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William Windham
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William Windham
William Windham PC PC (Ire) (14 May [O.S. 3 May] 1750 – 4 June 1810) was a British Whig politician. Elected to Parliament in 1784, Windham was attached to the remnants of the Rockinghamite faction of Whigs, whose members included his friends Charles James Fox and Edmund Burke. Windham soon became noted for his oratory in the House of Commons.
An early supporter of the French Revolution, by late 1791 he shared Burke's hostility to it and became a leading anti-Jacobin. After war was declared on France in early 1793, he broke with the anti-war, pro-Revolution Foxite Whigs to form a small 'Third Party' which was independent of Pitt's government but supportive of the war effort. Like Burke, Windham supported the war as an ideological crusade against Jacobinism and was an enthusiastic supporter of the French émigrés and a Bourbon restoration. In July 1794 he finally joined Pitt's government as Secretary at War but did not control war policy. He discovered that Pitt did not share his enthusiasm for the Bourbon cause and he argued in Cabinet against a peace agreement with the French Republic.
In February 1801 Windham followed Pitt in resigning from the government over the King's rejection of Catholic Emancipation. He was the leading opponent of the new prime minister Henry Addington's Treaty of Amiens peace with France in late 1801 and early 1802. In the Ministry of All the Talents in 1806–7, Windham became Secretary for War and the Colonies, having reconciled with the Foxites. Together with them he resigned from the government, again over Catholic Emancipation. He spent the rest of his life in opposition, dying in 1810.
Windham was born in 1750 at No. 6 Golden Square, Soho, London, the son and heir of William Windham, Sr. of Felbrigg Hall, whose ancestors had long been seated in Norfolk, by his second wife, Sarah Lukin. He was a great-great-grandson of Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, who in 1599 had inherited the Felbrigg estate, the seat of the senior line of the family, from his childless relative Thomas Wyndham.
Windham was educated at Eton College from 1757 to 1766, where he was a contemporary of Charles James Fox and where he was noted for the ease with which he acquired knowledge, and for his success in sports. He became known as "Fighting Windham" as he was good with his fists. His father died in 1761 and his guardians became Benjamin Stillingfleet, Dr. Dampier, David Garrick and a certain Mr. Price of Hereford. At the age of 16 Windham was removed from Eton for fighting.
Windham attended the University of Glasgow in 1766 and studied under Dr. Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy, and Robert Simson the mathematician. Windham wrote three unpublished theses on mathematics. He then attended University College, Oxford, from 1767 to 1771 as a gentleman-commoner, where he was tutored by Robert Chambers. According to Edmond Malone, Windham "was highly distinguished for his application to various studies, for his love of enterprise, for that frank and graceful address, and that honourable deportment, which gave a lustre to his character though every period of his life". He took his BA degree in 1771, his MA on 7 October 1782, and was awarded a DCL at the Duke of Portland's installation as chancellor. He made a tour of Norway in 1773 and visited Switzerland and Italy between 1778 and 1780.
Windham was a Christian. Before he took a balloon ride, he wrote to George James Cholmondeley on 4 May 1785 a letter that was only to be delivered if he did not survive the trip. It contained Windham's confession of faith:
The best, the greatest, the most solemn office I can render in a letter of this sort, is to extort you to a steady contemplation of divine truths, and a sincere endeavour to confirm in yourself that faith, which after various fluctuations I believe to be the true one, and which, independent of evidence, is supported by too great authorities ever to be rejected with confidence. Whatever may be the diversity of opinion as to the particular nature, I believe Christ to be a person divinely commissioned, and that faith in him affords the fairest hope of propitiating the great author of the world. Cultivate in your mind this persuasion and dwell upon it till it grows into a principle of action. May it avail both to the purposes of final salvation.
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William Windham
William Windham PC PC (Ire) (14 May [O.S. 3 May] 1750 – 4 June 1810) was a British Whig politician. Elected to Parliament in 1784, Windham was attached to the remnants of the Rockinghamite faction of Whigs, whose members included his friends Charles James Fox and Edmund Burke. Windham soon became noted for his oratory in the House of Commons.
An early supporter of the French Revolution, by late 1791 he shared Burke's hostility to it and became a leading anti-Jacobin. After war was declared on France in early 1793, he broke with the anti-war, pro-Revolution Foxite Whigs to form a small 'Third Party' which was independent of Pitt's government but supportive of the war effort. Like Burke, Windham supported the war as an ideological crusade against Jacobinism and was an enthusiastic supporter of the French émigrés and a Bourbon restoration. In July 1794 he finally joined Pitt's government as Secretary at War but did not control war policy. He discovered that Pitt did not share his enthusiasm for the Bourbon cause and he argued in Cabinet against a peace agreement with the French Republic.
In February 1801 Windham followed Pitt in resigning from the government over the King's rejection of Catholic Emancipation. He was the leading opponent of the new prime minister Henry Addington's Treaty of Amiens peace with France in late 1801 and early 1802. In the Ministry of All the Talents in 1806–7, Windham became Secretary for War and the Colonies, having reconciled with the Foxites. Together with them he resigned from the government, again over Catholic Emancipation. He spent the rest of his life in opposition, dying in 1810.
Windham was born in 1750 at No. 6 Golden Square, Soho, London, the son and heir of William Windham, Sr. of Felbrigg Hall, whose ancestors had long been seated in Norfolk, by his second wife, Sarah Lukin. He was a great-great-grandson of Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, who in 1599 had inherited the Felbrigg estate, the seat of the senior line of the family, from his childless relative Thomas Wyndham.
Windham was educated at Eton College from 1757 to 1766, where he was a contemporary of Charles James Fox and where he was noted for the ease with which he acquired knowledge, and for his success in sports. He became known as "Fighting Windham" as he was good with his fists. His father died in 1761 and his guardians became Benjamin Stillingfleet, Dr. Dampier, David Garrick and a certain Mr. Price of Hereford. At the age of 16 Windham was removed from Eton for fighting.
Windham attended the University of Glasgow in 1766 and studied under Dr. Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy, and Robert Simson the mathematician. Windham wrote three unpublished theses on mathematics. He then attended University College, Oxford, from 1767 to 1771 as a gentleman-commoner, where he was tutored by Robert Chambers. According to Edmond Malone, Windham "was highly distinguished for his application to various studies, for his love of enterprise, for that frank and graceful address, and that honourable deportment, which gave a lustre to his character though every period of his life". He took his BA degree in 1771, his MA on 7 October 1782, and was awarded a DCL at the Duke of Portland's installation as chancellor. He made a tour of Norway in 1773 and visited Switzerland and Italy between 1778 and 1780.
Windham was a Christian. Before he took a balloon ride, he wrote to George James Cholmondeley on 4 May 1785 a letter that was only to be delivered if he did not survive the trip. It contained Windham's confession of faith:
The best, the greatest, the most solemn office I can render in a letter of this sort, is to extort you to a steady contemplation of divine truths, and a sincere endeavour to confirm in yourself that faith, which after various fluctuations I believe to be the true one, and which, independent of evidence, is supported by too great authorities ever to be rejected with confidence. Whatever may be the diversity of opinion as to the particular nature, I believe Christ to be a person divinely commissioned, and that faith in him affords the fairest hope of propitiating the great author of the world. Cultivate in your mind this persuasion and dwell upon it till it grows into a principle of action. May it avail both to the purposes of final salvation.
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