William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704 – 11 March 1793) was a British politician and public servant. He was an Irish and English peer and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

(styled Hon. William Ponsonby from 1723 to 1739 and Viscount Duncannon from 1739 to 1758). He served in both the Irish and the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

, before entering the House of Lords, and held office as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty,

Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords (or Ladies) Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second ...

, and as

Postmaster General of the United Kingdom Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet Minister of the Crown, ministerial position in Her Majesty's Government, HM Government. Aside from maintaining mail, the postal system, the Telegraph Act 1868 ...

. He was also a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...

and

Earl of Bessborough Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749, he was given t ...

Education

Ponsonby was educated at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

Political life

In 1725 Ponsonby was returned to the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

for

Newtownards Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...

and in 1727 for

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the City status in Ir ...

, holding the seat until 1758, when his father died and he took his father's titles. From 1741 to 1745, he served as

under his father-in-law, then

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 ...

. As Viscount Duncannon, Ponsonby was first appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty on 27 June 1746, a position he held until 1756, when he was appointed a

. He also represented the British constituencies of Derby from 1742 to 1754, Saltash from 1754 to 1756 and Harwick from 1756 to 1758. Upon the death of his father on 4 July 1758, Ponsonby succeeded him in the House of Lords under the title Baron Ponsonby of Sysonby on 23 November of that year.

Postmaster General

On 2 June 1759 Ponsonby left the Treasury and was appointed Postmaster General of Great Britain jointly with

Robert Hampden-Trevor, 1st Viscount Hampden Robert Hampden-Trevor, 1st Viscount Hampden (17 February 1706 – 22 August 1783) was a British diplomat at The Hague and then joint Postmaster General. Origins He was the eldest son of the second marriage of his father Thomas Trevor, 1st Baro ...

. He resigned the position when his brother-in-law,

William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (8 May 1720 – 2 October 1764), styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of ...

, was dismissed as

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

in October 1762. He was reappointed to the position (and sworn of the Privy Council) in July 1765 jointly with

Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, (c. 169530 September 1770), of Newby, Yorkshire, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. Early life Robinson was a younger son of Sir William Robin ...

, until he resigned in 1766, his initial offer to resign having been refused. Upon William Ponsonby's death on 11 March 1793 his son, Frederick Ponsonby, succeeded to his titles.

Family

William Ponsonby was the son of

Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough (1679 – 4 July 1758), was a British politician and peer. He was the son of William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon, and Mary Moore. He was an active politician from 1705 to 1757 in Great Britain and ...

, and his wife Sarah Margetson, and elder brother of John Ponsonby. On 5 July 1739, William married Lady Caroline Cavendish, eldest daughter of

William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, (26 September 1698 – 5 December 1755) was a British nobleman and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1729 when he inherited the Dukedom. Life Cavendish was the son of Wi ...

, who died in 1760 aged 40. They had three surviving children: * Lady Catherine Ponsonby (b. 1742), married

Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans (3 June 1740 – 9 February 1802) was a British landowner, and a collector of antiquities and works of art. Early life Aubrey Beauclerk was born in 1740, the son of Admiral Vere Beauclerk, 1st Baron V ...

* Lady Charlotte Ponsonby (b. 1747), married

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 ...

Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough (24 January 1758 – 3 February 1844), styled the Viscount Duncannon from 1758 to 1793, was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish British peerage, peer. Background Ponsonby was the eldest son of William P ...

(1758–1844)

Parkstead House Parkstead House, formerly known as Manresa House and Bessborough House, is a neo-classical Palladian villa in Roehampton, London, built in the 1760s. The house and remaining grounds are now Whitelands College, part of the University of Roehampt ...

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

, was built in 1750 for William Ponsonby, and now forms part of

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its r ...

References

External links

ODNB The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

article {{DEFAULTSORT:Bessborough, William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of 1704 births 1793 deaths Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Ponsonby, William Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, William Ponsonby, Viscount Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Postmasters general of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Chief secretaries for Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Derbyshire Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Down constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

Alumni of Trinity College Dublin