William Wainwright secretary to Earl Fitzwilliam?

[Marmalady]

Back in about 1900, my gr-grandfsther drew up a family tree, after a query from one of his sons. As he was quickly jotting down names & events from the previous 100+ years there are inevitably mistakes (for instance, he left out a whole generation!) but in general outline his tree has been a good basis for further investigation.

Next to one name, William George Wainwright he has noted:
"Died bachelor. Secretary to Earl Fitzwilliam. Managed estates in Ireland during Irish Rebellion"

Now this particular William was born 1805 (some years after the Irish rebellion of the 1790's) and did marry a widow, but had no children of his own. His father was John - the missing generation on the original tree.

In the Gales newspaper index I have found an obituary that gives a tantalising glimpse that there might be some truth in the notation, albeit for a different William of a couple of generations earlier.
In the Hull Packet for  Tues 20th July 1813 there is an obit for a William Wainwright, who died age 74. Other words in the "keywords in context" snippet are Irish estates, Marquis of Rockingham, Earl..

I have checked the West Riding records on Ancestry and found a William Wainwright born in 1739 in Royston who had a brother Thomas born 1727, which matches the estimated birthdate of the Thomas who is my earliest proven ancestor.


So, my question is: how can i find out more about the secretary to Earl Fitzwilliam?

I don't know if my local library service (Derbyshire) has a subscription to Gales -- will be paying them a visit to ask tomorrow!

[mosiefish]

If you have your library card handy you can start searching the newspapers now:

http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/online_information/default.asp

Scroll down to Infotrac Newspapers.

Mo

[Marmalady]

Thats great thanks!

*off to find my library card*

 

[Marmalady]

Unfortunately the full obituary is rather brief:

"After a long indispostion, on the 5th instant, at Malton in Ireland, Wm Wainwright Esq aged 74, a man who by merit obtained the agency over the immense estates belonging to that highly respected character the Marquis of Rockingham, in this kingdom, and in which capacity he has been retained by Earl Fitzwilliam to the time of his death."

So no clue as to his family and whether he could be an ancestral  connection of mine.

[dave the tyke]

Hi Marmalady,
Perhaps this is an appropriate time to do a search of wills ?

Dave

Oooo just noticed, I feel quite aristocratic myself, following this post 

[woodydog]

A search of access to archives comes up with some documents in the Sheffield archives which include some on "The death of William Wainwright"Ref WWM/F/92 n.d. along with lots of other letters between WW and the Earl... Hope that helps...
Woodydog

[Marmalady]

Thanks -- yes I found those late last night

The vast majority of them are letters on estate business from WIlliam to the Earl

But there is an entry for an epitaph for William and some Inventories etc after his death.

On my to-do list for today is to email the Archives about getting some copies

A question on the Irish board has elicited the info that Carnew church in Co Wicklow has a marble memorial to William, but i havent managed to find a picture of it yet