William Wickham (1761–1840)
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The Right Honourable William Wickham PC, PC (Ire) |
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|---|---|
| Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department | |
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In office 1798–1801 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | Hon. William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | Charles Greville |
| Succeeded by | Edward Finch Hatton |
| Chief Secretary for Ireland | |
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In office 1802–1804 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | Henry Addington |
| Preceded by | Charles Abbot |
| Succeeded by | Sir Evan Nepean, Bt |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 November 1761 Cottingley |
| Died | 22 October 1840 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
William Wickham (11 November 1761 – 22 October 1840) was a British civil servant and politician who was a founder of British foreign secret service activities during the French Revolution, and was later a Privy Counsellor and Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Born into wealth in Cottingley, Yorkshire, England, he was the eldest son of Henry Wickham, Esq., of Cottingley, Lieutenant-Colonel in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, and a justice of the peace for the West Riding. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of William Lamplugh, vicar of Cottingley. Wickham attended Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was a protegé of Cyril Jackson. He took a law degree in Geneva, Switzerland in 1786. He was also called to the bar in England, at Lincoln's Inn.
In 1788 he married Eleonora Madeleine Bertrand (d. 1836), whose father was professor of mathematics in the University of Geneva. They had one son, Henry Lewis Wickham (b. 1789); Henry's son, William, was a member of parliament for Petersfield.
From 1790 to 1794, Wickham was a commissioner of bankrupts. Following the passing of the Middlesex Justices Act of 1792, Wickham was appointed in 1793 as one of the new stipendiary magistrates. In this position he began to undertake secret work for the Government, at the behest of Lord Grenville, the then Foreign Secretary. This was at a time when the French Revolution was causing great concern to the British political establishment, and powers were given to magistrates under the 1793 Aliens Act. An early action of Wickham's in his new post was the infiltration of the radical London Corresponding Society, leading to the arrest and trial for treason of its leaders. Despite the apparent failure of his spies to uncover anything incriminating amidst the society's meetings and papers or to entrap the members in sedition, treason, or other crimes, Wickham was made 'superintendent of aliens' in 1794 by the then Home Secretary, the Duke of Portland.
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