Sir William Guise, 5th Baronet (1737 – 6 April 1783), was a British politician who accompanied

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

on his Grand Tour of Italy and sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

between 1770 and 1783. Guise was the son of Sir John Guise, 4th Baronet of Elmore Court and Rendcombe, Gloucestershire and his wife Jane Saunders, daughter of John Saunders of

Mongewell Mongewell is a village in the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Crowmarsh in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, about south of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Wallingford. Mongewell is on the east bank of the Thames, li ...

, Oxfordshire. He entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

and

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

in 1754 and was awarded MA on 29 October 1759. Between 1763 and 1765 he undertook the Grand Tour when he met Edward Gibbon at

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and accompanied him to Italy “in great harmony and good humour”. He succeeded his father in the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1769. In August 1770 Guise was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

and held the seat until his death. He is reported to have spoken only twice in Parliament. Guise was unmarried and the baronetcy became extinct on his death on 6 April 1783. His estates were inherited by a relative John Guise of Highnam, who was created the first Guise baronet, of Highnam the same year.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Guise, William 1737 births 1783 deaths Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 Baronets in the Baronetage of England