Lord William FitzRoy

Admiral Lord William FitzRoy was born on 1 June 1782 and died on 13 May 1857. He was a British Royal Navy officer and also served as a Member of Parliament. FitzRoy was the third son of Augustus FitzRoy, the 3rd Duke of Grafton, and Elizabeth Wrottesley, daughter of Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, Bt. He was an uncle of Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy.

FitzRoy entered the Royal Navy on 21 April 1794 aboard the frigate Phaeton. His early service included assignments under Captain William Bentinck and Captain Robert Stopford following the Battle of the Glorious First of June. He subsequently served aboard the 74-gun Leviathan under Lord Hugh Seymour and later in the 80-gun Sans Pareil, participating in the Battle of Groix on 23 June 1795. His service record includes assignments aboard the frigates Niger, Phoenix, and Cambrian. In February 1798, FitzRoy rejoined Captain Edward Foote aboard Seahorse and participated in the action of 27 June 1798, during which Seahorse captured the Sensible in the Strait of Sicily.

He was promoted to lieutenant on 13 May 1800, initially serving aboard the frigate Penelope, where he witnessed the surrender of Malta in September 1800 and took part in the Egyptian Campaign of 1801. On 31 October 1801, FitzRoy was appointed acting-commander and captain of the sloop HMS Salamine, and he was confirmed in this rank on 7 January 1802. He commanded the vessel Mutine afterward. Returning to England, he commanded the ship Fairy from 26 January 1803.

FitzRoy was promoted to post-captain on 3 March 1804 and took command of the frigate Aeolus. He participated in the Battle of Cape Ortegal on 4 November 1805 and in the British invasion of Martinique in February 1809. In June 1810, he commissioned the frigate Macedonian for service on the Lisbon station.

On 7 April 1811, FitzRoy was court-martialed and dismissed from the Navy after being found guilty of "False Expense of Stores" and "Tyranny & Oppression." The court-martial verdict included falsifying reports of ship stores and selling surplus supplies for personal profit. Additionally, FitzRoy sentenced a seaman to 48 lashes for drunkenness, a punishment four times the legal maximum, and, when challenged, accused the ship’s master of contempt and had him confined in irons, actions contravening naval law. Despite being declared permanently incapable of serving as an officer, he was restored to his former rank and seniority by the Prince Regent in August 1811. Nonetheless, he did not receive further employment at sea.

FitzRoy was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1815, promoted to rear admiral on 10 January 1837, and was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 4 July 1840.

In addition to his naval career, FitzRoy served as a Member of Parliament for Thetford, a family seat, elected in 1806. He began serving in the House of Commons in 1810 as a supporter of the Whigs but was replaced by his brother Lord John FitzRoy in the 1812 election.

FitzRoy married Georgiana Raikes on 9 August 1816. She was the second daughter of Thomas Raikes and Charlotte, granddaughter of the 2nd Earl of Nottingham. They had one son and three daughters. Their children included Francis Horatio FitzRoy (born 6 June 1823, died 20 March 1900), who married Honourable Gertrude Duncombe in 1849 and had children; Sir Almeric William FitzRoy (1851–1935); Harriet Elizabeth FitzRoy (who married Colonel Michael Dawes); and Elizabeth Georgiana FitzRoy (who died 5 February 1868).

William FitzRoy died at East Sheen, London, and was buried in Old Mortlake Burial Ground, Mortlake.