William Windham (c. 1706 – 1789) was a British landowner and politician. The eldest son of William Windham of

Earsham Earsham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Earsham is located west of Bungay and south-east of Norwich. The village is located close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk, and the River Waveney. History Ear ...

(died 1730) and Anne Tyrrell, he came of an old

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

family. He is sometimes called William Windham Ashe, a misnomer according to the ''History of Parliament''. On his father's death he inherited

Earsham Hall Earsham House is a Georgian country house near the village of Earsham, Norfolk. It is a Grade II* listed building. The house is built in three storeys of red brick with a parapet and a slate hipped roof. It has a symmetrical 7-bay frontage, the ...

in Earsham, Norfolk. He served as sub-governor to Duke of Cumberland in 1731 and was afterwards Comptroller of the Duke's Household till the Duke's death in 1765. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1749 although his fellowship lapsed after only two years. He entered Parliament for the nearby borough of

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

in 1747, for which he sat until 1761. He briefly returned to Parliament for

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

from 1766 to 1768. Upon his death in 1789, Earsham Hall went to his nephew, Joseph Wyndham-Bower. In April 1734, he had married Mary, Dowager Countess of Deloraine (d. 1744), daughter of Capt. Charles Howard and granddaughter of Col. Philip Howard, but the two had no children.

References

Wyndham Genealogy
* 1700s births 1789 deaths People from South Norfolk (district) Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Helston Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 Fellows of the Royal Society {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub