Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet
Jonathon Richardson, National Portrait Gallery, London | |
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Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
In office 1713–1714 | |
Preceded by | Sir Robert Benson |
Succeeded by | Sir Richard Onslow |
Secretary at War | |
In office 1712–1713 | |
Preceded by | George Granville |
Succeeded by | Francis Gwyn |
Personal details | |
Born | 1688 |
Died | 17 June 1740 | (aged 51–52)
Spouse(s) | Lady Catherine Seymour Maria Catherina de Jonge |
Children | 5 |
Parent(s) | Sir Edward Wyndham, 2nd Baronet Katherine Leveson-Gower |
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet (c. 1688 – 17 June 1740), (1727–1760).
His first wife was Lady Catherine Seymour, the younger of the two daughters of
He built the pier at Watchet harbour, near Orchard Wyndham.[2]
Origins
He was the son and heir of
Career
He was educated at
He entered parliament as
Leader of Jacobites
At the start of the reign of the Hanoverian King George I (1714–1727), Bolingbroke fled into exile in France to join the court of the
Lord Stanhope brought down to the Commons a message from the King, desiring their consent for apprehending six members of their House on a charge of "being engaged in a design to support the intended invasion of the kingdom",[6] namely[7] Sir William Wyndham, Sir John Pakington, 4th Baronet, Edward Harvey (MP for Clitheroe),[8] Thomas Forster, John Anstis, and Corbet Kynaston. Consent was granted. Harvey and Anstis were in London, and were at once taken. Harvey stabbed himself in the breast in two or three places but his wounds were not mortal. Forster escaped and served as General of the Jacobite army in the 1715 Uprising.
Accordingly, Colonel John Huske of the "foot-guards" (i.e. Coldstream Guards), at about this time an aide-de-camp to William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, was sent to arrest Wyndham at home at Orchard Wyndham. The story is related in detail by the contemporary commentator Boyer (1716).[9] He was awoken at 5 in the morning and on searching his bedroom the colonel found incriminating papers in his waistcoat pocket, which listed his co-conspirators who planned to invade England and place the Old Pretender on the throne. The colonel had orders to "use him with decorum" and trusted Wyndham when he gave his word that at 7 am, having dressed and said goodbye to his pregnant wife, he would be dressed and ready to depart as the colonel's prisoner, and would even lay on his own coach and six horses for the purpose. Wyndham however escaped by the third unguarded door of his chamber and fled,[9] it is said by having jumped out of a window onto a waiting horse.[2] This caused the king to circulate a hand-bill headed "Proclamation for apprehending Sir William Wyndham, Baronett", dated 23 September 1715, which offered a huge reward of £1,000 for his capture.[a]
Seeing that his case was hopeless, having for a while disguised himself as a clergyman, he visited his father-in-law the Duke of Somerset at his seat of Syon House, near London. From there he went to London and surrendered himself to the Duke's son and his brother-in-law the Earl of Hertford, a captain in the King's Lifeguards, and was taken into custody[9] in the Tower of London. The 6th Duke of Somerset offered bail to the council for Wyndham's liberty, which was refused. It was soon after having made that offer that the king dismissed him from the high office of Master of the Horse.[5]
Under King
"Gumdahm" pseudonym
He appears as "Gumdahm" in the
Foundling Hospital
Despite these various enmities, Wyndham was a respected participant in public life in London. He was one of the founding governors of the
Marriages and children
Wyndham married twice. His first marriage was to Lady Catherine Seymour, the younger of the two daughters of
By his wife Lady Catherine Seymour he had two sons and three daughters including:
- special remainder, on the death of his uncle the 7th Duke of Somerset.[d]
- Percy Wyndham-O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond (c. 1713/23-1774), of Shortgrove, Essex, created in 1756 Earl of Thomond, having adopted the additional surname of O'Brien after having been chosen as heir to his estates by the childless Henry O'Brien, 8th Earl of Thomond (1688–1741), married to his aunt Lady Elizabeth Seymour, the eldest of the two daughters of the 6th Duke of Somerset. He died unmarried and without children when the earldom became extinct.
- William Wyndham Grenville, Prime Minister.
Sir William's second wife was Maria Catherina de Jonge, the widow of William Godolphin, Marquess of Blandford.[3]
Death and burial
He died at Wells, Somerset, on 17 June 1740, after having fallen from his horse ("white of course"[2]), whilst out hunting.[e]
Portraits
Portraits of Sir William Wyndham survive at Orchard Wyndham, Petworth House and other Wyndham family properties[14]
Notes
- ^ See image aside. A transcription is on the image page.
- ^ For example Sholmlng for Cholmondeley and Ptit for Pitt
- ^ Emeny, p.3, appears to have understood erroneously that "Gumdahm" was a character in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels
- Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet. Before the death of the 6th duke in 1748, it had thus become apparent that the dukedom of Somerset would devolve by law onto an extremely distant cousin andheir male, the 6th duke's 6th cousin Sir Edward Seymour, 6th Baronet (1695–1757) of Berry Pomeroy in Devon and of Maiden Bradleyin Wiltshire, who in fact represented the senior line of the Seymour family, descended from the first marriage of the 1st Duke, but who had been excluded from the direct succession to the dukedom and placed in remainder only, due to the suspected adultery of the 1st duke's first wife. Moreover, it was apparent that all the combined estates of the Seymours of Trowbridge and the incomparably greater inherited Percy estates wereSir Charles Wyndham, 4th Baronet(1710–1763). Smithson would receive Alnwick Castle and Syon House, while Wyndham would receive Egremont Castle and the 6th Duke's beloved Petworth. It was deemed appropriate and necessary by all parties concerned, including the King, that heirs to such families and estates as the Percys and Seymours should be elevated to the peerage. This was done in the following manner: Following the 6th duke's death in 1748, in 1749 King George II created four new titles for the 7th duke, each withspecial remainders in anticipation that he would die without having produced a male heir, which death in fact occurred the next year in 1750. He was created Baron Warkworth of Warkworth Castle and Earl of Northumberland, both with special remainder to Smithson; and was created at the same time Baron Cockermouth and Earl of Egremont, with special remainder to Wyndham.[13](It has always been customary on the creation of a greater peerage title to create at the same time a barony, to be used as a courtesy title for the eldest son).
- ^ Emeny, p.3, referring to the warning he had received as a young man in Rome "Beware of a white horse"
References
- ^ Stephen W. Baskerville, "Wyndham, Sir William, third baronet (c. 1688 – 1740)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006.
- ^ a b c d Emeny, Richard, A Description of Orchard Wyndham, 2000, p.3 (guide-booklet available at Orchard Wyndham)
- ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wyndham, Sir William". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 872–873.
- History of Parliament: House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
- ^ a b Cobbet, William, Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England, Volume 7, London, 1811, pp. 218–9.
- History of Parliament: House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
- ^ Arnold, Frederick H. (1879). "Notes and Queries. Proclamation against Sir W. Wyndham" (PDF). Sussex Archaeological Collections. 29: 235–236.
- History of Parliament: House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
- ^ a b c Boyer, Abel, Political State of Great Britain, Volume X, London, 1716, pp. 330–6
- ^ Graham, Harry, The Mother of Parliaments, Boston USA, 1911, pp. 279–80.
- ^ Tierney, M.A., History and Antiquities of Arundel, 1833, Chapter 6, p.565, note 4,
- History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
- ^ Debretts peerage, 1968, p.411, Baron Leconfield and Egremont
- ^ Art UK. "Sir William Wyndham (1687–1740), 3rd Bt, MP, on Horseback John Wootton (c.1682–1764) and Michael Dahl I (1656/1659–1743), National Trust, Petworth House" (image of portrait not currently available). Retrieved 4 December 2016.