February 4th, 1716-17, aged seventy-one. He was succeeded by his only surviving son,

JOHN, Second Earl Fitz-William, of Ireland, who was Member of Parliament for the city of Peterborough, and Custos Rofulorum for the said city and liberty; and died on August 28th, 1728. He married Anne, daughter and sole heir to John Stringer, of Sutton upon Lound, in the county of Nottingham, Esq. who died in 1726, and was buried at Marham, and by her had issue one son, William, born on January 15th, 1719, third Earl Fitz-William, and three daughters: Lady Anne, born on August 23d, 1722, married to Francis Godolphin, Esq. who succeeded to the barony of Godolphin; Lady Elizabeth, born on December 9th, 1724; and Lady Mary, born on February 4th, 1725, married to John Archer, of Welford, in the couty of Berks, Esq. she died 10th September, 1776, and was buried at Coopersale, in Essex.

WILLIAM, the third Earl Fitz-IVilliam, of Ireland, and FIRST EARL FITZ-WILLIAM, of England, being left a minor, was first of Eton school; and after having finished his travels abroad, was early distinguished by King George II. who on April 19th, 1742, created him a Peer of Great Britain, by the name, style, and title of LORD FITZ-WILLIAM, Baron of Milton in the county of Northampton. On September 6th, 1746, his Lordship was created a Viscount, and Earl of Great Britain, by the name, style, and titles of Viscount Milton, and EARL FITZ-WILLIAM of Norborough, in the county of Northampton; and appointed Custos Rotulorum of the city and liberty of Peterborough, on November 23d, 1741. At the funeral of Frederick Prince of Wales, his Lordship was one of the six Earls who supported the pall; and on June 24th, 1751, was constituted one of the Lords of his Majesty's bedchamber.

On June 228, 1744, his Lordship married the Lady Anne Wentworth, eldest daughter of Thomas Marquis of Rockingham; and by her (who died on May 4th, 1759, and was interred at Marham) he had issue six daughters; viz. Lady Anne, born March 24th, 1744; Charlotte, born on July 14th, 1746, and married to Thomas Dundas, Esq. eldest son of Sir Lawrence Dundas, of Ask-hall, in the said county, Bart. now Lord Dundas; Lady Frances, born October 22d, 1750; Lady Emilia-Maria, born December 12th, 1751, and died on August 8th, 1752;

• Coffin plate.

Lady Henrietta, born on March 21st, 1752, died unmarried; and Lady Dorothy, born on May 22d, 1754.

His Lordship had also two sons; viz.

1. William, now Earl Fitz-William. And,

2. The Hon. George Fitz-William, a posthumous child, died May 6th, 1786.

He departed this life on August 10th, 1756, and had sepulture with his ancestors at Marham. His Lordship was succeeded in dignity and estate by his said eldest son,

WILLIAM, the present and SECOND EARL FITZ-WILLIAM, of Great Britain, and fourth Earl of Ireland. His Lordship was born on May 30th, 1748, was married 11th July, 1770, to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby, daughter of William Earl of Besborough ; and is the twenty-second in paternal descent from Sir William Fitz Goderick, cousin to King Edward the Confessor. He has

issue an only child, viz.

Charles-William Viscount Milton, M. P. for the county of York, 1807, married, July 8th, 1806, Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Lord Dundas, by whom he has a daughter, born July 12th, 1807.

His Lordship succeeded in 1782, to the great fortune of his uncle, the Marquis of Rockingham; and has added the name of Wentworth to his own.

On July 11th, 1794, his Lordship was appointed Lord President of the Council, which he held till December 17th following. On January 4th, 1795, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which he only held till the 24th of March following.

In 18C6, he was again appointed Lord President of the Council, which he held till the fall of the Grenville administration in the following year.

Titles. William Fitz-William, Earl Fitz-William, Viscount Milton, and Lord Fitz-William, Baron of Milton, English honours: also Earl Fitz-William, Viscount Miltown, and Baron Fitz-William of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the kingdom of Ireland.

Creations. Baron Fitz-William of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the county of Donegall, by letters patent dated December 1st, 1620, 18th James I.; Viscount Miltown, of the the county of WestMeath, and Earl Fitz-William, of the county of Tyrone, by letters patent bearing date July 21st, 1716, 2d of George I. honours of the kingdom of Ireland.

Lord Fitz-William, Baron of Milton, by letters patent dated April 19th, 1742, 15th of George II.; Viscount Milton, and Earl Fitz-William of Norborough, all in the county of Northampton, by letters patent, dated September 6th, 1746, 20th of George II. English honours.

Arms. Lozengy, Argent and Gules.

Crest. In a ducal coronet, Or, a triple plume of ostrich feathers, Argent.

Supporters. Two savage men; wreathed about their heads and waists with oak leaves, and in their exterior hands, a tree eradicated, the top broken off, all proper.

Motto. APPETITUS RATIONI PAREAT.

Chief Seats. At Milton, in the county of Northampton, and Wentworth House, Yorkshire.

:

His Lordship derives his descent from AILWARDUS, an eminent Saxon, in the county of Norfolk, who soon after the Norman conquest, being possessed of lands in Wymondham (now wrote Wyndham), in that county, assumed his surname from thence and the said Ailwardus de Wymondham, with Richard, his son, Hugh, Pagan, and Edmund de Wymondham, were witnesses to a charter of William de Albini, butler to King Henry I. whereby he gave the church of Wymondham to the prior and convent of Wyndham.

RICHARD, son of Ailward, was father of RICHARD, who had issue JOHN de Wymondham, who by Margaret, daughter to Robert Churchon (or Curzon), had issue another JOHN of Whichlewood, and Crounthorpe, in the county of Norfolk; which were their principal seats for many generations, and are yet part of the possessions of a branch of the family.

In 44 Henry III. Thomas de Wymondham, Chanter of Litchfield, was a Baron of the Exchequer; and on April 4th, 1266, was constituted Treasurer of England; also the year after,d bearing the title of Chanter of the church of Litchfield, had his patent renewed.

In 52 Henry III. he had a grant of fifty marks per annum, for the better maintaining himself in the office of Treasurer, wherein he continued till 54 Henry III.!

In 10 Edward II. WILLIAM, son of RALPH de Wimondham,

a Monast. Ang. Vol. I. p. 37. and 339.

c Pat. 50 Henry III. m. 20.

e Liberate de Anno 52 Hen. m. 5.

VOL. IY.

bEx Stemmate.

d Pat. 31 Henry III. m. 6. f Dugdale's Chron. Series, p. 22. 2 D

was possessed of the manors of Crounthorpe and Whichlewood, wherein he was succeeded by his son, Sir JOHN, who by Catherine, daughter of Sir John de Redisham, of Redisham, Knt. had three sons; 1. Thomas. 2. Sir Richard de Wymondham, Knt. who, in 1356, had the King's protection, going into Brittany under his son Edward, Prince of Wales; and on September 19th, that year, was at the famous battle of Poictiers, wherein John the French King was taken prisoner. 3. Henry, Prior of Wyndham.

THOMAS de Wimondham, in the pedigree of the family, is said to be elder brother to Sir Richard, and to have married Margaret, daughter of Sir Walter Walcot, Knt. by whom he had issue JOHN de Wimondham, who had to wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Sharington, by whom he was father of JOHN Wimondham, who wedded Margaret, daughter of Sir John Segrave, Knt. and had issue John, his son and heir.

Which JOHN was of Crounthorpe, and of Felbrigge, in com. Norfolk; which last estate he purchased of the trustees of Sir John Felbrigge, Knight of the Garter. He was an eminent assertor of the House of Lancaster; and in 38 Henry VI. was joined in commission with others, to withstand the attempts of the Earl of Warwick: also, in the same year, h was one of the Knights for the county of Norfolk, in the parliament held at Coventry, wherein the Earl of Warwick, and other accomplices of the Duke of York, were attainted of high-treason. He had to wife Margery, daughter of Sir Robert Clifton, of Bokenham-castle, in com. Norfolk, and widow of Sir John Hastings. But Weever, in his Funeral Monuments, p. 801, says, she was the widow of Sir Edward Hastings, and was buried in the Augustine Friers in Norwich, in the year 1456. By the said John Wyndham, Esq. she had issue two sons; Sir John; and Sir Roger, who died without issue; Ela, married to Thomas Fastolfe, Esq. and Isabel, to Simon Wiseman, of Great Thornham, in Suffolk, Esq.

Sir JOHN Wyndham, in 1487, was in the battle of Stoke, near Newark, against the Earl of Lincoln, Lambert Simnel, and theïr adherents, and was knighted, immediately after the victory, for his valiant behaviour: but being afterwards engaged in the inte rests of the house of York, he was apprehended; and on May 2d, in 17 Henry VII. arraigned in Guildhall, London, where be

Rymer's Fœdera, Vol. V. p. 844.

h Pryn's Brevia. Parliam. p. 60. MS. Claudius C. 3. in Bibl. Cotton.