Lady Henrietta, born on March 21st, 1752, died unmarried; and Lady Dorothy, born on May 22d, 1754.

His Lordship had also two sons; viz.

1. William, now Earl Fitz-William.

And,

2. The Hon. George Fitz-William, a posthumous child, died May 6th, 1786.

He departed this life on August 10th, 1756, and had sepulture with his ancestors at Marham. His Lordship was succeeded in dignity and estate by his said eldest son,

WILLIAM, the present and SECOND EARL FITZ-WILLIAM, of Great Britain, and fourth Earl of Ireland. His Lordship was born on May 30th, 1748, was married 11th July, 1770, to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby, daughter of William Earl of Besborough ; and is the twenty-second in paternal descent from Sir William Fitz Goderick, cousin to King Edward the Confessor. He has issue an only child, viz.

Charles-William Viscount Milton, M. P. for the county of York, 1807, married, July 8th, 1806, Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Lord Dundas, by whom he has a daughter, born July 12th, 1807.

His Lordship succeeded in 1782, to the great fortune of his uncle, the Marquis of Rockingham; and has added the name of Wentworth to his own.

On July 11th, 1794, his Lordship was appointed Lord President of the Council, which he held till December 17th following. On January 4th, 1795, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which he only held till the 24th of March following.

In 1806, he was again appointed Lord President of the Council, which he held till the fall of the Grenville administration in the following year.

Titles. William Fitz-William, Earl Fitz-William, Viscount Milton, and Lord Fitz-William, Baron of Milton, English honours: also Earl Fitz-William, Viscount Miltown, and Baron Fitz-William of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the kingdom of Ireland.

Creations. Baron Fitz-William of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the county of Donegall, by letters patent dated December 1st, 1620, 18th James I.; Viscount Miltown, of the the county of WestMeath, and Earl Fitz-William, of the county of Tyrone, by letters patent bearing date July 21st, 1716, 2d of George I. honours of the kingdom of Ireland.

Lord Fitz-William, Baron of Milton, by letters patent dated April 19th, 1742, 15th of George II.; Viscount Milton, and Earl Fitz-William of Norborough, all in the county of Northampton, by letters patent, dated September 6th, 1746, 20th of George II. English honours.

Arms. Lozengy, Argent and Gules.

Crest. In a ducal coronet, Or, a triple plume of ostrich feathers, Argent.

Supporters. Two savage men; wreathed about their heads and waists with oak leaves, and in their exterior hands, a tree eradicated, the top broken off, all proper.

Motto. APPETITUS RATIONI PAREAT.

Chief Seats. At Milton, in the county of Northampton; and Wentworth House, Yorkshire.

His Lordship derives his descent from AILWARDUS, an eminent Saxon, in the county of a Norfolk, who soon after the Norman conquest, being possessed of lands in Wymondham (now wrote Wyndham), in that county, assumed his.surname from thence: and the said Ailwardus de Wymondham, with Richard, his son, Hugh, Pagan, and Edmund de Wymondham, were witnesses to a charter of William de Albini, butler to King Henry I. whereby he gave the church of Wymondham to the prior and convent of Wyndham.

RICHARD, son of Ailward, was father of RICHARD, who had issue JOHN de Wymondham, who by Margaret, daughter to Robert Churchon (or Curzon), had issue another JOHN of Whichlewood, and Crounthorpe, in the county of Norfolk; which were their principal seats for many generations, and are yet part of the possessions of a branch of the family.

с

d

In 44 Henry III. Thomas de Wymondham, Chanter of Litchfield, was a Baron of the Exchequer; and on April 4th, 1266, was constituted Treasurer of England; also the year after, bearing the title of Chanter of the church of Litchfield, had his patent renewed.

e

In 52 Henry III. he had a grant of fifty marks per annum, for the better maintaining hinself in the office of Treasurer, wherein he continued till 54 Henry III.f

In 10 Edward II. WILLIAM, son of RALPH de Wimondham,

a Monast. Ang. Vol. I. p. 37. and 339.
Pat. 50 Henry III. m. 20.

e Liberate de Anno 52 Hen. m. 5.

VOL. IV.

b Ex Stemmate.

d Pat. 31 Henry III. m. 6.

f Dugdale's Chron. Series, p. 22.

2 D

was possessed of the manors of Crounthorpe and Whichlewood, wherein he was succeeded by his son, Sir JOHN, who by Catherine, daughter of Sir John de Redisham, of Redisham, Knt. had three sons; 1. Thomas. 2. Sir Richard de Wymondham, Knt. who, in 1356, had the King's protection, going into Brittany under his son Edward, Prince of Wales; and on September 19th, that year, was at the famous battle of Poictiers, wherein John the French King was taken prisoner. 3. Henry, Prior of Wynd. ham.

THOMAS de Wimondham, in the pedigree of the family, is said to be elder brother to Sir Richard, and to have married Margaret, daughter of Sir Walter Walcot, Knt. by whom he had issue JOHN de Wimondham, who had to wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Sharington, by whom he was father of JOHN Wimondham, who wedded Margaret, daughter of Sir John Segrave, Knt. and had issue John, his son and heir.

Which JOHN was of Crounthorpe, and of Felbrigge, in com. Norfolk; which last estate he purchased of the trustees of Sir John Felbrigge, Knight of the Garter. He was an eminent assertor of the House of Lancaster; and in 38 Henry VI. was joined in commission with others, to withstand the attempts of the Earl of Warwick: also, in the same year, h was one of the Knights for the county of Norfolk, in the parliament held at Coventry, wherein the Earl of Warwick, and other accomplices of the Duke of York, were attainted of high-treason. He had to wife Margery, daughter of Sir Robert Clifton, of Bokenham-castle, in com. Norfolk, and widow of Sir John Hastings. But Weever, in his Funeral Monuments, p. 804, says, she was the widow of Sir Edward Hastings, and was buried in the Augustine Friers in Norwich, in the year 1456. By the said John Wyndham, Esq. she had issue two sons; Sir John; and Sir Roger, who died without issue; Ela, married to Thomas Fastolfe, Esq. and Isabel, to Simon Wiseman, of Great Thornham, in Suffolk, Esq.

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Sir JOHN Wyndham, in 1487, was in the battle of Stoke, near Newark, against the Earl of Lincoln, Lambert Simnel, and their adherents, and was knighted, immediately after the victory, for his valiant behaviour: but being afterwards engaged in the inte. rests of the house of York, he was apprehended; and on May 2d, in 17 Henry VII. arraigned in Guildhall, London, where be

Rymer's Fœdera, Vol. V. p. 844.

h Pryn's Brevia. Parliam. P. 60. i MS. Claudius C. 3. in Bibl. Cotton.

ing found guilty of high-treason, as an accomplice of Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, he,k with Sir James Tyrrell, Lieutenant of Guisnes-castle, were beheaded on Tower-Hill, May 6th, following, and their bodies and heads were buried in the Augustine Friers church of London, as Stow writes.

Sir Francis Bacon, in his Life of King Henry VII. gives the following account: In 1501, on the Earl of Suffolk's flying into Flanders, King Henry the Seventh growing jealous of him, caused Sir Robert Curson, Captain of the castle of Hammes, to fly from his charge, and to feign himself a servant of the Earl of Suffolk's; who thereby insinuating himself into his secrets, gave advertisements to the King of such who were friends to him. Whereupon William Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, brother-inlaw to the Earl, as also William de la Pole, his own brother, Sir John Wyndham, and others, were taken into custody; and Sir John was attainted and beheaded the 6th of May, 1503.'

m

This Sir John Wyndham had two wives; first, the Lady Margaret, daughter to John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, by whom he had issue Sir Thomas, his son and heir; Edward; George, who died in 1543, having been Archdeacon of Norwich, Precentor of St. Paul's, and Master of the college of Rushworth, in Norfolk ; who, together with his brethren, the friers of that college, in 26 Henry VIII. swore fealty to the King, Queen Anne, and the issue begotten on her body; also that they will make known, preach, and persuade the people to do the same, whenever place and opportunity shall serve. Likewise three daughters; Anne, wife of Thomas Radcliffe, Esq.; Elizabeth, first, of Sir Francis Calthorpe, of Ingham, in com. Norfolk; and afterwards of Sir John Culpeper, Knt. and Dorothy.

His second wife was Eleanor, daughter of Norman Washbourne, of Washbourne, in Worcestershire, Esq. and widow of Sir Richard Scrope, a younger son of Henry Lord Scrope, of Bolton; by whom he had a son, Francis, who died young, and a daughter, Frances; which Lady died in 21 Henry VII. as appears by the probate of her will, bearing date December 11th, 21 Henry VII. 1505. She therein writes herself Elianore Wyndham, widowe, late wife of Sir John Wyndham, Knt. and orders her body to be buried in the choir of the Austin Friers, in Nor

* Stow's Annals, p. 484.

1 General Hist. of Engl. Vol. I. p.630, 631. m Rymer's Fœdera, Vol. XIV. p. 518. n Vis de Com. Norf, G, I, in Offic. Armor.