496 William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam aka Viscount Milton

Constituency  : South  West  Riding  1865-72

William  was  the  son  and  heir  of  Earl  Fitzwilliam. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge. He suffered  from  epilepsy. He  was  a  keen  explorer  and  went  on  an  expedition  into  the  wilder  parts  of Canada  in  1862. He  and  his  companion  Walter  Cheadle  published  an  account  of  their  travels  The North  West  Passage  By  Land . He  was  an  intelligent  , sociable  and  slightly  irritable  man.

William  was  one  of  the  youngest  MPs  elected  in  1865. He  was  a  backbench  Whig. Nevertheless he  intervened  frequently  where  Canada  was  discussed  and  was  concerned  that  concessions  adversely  affecting  it  might  be  made  during  the  Alabama  settlement  negotiations.   He  supported  abolition  of  church  rates, franchise  extension, admission  of  dissenters  to  universities  and  national  education.

William  resigned  his  seat  in  1872  to  travel  with  his  wife  in  America  and  preserve  his  health  abroad ; a  Tory  was  unopposed  in  the  by-election.

He  died  in   Rouen 1877  aged  37.