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William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam

The Right Honourable
The Earl Fitzwilliam
PC
2ndEarlFitzwilliam.jpg
Fitzwilliam as painted by William Owen, 1817
Earl Fitzwilliam
In office
10 August 1756 – 8 February 1833
Preceded by William Fitzwilliam
Succeeded by Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office
13 December 1794 – 13 March 1795
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by The Earl of Westmorland
Succeeded by The Earl Camden
Lord President of the Council
In office
1 July – 17 December 1794
Monarch George III
Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by The Earl Camden
Succeeded by The Earl of Mansfield
In office
19 February – 8 October 1806
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Lord Grenville
Preceded by The Earl Camden
Succeeded by Viscount Sidmouth
Personal details
Born (1748-05-30)30 May 1748
Died 8 February 1833(1833-02-08) (aged 84)
Nationality British
Political party Whig
Spouse(s) (1) Lady Charlotte Ponsonby
(c. 1750–1822)
(2) Hon. Louisa Molesworth
(1749–1824)

William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam PC (30 May 1748 – 8 February 1833), styled Viscount Milton until 1756, was a British Whig statesman of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1782 he inherited the estates of his uncle Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, making him one of the richest people in Britain. He played a leading part in Whig politics until the 1820s.

Fitzwilliam was the son of William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam, by his wife Lady Anne, daughter of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham. Prime Minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham was his maternal uncle. He inherited the two earldoms of Fitzwilliam (in the Peerages of Great Britain and of Ireland) in 1756 at the age of eight on the death of his father. He was educated at Eton, where he became friends with Charles James Fox and Lord Morpeth. His tutor there, Edward Young, wrote to Lady Fitzwilliam on 25 July 1763 of Fitzwilliam's "exceeding good understanding, and...most amiable disposition and temper".Lord Carlisle, another school friend, penned a poem about his friends:

Say, will Fitzwilliam ever want a heart,
Cheerful his ready blessings to impart?
Will not another's woe his bosom share,
The widow's sorrow and the orphan's prayer?
Who aids the old, who soothes the mother's cry,
Who feeds the hungry, who assists the lame?
All, all re-echo with Fitzwilliam's name.
Thou know'st I hate to flatter, yet in thee
No fault, my friend, no single speck I see.


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