Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam

Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Ireland and 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Great Britain, (4 May 1786 – 4 October 1857) was a British nobleman and politician. He was president three times of the Royal Statistical Society in 1838–1840, 1847–1849, and 1853–1855; and president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in its inaugural year (1831–2).

The Right Honourable The Earl Fitzwilliam KG
copy of a portrait by John Hoppner
Born	Charles William Wentworth-FitzWilliam 4 May 1786
Died	4 October 1857(1857-10-04) (aged 71)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Eton College
Spouse	Hon. Mary Dundas ​ ​ (m. 1806; died 1830)​
Children	13, including: William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam Hon. George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam Hon. Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
Parents	William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam Lady Charlotte Ponsonby

Quartered arms of Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, KG

Early life

He was born on 4 May 1786 as the only son of William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, who served as Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his first wife, Lady Charlotte Ponsonby (daughter of William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough). After his mother's death in 1822, his father married the Louisa, Baroness Ponsonby (daughter of Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth and widow of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby), in 1823, however, she died soon after in February 1824.

His paternal grandparents were William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam and Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth (daughter of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, and sister to Prime Minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham). His father inherited the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham's estates in 1782.

He was a pupil at Eton College from 1796 to 1802.

Career

Before inheriting the Earldom on 8 February 1833 on the death of his father, he was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Milton. Under that name, he was the Whig Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire between 1831 and 1832. Fitzwilliam became a strong supporter of Parliamentary Reform and one of the principal advocates of repeal of the Corn Laws.

The family seat was Wentworth Woodhouse, reputedly the largest private house in England.

Personal life

On 8 July 1806, Viscount Milton married his cousin, the Hon. Mary Dundas (1787–1830). Mary was the daughter of Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas and Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam (the 4th Earl's sister). They had thirteen children:

• Lady Charlotte Wentworth-FitzWilliam (b. 1807)
• Hon. Margaret Bruce Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1809–1809)
• Lady Mary Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1810–1893), who married Leonard Thompson, Esq.
• William Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1812–1835), who married Lady Selina Charlotte Jenkinson, daughter of Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool, in 1833. They had two children; the younger survived:
  • Stillborn son (14 November 1834)
  • Hon. Mary Selina Charlotte Fitzwilliam (1836–1899), who married Henry Portman, 2nd Viscount Portman.
• Lady Frances Laura Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1813–1887), who married Rev. William Bridgman-Simpson in 1837. They had five children:
  • Mary Bridgeman-Simpson (d. 1880)
  • Beatrice Dorothy Mary Bridgeman-Simpson (d. 1936)
  • Orlando John George Bridgeman-Simpson (1838–1907)
  • George Arthur Bridgeman-Simpson (1846–1913)
  • Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman-Simpson (1848–1929)
• William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902)
• Hon. George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1817–1874), who married Alice Louisa Anson, daughter of daughter of Maj.-Gen. Hon. George Anson in 1865. They had three children:
  • George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1866–1935), who married Daisy Evelyn Lyster, daughter of Charles Stephan Lyster, in 1888. They had two sons:
    • George James Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1888–1955), who married Lorna Beryl Morgan in 1914. They had two children:
      • Richard John Godric Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1916–1987)
      • Rosemary Ann Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1918–1997)
    • William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904–1979)
  • Alice Mary Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1869–1956)
  • Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1871–1949)
• Lady Anne Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1819–1879), who married Sir James John Randoll Mackenzie of Scatwell, 6th Bt at the Chapel at Wentworth Woodhouse in 1838.
• Lady Dorothy Wentworth-FitzWilliam (b. 1822)
• Hon. John Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1823–1824)
• Hon. Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1826–1894), who married Anne Dundas, daughter of Reverend Hon. Thomas Lawrence Dundas, in 1854. Died without issue.
• [a son] (b. and d. 18 Mar 1828)
• Lady Albreda Elizabeth Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (1829–1891), who married Fitzpatrick Henry Vernon, 2nd Baron Lyveden in 1853.

Lord Fitzwilliam died on 4 October 1857.

Notes

1. From his father's second marriage, he had five step-siblings: John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby (a diplomat), Hon. Sir William Ponsonby (a Maj.-Gen. in the Army who was killed at the Battle of Waterloo), Richard Ponsonby (Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, Derry, Derry and Raphoe), George Ponsonby (MP and Junior Lord of the Treasury), and Mary (wife of Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey).

References

1. Fitzwilliam, Charles William, Earl (1844) Correspondence ... of Edmund Burke, London.
2. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 4284.
3. Wasson, Ellis Archer (1987) Whig Renaissance: Lord Althorp and the Whig Party 1782-1845, Garland, London.
4. Spring, David (1954) "Earl Fitzwilliam and the Corn Laws", American Historical Review. v. 59, n. 2. Pages 287-304.
5. Fitzwilliam, Charles William, Earl (1834) Address to the Landowners of Great Britain on the Corn Laws (Second Address 1835).
6. Pagnamenta, Peter (2012) USA W.W.Norton & Co. Prairie Fever: British Aristocrats in the American West 1830-1890. Page 136,137.
7. Cokayne, George Edward (1916). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: Dacre to Dysart. St. Catherine Press, Limited. p. 522. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
8. Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: Comprising Information Concerning All Persons Bearing Hereditary Or Courtesy Titles, Companions of All the Various Orders, and the Collateral Branches of All Peers and Baronets. Dean and Son. 1888. p. 753. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
9. Lodge, Edmund (1843). The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility. Saunders and Otley. p. 231. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
10. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1889). "Fitzwilliam, Charles William Wentworth" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 19. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Viscount Milton

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Bryan Cooke Henry Grattan	Member of Parliament for Malton 1806–1807 With: Bryan Cooke	Succeeded by The Lord Headley Robert Lawrence Dundas
Preceded by William Wilberforce Walter Ramsden Fawkes	Member of Parliament for Yorkshire 1807–1830 With: William Wilberforce 1807–1812 Viscount Lascelles 1812–1818 James Stuart-Wortley 1818–1826 William Duncombe 1826–1830 Richard Fountayne Wilson 1826–1830 John Marshall 1826–1830	Succeeded by William Duncombe Viscount Morpeth Richard Bethell Henry Brougham
Preceded by Sir James Scarlett Sir Robert Heron, Bt	Member of Parliament for Peterborough 1830 With: Sir Robert Heron, Bt	Succeeded by Sir Robert Heron, Bt John Nicholas Fazakerley
Preceded by Viscount Howick	Member of Parliament for Higham Ferrers 1831	Succeeded by Charles Pepys
Preceded by William Ralph Cartwright Viscount Althorp	Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire 1831–1832 With: Viscount Althorp	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for North Northamptonshire 1832–1833 With: Lord Brudenell	Succeeded by Lord Brudenell Viscount Milton
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by William Fitzwilliam	Earl Fitzwilliam 1833–1857	Succeeded by William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by William Fitzwilliam	Earl Fitzwilliam 1833–1857	Succeeded by William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke	President of the Surtees Society 1843–46	Succeeded by Henry Vane, 2nd Duke of Cleveland