William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (15 January 1719/1720 – 10 August 1756) was a British peer, nobleman, and politician.

Biography

William Fitzwilliam was the son of John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam by his wife Anne, daughter of John Stringer of Sutton cum Lound, Nottinghamshire. His sister Anne was the second wife of

Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin (2 November 1706 – 25 May 1785) was a British politician and peer. Life and career He was the eldest surviving son of Henry Godolphin, provost of Eton and Dean of St Paul's, and was educated at Eton Col ...

. He succeeded his father as third Earl Fitzwilliam in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

on 28 August 1728. He was elected Member of Parliament for

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

on 4 May 1741, and sat until he was created Baron Fitzwilliam in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself repla ...

on 19 April 1742. He was made 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 ...

on 6 June 1746, and further created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain on 6 September 1746.

Marriage and issue

On 22 June 1744 at

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Church of England, Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London ...

, Fitzwilliam married Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth, daughter of the Earl of Malton. Lord Malton was later created

Marquess of Rockingham Marquess of Rockingham, in the County of Northampton, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1746 for Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Earl of Malton. The Watson family ...

; Lady Anne's brother was the future

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 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 ...

. The Fitzwilliams had two sons and six daughters: * Lady Anne (23 March 1745 – 8 December 1819); * Lady Charlotte (14 July 1746 – 11 February 1833), married on 24 May 1764 to

Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas Thomas Laurence Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas, FRS (16 February 1741 – 14 June 1820) was a British politician who represented Richmond and Stirlingshire in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1763 to 1794, when he was raised to the peer ...

and had issue; *

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 ...

(30 May 1748 – 8 February 1833); * Lady Frances Henrietta (22 October 1750 – 28 October 1835); * Lady Amelia Maria (12 December 1751 – 8 August 1752); * Lady Henrietta (20 March 1753 – ); * Lady Dorothy (22 May 1754 – 16 March 1809); * George Fitzwilliam (28 February 1756 – May 1786).Lodge's ''Peerage of Ireland'' (1789) vol. 2
p. 181
''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 11 March 1756. Fitzwilliam died at

Marholm Marholm is a village and civil parish in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. West of Peterborough and 1 mile from the seat of the Fitzwilliam family at Milton Hall. The parish covers some 1,400 ac ...

at the age of thirty-six and was succeeded as Earl by his son William. His widow died on 29 August 1769.

References

18th-century births 1756 deaths Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Earls in the Peerage of Great Britain Peers of Great Britain created by George II British MPs 1741–1747 Hereditary peers elected to the House of Commons Earls Fitzwilliam {{Ireland-earl-stub