William Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton

Garter stall plate of the 5th Marquess of Northampton KG, as displayed in St. George's Chapel. William George Spencer Scott Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton, (23 April 1851 – 15 June 1913), known as Lord William Compton from 1877 to 1887 and as Earl Compton from 1887 to 1897, was a British peer and Liberal politician.

Early life Northampton was born at Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, the second son of Admiral the 4th Marquess of Northampton, and his wife Eliza (née Elliot).

His paternal grandparents were Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton and the former Margaret Douglas-Maclean-Clephane. His maternal grandparents were Adm. the Hon. Sir George Elliot (second son of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto) and Eliza Cecilia Ness (youngest daughter of James Ness of Osgodby). He was J.P. for the counties of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire.

Northampton was President of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1902, and since this was a coronation year he presented the Coronation Bible to King Edward VII. From 1908 he was Honorary Colonel of the London Heavy Brigade of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

William Bingham Compton, 6th Marquess of Northampton (1885–1978), who married Lady Emma Margery Thynne, second daughter of Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath in 1921. They divorced in 1942 and he married Virginia Lucie Heaton, third daughter of Capt. David Rimington Heaton in 1942. They divorced in 1958 and he married Elspeth Grace Roper-Curzon (former wife of Christopher Roper-Curzon, 19th Baron Teynham), eldest daughter of William Ingham Whitaker of Pylewell Park, in 1958. Lord Northampton survived her by eleven years and died, suddenly, at Acqui, Piedmont, Italy, in June 1913, aged 62. He was buried at Castle Ashby, and succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, William.