{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral and member of Parliament (1782–1857)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] | name = Lord William FitzRoy | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1782|6|1|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1857|5|13|1782|6|1|df=yes}} | birth_place = London, England | death_place = [[East Sheen]], London | burial_place = [[Old Mortlake Burial Ground]], [[Mortlake]], London | burial_label = | burial_coordinates = {{Coord|51|28|01.3|N|0|15|29.7|W|display=inline,title}} | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]<br />[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] | branch = [[Royal Navy]] | service_years = 1794–1811 | rank = [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] | service_number = | unit = | commands = {{Plainlist| * [[Spanish brig Infante (1787)|HMS ''Salamine'']] * {{HMS|Mutine|1797|6}} * {{HMS|Fairy|1778|6}} * {{HMS|Aeolus|1801|6}} * {{HMS|Macedonian||6}} }} | battles = {{tree list}} * [[French Revolutionary Wars]] ** [[Glorious First of June]] ** [[Battle of Groix]] ** [[Action of 27 June 1798]] ** [[Egyptian Campaign]] * [[Napoleonic Wars]] ** [[Battle of Cape Ortegal]] ** [[Invasion of Martinique (1809)|Invasion of Martinique]] {{tree list/end}} | awards = [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] (1815)<br/>[[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (1840) | relations = {{Plainlist| * [[Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton]] (father) * [[Elizabeth Wrottesley]] (mother) * [[George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton]] (half-brother) * [[Lord Charles FitzRoy (British Army officer)|Lord Charles FitzRoy]] (half-brother) * [[Lord John FitzRoy]] (brother) * [[Almeric FitzRoy|Sir Almeric FitzRoy]] (grandson) * [[Robert FitzRoy]] (nephew) * [[Charles Augustus FitzRoy]] (nephew) }} | other_work = }} Admiral '''Lord William FitzRoy''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB}} (1 June 1782 – 13 May 1857), was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served during the [[French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]], and also as a Member of Parliament.
==Biography==
===Family background=== FitzRoy was the third son of [[Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton]], by his second wife, [[Elizabeth Wrottesley]], the daughter of the Reverend [[Sir Richard Wrottesley, 7th Baronet|Sir Richard Wrottesley]], Bt.; he was also an uncle of Vice-Admiral [[Robert FitzRoy]].<ref name="obyrne">{{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Fitz-Roy, William |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}</ref>
===Naval career=== FitzRoy entered the Navy on 21 April 1794, on board the frigate {{HMS|Phaeton|1782|2}}, firstly serving under Captain [[William Bentinck (Royal Navy officer)|William Bentinck]], and following the battle of the [[Glorious First of June]], under Captain [[Robert Stopford (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Stopford]]. He then served abroad the [[74-gun]] {{HMS|Leviathan|1790|2}}, under [[Lord Hugh Seymour]], following him into the 80-gun {{HMS|Sans Pareil|1794|2}}, and seeing action at the [[Battle of Groix]] on 23 June 1795.
After serving in the frigates {{HMS|Niger|1759|2}}, Captain [[Edward Foote]]; {{HMS|Phoenix|1783|2}}, Captain [[Lawrence Halsted]]; and {{HMS|Cambrian|1797|2}}, Captain the Hon. [[Arthur Kaye Legge]], in February 1798 he rejoined Captain Foote on board {{HMS|Seahorse|1794|2}}, and was present at the [[action of 27 June 1798]] when ''Seahorse'' captured the {{Ship|French frigate|Sensible|1787|2|up=yes}} in the [[Strait of Sicily]].<ref name="obyrne"/>
FitzRoy was promoted to lieutenant on 13 May 1800 into the frigate {{HMS|Penelope|1798|2}}, Captain the Honourable [[Henry Blackwood]], in which he witnessed the [[Siege of Malta (1798–1800)|surrender of Malta]] in September, and took part in the [[Egyptian Campaign]] in mid-1801. On 31 October 1801, he was appointed acting-[[Commander (Royal Navy)|commander]] and captain of the sloop HMS ''Salamine'', and after confirmation on 7 January 1802 of his promotion, commanded {{HMS|Mutine|1797|2}}. He returned to England, and from 26 January 1803 commanded {{HMS|Fairy|1778|2}}. FitzRoy was promoted to [[post-captain]] on 3 March 1804, taking command of the frigate {{HMS|Aeolus|1801|2}}, and was present at the [[battle of Cape Ortegal]] on 4 November 1805, and at the [[Invasion of Martinique (1809)|invasion of Martinique]] in February 1809.<ref name="obyrne"/>
In June 1810 he commissioned the frigate {{HMS|Macedonian||2}} to serve on the Lisbon station. On 7 April 1811 FitzRoy was dismissed from the Navy after a court-martial found him guilty of "False Expense of Stores" and "Tyranny & Oppression". FitzRoy was charged with falsifying the reports of the ships stores and selling the surplus for his own profit. He also sentenced a seaman to 48 lashes for drunkenness, four times the legal maximum. Furthermore, when challenged, FitzRoy accused the [[Master (naval)|master]] of "contempt" and had him clapped in irons, also in breach of naval law.<ref name="obyrne"/><ref>{{cite thesis |type=MA |first=Samantha A. |last=Cavell |title=Playing at Command: Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the Royal Navy, 1793-1815 |publisher=Louisiana State University |year=2006 |url=http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03312006-200152/unrestricted/Cavell_thesis.pdf |accessdate=9 November 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114065936/http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03312006-200152/unrestricted/Cavell_thesis.pdf |archivedate=14 November 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Despite being declared incapable of ever serving again as an officer, FitzRoy was restored to his former rank and seniority by the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince Regent]] the following August,<ref name="GentMag">{{cite journal |title=Obituary :Admiral Lord William FitzRoy |journal=[[The Gentleman's Magazine]] |volume=202 |pages=730–731 |url=https://archive.org/stream/gentlemansmagaz25unkngoog#page/n736/mode/2up |year=1857 |accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref> though he received no further employment in the Navy. Nevertheless, he was made a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] on 4 June 1815, promoted to rear admiral on 10 January 1837, and made a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] on 4 July 1840.<ref name="obyrne"/>
===Political career=== Fitzroy was still on active service in ''Aeolus'' when he was elected as Member of Parliament for the family seat of [[Thetford (UK Parliament constituency)|Thetford]] in the [[1806 United Kingdom general election|1806 election]], and so did not make first appearance in the house until 1810, as a supporter of the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]]. He was replaced as MP by his brother [[Lord John FitzRoy]] at the [[1812 United Kingdom general election|1812 election]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/fitzroy-william-1782-1857 |title=Fitzroy, Lord William (1782-1857) |first=M. G. |last=Hinton |work=History of Parliament Online |year=2013 |accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref>
===Personal life=== On 9 August 1816 he married Georgiana Raikes, the second daughter of [[Thomas Raikes]] and Charlotte, granddaughter of [[Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham|2nd Earl of Nottingham]]. They had a son and three daughters, including:<ref name="obyrne"/> *Francis Horatio FitzRoy (6 June 1823 – 20 March 1900),<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Deaths |date=22 March 1900 |page=1 |issue=36096}}</ref> who married in 1849 Honourable Gertrude Duncombe (1827–1916), daughter of [[William Duncombe, 2nd Baron Feversham]], and left three daughters and two sons. [[Almeric FitzRoy|Sir Almeric William FitzRoy]] (1851–1935) was their son. *Harriet Elizabeth FitzRoy (d.14 July 1875), who married in 1862 Colonel Michael Dawes *Elizabeth Georgiana FitzRoy (d. 5 February 1868)
Admiral FitzRoy died at [[East Sheen]], London, on 13 May 1857,<ref name="GentMag"/> and is buried in [[Old Mortlake Burial Ground]], [[Mortlake]], London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/local_history_and_heritage/people_of_historical_note_buried_in_the_borough_a_to_l.htm |title=People of historical note buried in the borough (A to L) |website=London Borough of Richmond upon Thames |year=2016 |accessdate=12 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222094512/http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/local_history_and_heritage/people_of_historical_note_buried_in_the_borough_a_to_l.htm |archivedate=22 December 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
==See also== * {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Fitz-Roy, William |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzroy, William}} [[Category:1782 births]] [[Category:1857 deaths]] [[Category:FitzRoy family|William]] [[Category:Younger sons of dukes]] [[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]] [[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]] [[Category:Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies]] [[Category:Royal Navy rear admirals]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:UK MPs 1806–1807]] [[Category:UK MPs 1807–1812]] [[Category:Children of Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton|William]]