William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 7th Earl FitzWilliam
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William ("Billy") Charles de Meuron Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 7th Earl FitzWilliam was a British aristocrat. He was born in Pointe de Meuron, Canada in 1872 and died at the family's seat Wentworth Woodhouse in 1943. He inherited the title Earl FitzWilliam in 1902 on the death of his grandfather William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 6th Earl FitzWilliam, as his father Viscount Milton had pre-deceased him.
He married Lady Maud Dundas, the daughter of Lawrence Dundas, 1st Marquess of Zetland. They had five children, four daughters and one son William Henry Lawrence Peter, who succeeded him as the 8th Earl FitzWilliam. On his succession to the Earldom, he became one of the richest men in Britain, inheriting an estate of significant land, industrial and mineral-right holdings worth £3.3 billion in 2007 terms.[1]
[edit] Controversy
The unusual circumstances of his birth in a remote part of Canada's frontier lands were later to cause major controversy within the family. The accusation was that he was a changeling: an unrelated baby inserted into the family line, to purge the bloodline of the epilepsy from which his ostensible forebears had suffered, and to provide that arm of the family with a male heir to inherit the Earldom. [2]
[edit] References
- ^ Bailey, C (2007). Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty, London: Penguin. ISBN 0-670-91542-2
- ^ ibid. pp14-35
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Albany Hawkes Charlesworth |
Member of Parliament for Wakefield 1895–1902 |
Succeeded by Edward Brotherton, 1st Baron Brotherton |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by William Wentworth-FitzWilliam |
Earl Fitzwilliam 1902–1943 |
Succeeded by Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam |
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