WYNDHAM, SIR WILLIAM, BART. (1687-174o), Eng lish politician, was the only son of Sir Edward Wyndham, Bart., and a grandson of William Wyndham (d. 1683) of Orchard Wyndham, Somerset, who was created a baronet in 1661. Edu cated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, he entered parliament in 1710 and became secretary-at-war in the Tory ministry in 1712 and chancellor of the exchequer in 1713. He was closely asso ciated with Lord Bolingbroke, and he was privy to the attempts made to bring about a Jacobite restoration on the death of Queen Anne; when these failed he was dismissed from office. In 1715 the failure of a Jacobite movement led to his imprisonment, but he was soon set at liberty. Under George I. Wyndham was the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, fighting for his High Church and Tory principles against Sir Robert Walpole. He was in constant communication with the exiled Bolingbroke, and after 1723 the two were actively associated in abortive plans for the overthrow of Walpole. He died at Wells on June 17, 174o. Wyndham's first wife was Catherine, daughter of Charles Sey mour, 6th duke of Somerset. By her he had two sons, Charles, who became 2nd earl of Egremont in 1750, and Percy, who took the name of and was created earl of Thomond in 1756.
The Wyndham Family.—Sir John Wyndham, a Norfolk man, was of ter the battle of Stoke in 1487 and beheaded for high treason on May 2, 1502. He married Margaret, daughter of John Howard, duke of Norfolk, and his son Sir Thomas Wynd ham (d. 1521), of Felbrigg, Norfolk, was vice-admiral of England under Henry VIII. By his first wife Sir Thomas was the father
of Sir John Wyndham, who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Sydenham of Orchard, Somerset, and founded the Somerset branch of the family, and also of Sir Edmund Wyndham of Fel brigg, who was sheriff of Norfolk at the time of Robert rebellion. By his second wife Sir Thomas was the father of the seaman Thomas Wyndham (c. an account of whose voyage to Morocco in 1552 is printed in Voyages.
The Wyndhams are also connected through a female line with the family of Wyndham-Quin, which holds the earldom of Dun raven. Valentine Richard Quin of Adare, county Limerick, was created Baron Adare on the union with England in 180o, and earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl in 1822. His son, the 2nd earl married Caroline (d. 1870), daughter and heiress of Thomas Wyndham of Dunraven castle, Glamorgan shire, and took the name of Wyndham-Quin. Their son, the 3rd earl (1812-71), who was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Kenry in 1866, was a well-known man of science, espe cially interested in archaeology and in Celtic antiquities. His son, Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin the 4th earl, served in the Abyssinian campaign and the South African War. He was under-secretary for the Colonies in 1885-87, and was a great figure in Irish politics, as chairman of the Irish Land Conference (1902) and president of the Irish Reform Associa tion ; he was also prominent as a yachtsman, competing for the cup (see YACHTING) in 1893 and 1895. He died on June 14, 1926.