Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Ireland and 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Great Britain, (4 May 1786 – 4 October 1857) was a British nobleman and politician. He was president three times of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

in 1838–1840, 1847–1849, and 1853–1855; and president of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

in its inaugural year (1831–2).Fitzwilliam, Charles William, Earl (1844) ''Correspondence ... of Edmund Burke'', London.

Early life

He was born on 4 May 1786 as the only son of

William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (30 May 1748 – 8 February 1833), styled Viscount Milton until 1756, was a British Whig statesman of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1782 he inherited the estates of his uncle Cha ...

, who served as

Lord President of the Council The Lord President of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. The Lor ...

and

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 K ...

, and his first wife, Lady Charlotte Ponsonby (daughter of William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough). After his mother's death in 1822, his father married the Louisa, Baroness Ponsonby (daughter of

Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth Field Marshal Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, PC (Ire), FRS (1680 – 12 October 1758) was an Anglo-Irish army officer and politician. He fought in the Battle of Blenheim before being appointed aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marl ...

and widow of

William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby William Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby (of Imokilly), (15 September 17445 November 1806) was a leading Irish Whig politician, being a member of the Irish House of Commons, and, after 1800, of the United Kingdom parliament. Ponsonby was ...

), in 1823, however, she died soon after in February 1824. His paternal grandparents were William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam and Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth (daughter of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, and sister to

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (13 May 1730 – 1 July 1782), styled The Honourable Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1739, Viscount Higham between 1739 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750, and the Marquess of R ...

). His father inherited the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham's estates in 1782. He was a pupil at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

from 1796 to 1802.

Career

Before inheriting the Earldom on 8 February 1833 on the death of his father, he was known by the

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

of Viscount Milton. Under that name, he was the Whig Member of Parliament for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

between 1831 and 1832. Fitzwilliam became a strong supporter of Parliamentary Reform and one of the principal advocates of repeal of the Corn Laws.Wasson, Ellis Archer (1987) ''Whig Renaissance: Lord Althorp and the Whig Party 1782-1845'', Garland, London.Spring, David (1954) "Earl Fitzwilliam and the Corn Laws", ''American Historical Review''. v. 59, n. 2. Pages 287-304.Fitzwilliam, Charles William, Earl (1834) ''Address to the Landowners of Great Britain on the Corn Laws'' (''Second Address'' 1835). The

family seat A family seat, sometimes just called seat, is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families t ...

was

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

, reputedly the largest private house in England.Pagnamenta, Peter (2012) USA W.W.Norton & Co. ''Prairie Fever: British Aristocrats in the American West 1830-1890''. Page 136,137.

Personal life

On 8 July 1806, Viscount Milton married his cousin, the Hon. Mary Dundas (1787–1830). Mary was the daughter of Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas and Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam (the 4th Earl's sister). They had thirteen children: * Lady Charlotte Wentworth-FitzWilliam (b. 1807) * Hon. Margaret Bruce Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1809–1809) * Lady Mary Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1810–1893), who married Leonard Thompson, Esq. * William Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1812–1835), who married Lady Selina Charlotte Jenkinson, daughter of

Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (29 May 1784 – 3 October 1851), styled The Honourable Charles Jenkinson between 1786 and 1828, was a British politician. Background Liverpool was the son of Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of ...

, in 1833. They had two children; the younger survived:Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 4284. ** Stillborn son (14 November 1834) ** Hon. Mary Selina Charlotte Fitzwilliam (1836–1899), who married Henry Portman, 2nd Viscount Portman. * Lady Frances Laura Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1813–1887), who married Rev. William Bridgman-Simpson in 1837. They had five children: ** Mary Bridgeman-Simpson (d. 1880) ** Beatrice Dorothy Mary Bridgeman-Simpson (d. 1936) ** Orlando John George Bridgeman-Simpson (1838–1907) ** George Arthur Bridgeman-Simpson (1846–1913) ** Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman-Simpson (1848–1929) * William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902) * Hon. George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1817–1874), who married Alice Louisa Anson, daughter of daughter of Maj.-Gen. Hon. George Anson in 1865. They had three children: ** George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1866–1935), who married Daisy Evelyn Lyster, daughter of Charles Stephan Lyster, in 1888. They had two sons: *** George James Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1888–1955), who married Lorna Beryl Morgan in 1914. They had two children: **** Richard John Godric Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1916–1987) **** Rosemary Ann Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1918–1997) *** William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904–1979) ** Alice Mary Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1869–1956) ** Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1871–1949) * Lady Anne Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1819–1879), who married Sir James John Randoll Mackenzie of Scatwell, 6th Bt at the Chapel at Wentworth Woodhouse in 1838. * Lady Dorothy Wentworth-FitzWilliam (b. 1822) * Hon. John Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1823–1824) * Hon. Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1826–1894), who married Anne Dundas, daughter of Reverend Hon. Thomas Lawrence Dundas, in 1854. Died without issue. * son(b. and d. 18 Mar 1828) * Lady Albreda Elizabeth Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1829–1891), who married Fitzpatrick Henry Vernon, 2nd Baron Lyveden in 1853. Lord Fitzwilliam died on 4 October 1857.

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