William Wolryche-Whitmore

William Wolryche-Whitmore (16 September 1787 – 11 August 1858) was a Shropshire landowner and British Whig politician. He held a seat in the House of Commons from 1820 to 1835, representing first Bridgnorth and later Wolverhampton.

William Wolryche-Whitmore was originally plain William Whitmore. His father was also called William Whitmore, a former-sailor and businessman from Southampton, who inherited Dudmaston Hall, at Quatt in Shropshire, from a relative, who was distantly related to the widow of the penultimate Wolryche baronet. His mother was Frances Lyster, who played an important part in reshaping the grounds of Dudmaston. She died in 1792, and the elder William Whitmore remarried Marie Louisa Thomas: from this later marriage are derived the Whitmore Jones family of Chastleton House.

In 1810 he married Lady Lucy Bridgeman, daughter of the Earl of Bradford. The couple set out on a Grand Tour, which included a visit to Napoleon Bonaparte, exiled on Elba. On the death of his father in 1815, William inherited Dudmaston. At this point, he added Wolryche, the name of the historic owners of Dudmaston, to his own surname to produce the double-barrelled name by which he is generally known. Five years later he took up the family's parliamentary seat.

He was elected at the 1820 general election as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bridgnorth in Shropshire, and was re-elected at the next three general elections, holding the seat until 1832. Bridgnorth was a pocket borough, controlled by the owners of the Dudmaston estate and, despite its small electorate and modest importance, had two seats in Parliament. Hitherto, the majority of its members had supported the Tory governments of the period: Isaac Hawkins Browne (coalowner), who had resigned in 1812, had been opposed to parliamentary reform and Catholic Emancipation, and was associated with the pro-slavery West Indies lobby. Wolryche-Whitmore took a diametrically opposed stance.

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