Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam, PC (Ireland) (c. 1677 – 6 June 1743), of

Mount Merrion Mount Merrion () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is roughly 7 kilometres (5 mi) south of Dublin city centre and is situated on and around the hill of the same name. Location and access Mount Merrion is 3 kilometres (2 mi) southw ...

in Dublin, was an Irish nobleman and Whig politician.

Origins

He was the only son of

Thomas FitzWilliam, 4th Viscount FitzWilliam Thomas FitzWilliam, 4th Viscount FitzWilliam (c.1640–1704) was an Irish nobleman and statesman; he was a leading Irish Jacobite, and a political figure of some importance during the Williamite War in Ireland. Background He was the only son ...

by his first wife Mary Stapleton, a daughter of the English statesman Sir

Philip Stapleton Sir Philip Stapleton of Wighill and of Warter-on-the-Wolds, Yorkshire (1603 – 18 August 1647) was an English Member of Parliament, a supporter of the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War, and a colonel in the Parliamentary Army un ...

and his first wife Frances Hotham.''Burke's Peerage'', 107th Edition Vol.1 p.677 The FitzWilliam family is recorded in Ireland from about 1210, and by the seventeenth century had become one of the largest landowners in Dublin.

Career

He succeeded to the Viscountcy of FitzWilliam in 1704, and became a member of the

Irish Privy Council His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal execut ...

in 1715. He was elected a member of parliament for

Fowey Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...

in 1727, a seat he held until 1734. His father and grandfather had been

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, and his father had been under

attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

for a time for his loyalty to the Catholic King James II;Ball, F. Elrington ''History of Dublin'' Alexander Thom and Co. Dublin 1902–1920 Vol.2 p.21 but Richard conformed to the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

Properties

In 1711, he built Mount Merrion House in Dublin. The older family home of

Merrion Castle Merrion Castle was a castle situated about 300m south of the present-day Merrion Gates, to the south of Dublin city centre. Built in the early fourteenth century, it was from the sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century the principal s ...

was, rather surprisingly, allowed to fall into decay: it was a ruin by 1730, and was pulled down later in the century. Richard spent his later years in England, but his heirs returned to Mount Merrion. He let the house to John Wainwright, one of the Barons of the

Court of Exchequer (Ireland) The Court of Exchequer (Ireland), or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of jus ...

Marriage and children

Lord Fitzwilliam married Frances Shelley, daughter of Sir John Shelley, 3rd Baronet of Michaelgrove and his first wife Bridget Neville, daughter of George Nevill, 11th Baron Bergavenny. They had five children: *

Richard FitzWilliam, 6th Viscount FitzWilliam Richard FitzWilliam, 6th Viscount FitzWilliam (24 July 1711 - 25 May 1776), Order of the Bath, KB, Privy Council of Ireland, PC, Royal Society, FRS, of Mount Merrion, near Dublin, Ireland, was an Anglo-Irish peer and property developer. He was ...

*William FitzWilliam,

Usher of the Black Rod The usher of the Black Rod is an official in the parliaments of several countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The title is often shortened to Black Rod, and in some countries, formally known as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod or Lady Usher ...

in Ireland * John FitzWilliam, a soldier; *Mary FitzWilliam, who married firstly

Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke Lt.-Gen. Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 6th Earl of Montgomery (29 January 16939 January 1749) was an English peer and courtier. He was the heir and eldest son of Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke and his first wife Margaret Sawyer. H ...

; through this marriage in the following century, the great FitzWilliam inheritance passed into the Herbert family, who are today still substantial landowners in Dublin city. She married secondly Major North Ludlow Bernard, of Castle Bernard,

Bandon, County Cork Bandon (; ) is a town in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on the River Bandon between two hills. The name in Irish means 'Bridge of the Bandon', a reference to the origin of the town as a crossing point on the river. In 2004 Ba ...

, who was the grandfather through his first wife of the first

Earl of Bandon Earl of Bandon was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for Francis Bernard, 1st Earl of Bandon, Francis Bernard, 1st Viscount Bandon, son of politician James Bernard (politician), James Bernard. Francis Bernard had already ...

. *Frances FitzWilliam, who married George Evans, 2nd Baron Carbery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzWilliam, Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount 1670s births 1743 deaths 17th-century Irish nobility 18th-century Irish nobility Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Viscounts FitzWilliam Hereditary peers elected to the House of Commons People from Mount Merrion Whig members of the Parliament of Great Britain