Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1687)
Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet (c. 1688 – 17 June 1740), of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1710 to 1740. He served as Secretary at War in 1712 and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1713 during the reign of the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne (1702–1714). He was a Jacobite leader firmly opposed to the Hanoverian succession and was leader of the Tory opposition in the House of Commons during the reign of King George I (1714–1727) and during the early years of King George II (1727–1760).
His first wife was Lady Catherine Seymour, the younger of the two daughters of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (died 1748), and in her children by Wyndham, heiress to half of the vast estates, including Petworth House in Sussex and Egremont Castle in Cumberland, formerly held by the extinct Percy family, Earls of Northumberland. As a result of this complex inheritance his eldest son became the 2nd Earl of Egremont. Both his sons became earls and his daughter Elizabeth Wyndham was both the wife and mother of Prime Ministers, namely George Grenville and William Wyndham Grenville respectively.
He built the pier at Watchet harbour, near Orchard Wyndham.
1740Jun, 17
Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet
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Events on 1740
- 8Apr
Action of 8 April 1740
War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa, taken into service as HMS Princess. - 13Jun
Siege of St. Augustine (1740)
Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe begins an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine. - 11Jul
Jews
Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia. - 9Oct
1740 Batavia massacre
Dutch colonists and various slave groups begin massacring ethnic Chinese in Batavia, eventually killing 10,000 and leading to a two-year-long war throughout Java. - 20Oct
War of the Austrian Succession
Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.