York Minster Wentworth Memorial (43794806192)

William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (8 June 1626 – 16 October 1695), KG, of

Wentworth Woodhouse Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. The building has m ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, was a prominent landowner.

Origins

He was born at

, the only surviving son of

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, (13 April 1593 ( N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1 ...

(d.1641) by his second wife Arabella Holles, a daughter of

John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare (May 1564 – 4 October 1637) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Denzil Holles of Irby upon Humber and Eleanor Sheffield (daughter of Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield of Butterwick). His great-grandfa ...

. His mother died in childbirth when he was five years old, after which his father remarried to Elizabeth Rhodes, who was a kindly stepmother to William and his sisters.

Career

He studied 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 ...

. When his father was executed for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in 1641, William left

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for several years, mainly for fear of reprisals (although most of his father's enemies bore no ill-will to his widow or children), and lived for a while in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He is said to have acted as a Royalist agent in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, in partnership with

Henry Coventry Henry Coventry (1619–1686), styled "The Honourable" from 1628, was an English politician who was Secretary of State for the Northern Department between 1672 and 1674 and the Southern Department between 1674 and 1680. Origins and education Co ...

, which ended in a bitter quarrel, and a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

. In 1652 he was allowed to return to England on taking an oath of abjuration. In 1662 the

bill of attainder A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder or writ of attainder or bill of penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and punishing them, often without a trial. As with attai ...

against his father was reversed by Parliament, and he regained the title of

Earl of Strafford Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I. He had already succe ...

and was invested as a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

in 1661. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1668 but was expelled in 1685. He led a rather "obscure, undistinguished and uninteresting life", however his 1667 speech in 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 ...

was praiseworthy, protesting against the banishment of

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (18 February 16099 December 1674), was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II from ...

, on the grounds that no crime had been proved against him; his attitude is the more creditable since Clarendon had been one of his father's bitterest enemies. He became a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1674, and attended the crucial meeting in 1678 when

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the " Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father Samuel (1610� ...

first revealed his fabricated

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...

. During the

Exclusion Crisis The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Sc ...

he supported the future King James II, and made a point of calling on him when James travelled through Yorkshire on his way to Scotland in 1679. He may be summed up as "rather indolent and lacking in character", but was much loved by his family, especially by his father, whose last letter was to "dearest Will" from "a father that tenderly loves you".

Marriages

He married twice: *Firstly on 27 February 1654 to Lady Henrietta Mary Stanley, a daughter of

James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, KG (31 January 160715 October 1651) was an English nobleman, politician, and supporter of the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Before inheriting the title in 1642 he was known as Lord Strange. He was ...

by his wife Charlotte de La Trémoille (d. 1685), a daughter of Claude de La Trémoille, 2nd Duke of Thouars, by his wife

Countess Charlotte Brabantina of Nassau Countess Charlotte Brabantina of Nassau (Antwerp, 17 September 1580 – Château-Renard, August 1631) was the fifth daughter of William the Silent and his third spouse, Charlotte of Bourbon. She lived in her life at the French royal court a ...

, 2nd daughter of William I, Prince of Orange (1533-1584), great-grandfather of King William III of England. The marriage was childless and Henrietta predeceased him. There were riots associated with her funeral. She was buried in

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

, where he erected an impressive monument to her memory, which still stands. *Secondly, he married Henrietta de la Rochefoucauld, a daughter of Frederic Charles de Roye de la Rochefoucauld, Count de Roye. The Dowager Countess was buried at St James, Westminster, London, on 14 November 1732.''The Register of Burials in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1723-1754''. 14 November 1732.

Death and legacy

He died in Yorkshire on 16 October 1695, aged 69, and was buried in

Strafford County, New Hampshire Strafford County is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 130,889. Its county seat is Dover. Strafford County was one of the five original counties identified for New Hampshire in 1769. It was n ...

in the United States is named in his honour.

Succession

Having no children nor surviving brothers, the earldom became extinct, but his title of

Baron Raby There have been two creations of the title Baron Raby, both in the Peerage of England. The first was in 1640, as a subsidiary title of the Earl of Strafford (first creation). The first earl was attainted and his peerages declared forfeit in 1641 ...

was inherited by his first cousin once-removed

(1672-1739), the grandson of a younger brother of the 1st Earl, who became

in a new creation. His vast estates, however, including Wentworth Woodhouse, passed to his younger nephew Thomas Watson, the third son of his sister Anne Wentworth, who in accordance with the bequest adopted the additional surname of Wentworth.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Strafford, William Wentworth, 2nd Earl Of 1626 births 1695 deaths People from Rotherham Members of the Privy Council of England Knights of the Garter 17th-century English nobility Earls of Strafford (1640 creation)