William Thynne (politician)

Lord William Thynne (born October 17, 1803 , † January 30, 1890 in Ditton Park , Slough ) was a British politician and officer who was elected twice as a member of the House of Commons .

William Thynne was the fourth son of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath and Isabella Elizabeth Byng, daughter of George Byng, 4th Viscount Torrington . As the younger son of the Marquess of Bath , Thynne entered the British Army as an ensign in 1820 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1822 and captain in 1825. After his brother Henry Thynne embarked on a multi-year journey as a naval officer in 1825, he was elected as his successor in 1826 as MP for Weobley in Hertfordshire . Weobley was considered a rotten borough as the constituency was completely controlled by the Thynne family. As a member of parliament, Thynne became an officer on half pay . In the House of Commons, Thynne was considered a supporter of the Conservative Prime Minister Wellington , but rarely attended parliamentary sessions. Speeches by him have not survived. As a member of a traditional Anglican family, he was an opponent of Catholic emancipation until the Wellington government supported the law on March 30, 1829. In the general election in July 1830, he was re-elected as a member of Parliament along with his brother Henry . He was opposed to a constituency reform that was supposed to dissolve the Weobley constituency. In the April 1831 election he did not run again, his brother Edward was elected in his place .

Thynne tried in vain to reconcile his brother Edward with his wife Elizabeth Mellish. He remained a soldier on half pay, was promoted to major in August 1830 and to lieutenant colonel in 1838. In 1844 he took his leave. He married Belinda Brummel on December 19, 1861, a daughter of the lawyer George Archer Brummel of Morpeth , Northumberland . He lived in London with his wife until she died in 1869. The marriage had remained childless. After the death of his wife he lived with his widowed sister Charlotte Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch , in Ditton Park near Slough , where his brother Charles, who had converted to Catholicism, also lived. Disabled after a stroke, he died in 1890 and was buried in Datchet churchyard. He bequeathed most of his property to his house servant, Samuel MacLean.

Web links

• Margaret Escott: THYNNE, Lord William (1803-1890), of Longleat, Wilts. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1820–1832)