Thomas Peers Williams

Lt.-Col. Thomas Peers Williams (27 March 1795 – 8 September 1875) was MP for Great Marlow 1820-1868 and Father of the House of Commons December 1867 – 1868.^[1]

Peers Williams owned a house and estate called Craig-y-Don, near Beaumaris on Anglesey.^[2] He also had a residence at Temple House, Bisham, Berkshire, near Marlow. He was active in the Anglesey Hunt.

He first became an MP in 1820 for the constituency of Great Marlow (usually known as Marlow), and retired in 1868 after serving 48 years. In the last year, he was Father of the House of Commons from December 1867, succeeding Henry Cecil Lowther who had entered the House in 1812 and retired as MP in 1867.

Family background

His grandfather Thomas Williams (1737–1802) was a prominent attorney and active in the copper industry. He was the son of one Owen Williams of Cefn Coch in Llansadwrn, who owned also Tregarnedd and Treffos. About 1785, Williams became chief agent of copper mines owned partly by the earl of Uxbridge and partly by the family of Llysdulas; for a time both parties entrusted the management to Williams alone. He was closely associated with the Uxbridge family and helped several sons get elected to Parliament. In 1790, probably with help from the earl of Uxbridge, he was elected for Great Marlow, and held the seat till his death on 30 November 1802. (The seat was won in 1820 by his grandson and retained until 1868). Four generations from Thomas Williams of Llanidan to his great-grandson Lt-General Owen Lewis Cope Peers Williams (d. 1904) held the Great Marlow seat with intervals, from 1790 until 1885.

His son Owen Williams (1764–1832), also MP for Great Marlow,^[3] married Margaret Hughes, and had a son Thomas Peers Williams (the subject of this article). Three of the younger Thomas's daughters were married to members of the House of Lords, two others to sons of lords.

The elder Thomas's descendants gradually released their hold on the copper industry; they are now remembered as owners of the Craig-y-don estate and the founders of banks. Several were Members of Parliament.

Marriage and children

Madge, Nina and Blanche Peers-Williams

Peers Williams married 27 August 1835 Emily Bacon (d. 24 November 1876), daughter of Anthony Bushby Bacon of Benham Park and later of Elcot Park, both in Berkshire^[4]

Lt Col Thomas Peers Williams had at least two sons and several daughters who married into the peerage.

• Lieutenant General^[5]Owen Lewis Cope Williams (12 July 1836 Berkeley Square, London - 2 October 1904 Temple House, Bisham) of Craig-y-Don, Llandegfan, Anglesey (which he sold 1884),^[6] and Temple House, Bisham, Berkshire, sometime MP for Great Marlow 1880-1885. He married 1stly 18 August 1862 Fanny Florence Caulfeild (1838 Florence, Italy - 28 July 1876 Berwick House, Stable Yard, St. James's, London), younger daughter of St.George Francis Caulfeild and yr sister of Emily, Countess of Lonsdale by whom he had issue 1 son, Owen Gwynedd St. George Williams (1865-killed in 1903 Matabele War). He married 2ndly 1882 Nina Mary Adelaide Sinclair, daughter of Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair, Bt. Owen Williams had two sons who predeceased him, one of whom, Gwynedd, was killed in the Matabele War.^[7][8]
• Hwfa Williams (fl. 1914),^[9] who with his wife was prominent in the court of Edward VII. He was manager of the racing course Sandown Park, created about 120 years ago. His wife Florence Farquharson (affectionally remembered by Felix Yusupov)^[10] was a notable society hostess, and known as the best-dressed woman in England. They were both still alive in 1913, having married in 1881.^[11] In 1914, Williams was shot and badly wounded in the Pall Mall by an overworked telegraph clerk.^[12] His wife later authored It Was Such Good Fun, an account of Edwardian high society life.

Woroneicki coat of arms

• Gwenfra Williams - she had a daughter Julie who became Princess Woroneicki.^[13][14]
• Margaret Elizabeth Williams (24 November 1838 - 10 August 1909), married 12 August 1866 as his 2nd wife Sir Richard Mostyn Lewis Williams-Bulkeley, 11th Baronet (20 May 1833 – 28 January 1884) of Baron Hill, Anglesey; son of Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (1801–1875). Sir Richard and Madge Williams-Bulkeley had one daughter, Bridget Henrietta Frances, who married Benjamin Seymour Guinness, of Anglesey; they were parents of Thomas "Loel" Guinness.
• Emily Gwendoline Williams (July 1839-9 November 1932), known as Gwen, wife since 1863 of the 2nd Earl Cowley; she lived at Bodwen on the Isle of Wight overlooking Wotton Creek. She died at the age of 92 and had a daughter, Eva.

Edith Peers-Williams, later Countess of Aylesford

• Edith Peers-William (died 23 June 1897), who married 1871 Heneage Finch, 7th Earl of Aylesford (1849–1885), and had two daughters. The Earl and his wife separated in 1877, when she became involved with the married Marquess of Blandford, the future 8th Duke of Marlborough. In 1881, she bore a son, later known as Guy Bertrand (b. 4 November 1881 Paris, christened 1883). This son was baptized only in June 1883 St Mary-le-Strand, London as a son of the 7th Earl. His claims to the peerage (made by his mother Edith) were denied by the House of Lords in July 1885.^[15][16] Edith, Countess of Aylesford never married Lord Blandford who went on to marry an American heiress.^[17] The Earl of Aylesford attempted to divorce his wife, but was himself found guilty of adultery, and thus the decree nisi was cancelled.^[18]
• Blanche Mary Williams (1844-1 July 1914)^[19] married 15 January 1866 Lt Col Lord Charles John Innes-Ker (b. 31 Dec 1842; d. 19 Nov 1919), 2nd son of the 6th Duke of Roxburghe, and had issue
• Nina Janet Bronwen Williams (died 1939), known as Bronwen, married 1870 Hon Seton Montolieu Montgomerie (15 May 1846 – 26 Nov 1883) a younger son of the 13th Earl of Eglinton & Winton, and had issue three daughters; Alswen, Viva and May.

Evelyn, Duchess of Wellington.

• Evelyn Katrine Gwenfra Williams (1855-11 March 1939 West Green House, Hartley Wintney, Hants), who married firstly 7 March 1882 the 3rd Duke of Wellington (1846–1900) in 1882; they had no issue. She remarried in 1904 a Wellesley cousin Col. Hon. Frederick Arthur Wellesley (1844–1931), a son of the 1st Earl Cowley, as his third wife. Frederick Wellesley had previously married 1873 (div. 1882) Emma Loftus, granddaughter of the 2nd Marquess of Ely, and then married 1884 (div 1897) Catherine Candelon. He was also her brother-in-law, as the younger brother of the 2nd Earl Cowley, husband of her eldest sister.

Landownership

The grandson Thomas Peers Williams was a considerable landowner in Wales ,^[20] as recorded with 7,010 acres (28.4 km²) in 1873. He owned estates in Anglesey and Berkshire, and elsewhere.

Notes

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Biography of Thomas Williams, the grandfather, from the National Library of Wales. Accessed 24 February 2008.
• Viva Seton Montgomerie (1954). My Scrapbook of Memories. Original draft. Eglinton Archive.
• Leigh Rayment. Fathers of the House of Commons. Last updated 6 December 2006, and accessed 24 February 2008.
• Leigh Rayment. Members of Parliament for Great Marlow. Last updated 6 April 2007, and accessed 24 February 2008.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Peers Williams
• Ancestry and descendants of Thomas Peers Williams. Retrieved 27 November 2012.