbottle, daught ...
(1527–1579), but he did manage to compel the troublesome
Earl of Desmond Earl of Desmond is a title in the peerage of Ireland () created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen Elizabeth Tudor, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the Pope, he was confiscated from his estates, s ...
into submission in 1574. He disliked the colonial expedition in Ulster of the
Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...
, and then had a further quarrel with Fitton. After a serious illness, he was allowed to resign his office. After his return to England in 1575, FitzWilliam was appointed governor of
Fotheringhay Castle Fotheringhay Castle, also known as ''Fotheringay Castle'', was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England (). It was probably founded a ...
, where he supervised the execution of the death sentence on
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
.


Final tour in Ireland

In 1588 FitzWilliam was again in Ireland as Lord Deputy, and although old and ill he displayed great activity in leading expeditions, and found time to quarrel with
Sir Richard Bingham Sir Richard Bingham (1528 – 19 January 1599) was an English soldier and naval commander. He served under Queen Elizabeth I during the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was appointed governor of Connacht. Early life and military career Bingham ...
(1528–1599), the new President of Connaught. He relied heavily on the
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...
, Sir Robert Gardiner, and refused his pleas to be allowed to retire on health grounds, saying that Gardiner was so "wise, temperate and useful" that he could not be spared, in spite of his crushing workload. His predecessor in office had been
Sir John Perrot Sir John Perrot (7 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) served as Lord Deputy of Ireland, lord deputy to Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was formerly speculated that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, t ...
. FitzWilliam immediately seized on an opportunity to discredit him by giving countenance to the allegations by a renegade priest that Perrot had plotted with King Philip II of Spain to overthrow the Queen. The allegations were wild, but such was the momentum of criticism that came Perrot's way that he was convicted of treason at Westminster, and died while awaiting sentence of death in 1591. FitzWilliam had pursued aggressive policies in Connaught and Ulster from the start. These policies upset the accommodations that had delivered an unusual peace to much of the island in the preceding years. In 1588 a large portion of the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
was wrecked on the Irish coast, and FitzWilliam was responsible for ordering the executions of up to 2,000 survivors. The Spanish threat was readily dealt with, and FitzWilliam turned up the pressure on those Ulster lords who owed their allegiance to the
Earl of Tyrone The Earl of Tyrone is a title created three times in the Peerage of Ireland. It was first created as part of the Tudor attempt to establish a uniform social structure in Ireland by converting the Gaelic kings and chiefs into hereditary nobles of t ...
. One of these lords, the
MacMahon McMahon, also spelled MacMahon (older Irish orthography: ; reformed Irish orthography: ), is a surname of Irish origin. It is derived from the Gaelic ''Mac'' ''Mathghamhna'' meaning 'son of the bear'. The surname came into use around the 11th c ...
, was put to death by royal authority in
Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...
town in 1591, and it became clear that the Dublin government was set on thoroughly curbing the power of the Gaelic leaders of Ulster. Although Tyrone continued to display his loyalty to the crown, the course had been set for a showdown and he went into rebellion in 1595, at the start of the
Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...
. In 1594 FitzWilliam left Ireland for good, and five years later he died at
Milton Hall Milton Hall near Peterborough, is the largest private house in Cambridgeshire, England.This Milton Hall should not be confused with the other Milton Hall just to the north of Cambridge in the village of Milton. The Milton Hall near Cambridge is ...
.


Notes


References

* *''Dictionary of National Biography'' (1921–22) {{DEFAULTSORT:FitzWilliam, William 1526 births 1599 deaths People from Northamptonshire (before 1974) Lords Lieutenant of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Carlow constituencies People of Elizabethan Ireland
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 ...
English MPs 1553 (Mary I) English MPs 1559 English MPs 1572–1583 Irish MPs 1560 Knights Bachelor