Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam

Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam. Portrait after Henry Howard, Fitzwilliam Museum

Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1 August 1745 – 4 February 1816) of Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland, and of FitzWilliam House in the parish of Richmond in Surrey, England, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland who was a benefactor and musical antiquarian who founded the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, with a bequest of his library and art collection. He was also a significant urban developer in the City of Dublin. He served as a Member of Parliament for Wilton in Wiltshire, England (not precluded by his Irish peerage), from 1790 until his death.

Origins Richard FitzWilliam was baptised on 22 August 1745. He was the eldest son and heir of Richard FitzWilliam, 6th Viscount FitzWilliam (1711–1776) by his wife Catherine Decker, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Matthew Decker, 1st Baronet (1679–1749) of Richmond, Surrey, England, a wealthy Dutch-born merchant, by his wife Henrietta Watkins.

Early origins The FitzWilliam family in Ireland appears to have been un-related to the prominent English FitzWilliam Family, Earls FitzWilliam, but is however said in some sources to have split off from the English FitzWilliams during the reign of King Henry II (1154–1189) when a member of that family accompanied the king's son Prince John to Ireland, following his appointment as Chief Governor of Ireland. The coats of arms of the two families, adopted at the start of the age of heraldry –1215, are however apparently identical: Lozengy argent and gules.

The family in Ireland are recorded in Dublin since the thirteenth century, and through shrewd business sense, and a series of advantageous marriages, they became the largest landowners in the region.

Career He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in England, and received an MA in 1764. He succeeded to his father's title in 1776 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. He was elected as the second Member of Parliament for Wilton in Wiltshire from 1790 to 1806.

Residences Although he made frequent visits to Mount Merrion House, south of Dublin, Richard FitzWilliam lived mainly at FitzWilliam House in the parish of Richmond, Surrey, to the west of London, where he formed his large art collection. He bequeathed it to his heir George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, who renamed it "Pembroke House" and the site is now represented by "Pembroke Villas" 5 pairs of large semi-detached Victorian villas on the northeastern side of Richmond Green. FitzWilliam had inherited the estate from his mother Catherine Decker. John Macky in his Journey through England (1722 to 1723), described the Decker estate at Richmond as follows: The relationship was brought to light when a collection of 299 of her letters sent to Fitzwilliam was found amongst his papers at Wilton House in Wiltshire, the seat of the Herbert family, Earls of Pembroke, descendants of his cousin and heir George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke. The letters make it clear that he fathered three illegitimate children by Zacharie, namely a daughter who died in infancy and two sons, Bily (whose existence is untraceable) and Fitz, who together with his own wife and children later moved to Richmond, Surrey, close to his natural father, who provided for him in his will. Zacharie's last letter is dated December 1790, during the French Revolution, and details of her future life are unknown.

Death and succession He died unmarried and without legitimate progeny on 4 February 1816, in Bond Street, Mayfair, London, having a few months previously fallen off a ladder in his library when he broke a knee. He was buried at St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, where survives his inscribed monument, now affixed to an outside wall. His titles devolved by law successively on his younger brothers, namely John FitzWilliam, 8th Viscount FitzWilliam (1752–1830) and then to Thomas FitzWilliam, 9th Viscount FitzWilliam (1755–1833), following whose death without issue in 1833 they became extinct.

He bequeathed his large Irish estates to George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke (1759-1827), his first cousin's son, and his art collection and library to the University of Cambridge, together with funds to house them, which became the Fitzwilliam Museum.