William Keppel Barrington, 6th Viscount Barrington (6 October 1793 – 9 February 1867), styled The Honourable from 1814 until 1829, was a British businessman and politician.

Early life

Born in London on 6 October 1793, Barrington was the eldest son of fifteen children born to the Reverend

George Barrington, 5th Viscount Barrington George Barrington, 5th Viscount Barrington (16 July 1761 – 4 March 1829), was a British minister and aristocrat. Early life Barrington was born on 16 July 1761. He was the third son of Maj. Gen. Hon. John Barrington, who died in Paris on 2 Ap ...

, by his wife Elizabeth, second daughter of Robert Adair and Lady Caroline Keppel (the second daughter of Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle), a descendant of

Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, (29 July 167227 May 1723), of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was the youngest of the seven illegitimate sons of King Charles II, and was that king's only son by his French-bo ...

. Like his father, he was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

, where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1814.

Career

Barrington succeeded in the viscountcy on the death of his father in 1829. However, as this was a title in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

, it did not entitle him to a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

. In 1837 he was instead elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

as one of three representatives for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, a seat he held until 1857. He was also Chairman of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

between 1856 and 1857.

Personal life

On 21 April 1823, Lord Barrington married the Hon. Jane Elizabeth Liddell (1804–1883), fourth daughter of Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth and the former Maria Susannah Simpson (daughter and co-heiress of John Simpson of Bradley Hall and Lady Anne Lyon, the second daughter of Thomas Lyon, 8th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne). His wife served as a

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

to the Dowager

Queen Adelaide , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy ...

. They lived at Beckett Hall, Shrivenham, Berkshire which he had built in 1830–1831. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters: * George William Barrington, 7th Viscount Barrington (1824–1886), who married Isabel Elizabeth Morritt, daughter and heiress of John Morritt of Rokeby Park. * Percy Barrington, 8th Viscount Barrington (1825–1901), who married Louisa Higgins, daughter of Tully Higgins. * Hon. Charlotte Maria Barrington (–1854), who married her third cousin Thomas Lyon-Bowes, 12th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, in 1850. * Hon. Mary Frances Barrington (d. 1913), who married Alfred Urban Sartoris of Abbotswood House in

Lower Swell Lower Swell is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Swell, in the Cotswold district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is located at the River Dikler, one mile from Stow-on-the-Wold. The village has "finest countr ...

, in 1856. * Hon. Caroline Susan Augusta Barrington (1834–1915), who married

James Agar, 3rd Earl of Normanton James Charles Herbert Welbore Ellis Agar, 3rd Earl of Normanton DL (17 September 1818 – 19 December 1896), styled Viscount Somerton from birth until 1868, was a Conservative and later Peelite member of parliament in the United Kingdom of Great ...

in 1856. * Hon. Augusta Anne Barrington (1836–1915), who married the Rt. Hon. and Most Rev.

William Dalrymple Maclagan William Dalrymple Maclagan (18 June 1826 – 19 September 1910) was Archbishop of York from 1891 to 1908, when he resigned his office, and was succeeded in 1909 by Cosmo Gordon Lang, later Archbishop of Canterbury. As Archbishop of York, Maclaga ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

, in 1878. * Hon. Sir William Augustus Curzon Barrington (1842–1922), a diplomat. * Hon. Sir Bernard Eric Edward Barrington (1847–1918), a civil servant who married Christina Graham, daughter of William Graham. * Hon. Adelaide Barrington (d. 1862), who married, as his first wife, Charles Balfour, second son of James Balfour and Lady Eleanor Maitland (a daughter of James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale) in 1860. Lord Barrington died at Shrivenham in February 1867, aged 73, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his eldest son, George. He was buried in St. Andrews Church, Shrivenham. Lady Barrington died 22 March 1883, aged 78.

Descendants

Through his eldest son, he was a grandfather of three girls: Hon. Constance Mary Barrington (1847–1926), who married Lawrence Palk, 2nd Baron Haldon, Hon. Evelyn Laura Barrington (1848–1924), who married

George Craven, 3rd Earl of Craven George Grimston Craven, 3rd Earl of Craven (16 March 1841 – 7 December 1883) was a British peer. Early life Craven was born on 16 March 1841. He was the eldest surviving son born to William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven and his wife, the forme ...

, and Hon. Florence Isabel Barrington, a Sister of the

Community of St Mary the Virgin The Community of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV) is an Anglican religious order based at Wantage in Oxfordshire, England. It was founded in 1848 by the vicar of Wantage, the Reverend William John Butler and is one of the oldest surviving religious co ...

. Through his daughter Adelaide, he was a grandfather of Charles Barrington Balfour (a first cousin of

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...

, who served as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

from 1902 to 1905), an army officer and MP for

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

who later served as the

Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire This is a list of people who have served as His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for the County of Berwick. List of officeholders * Alexander, Earl of Home 17 March 1794 – 20 October 1841 * James, Earl of Lauderdale 2 November 1841 – 22 August 18 ...

. He married Lady Helena McDonnell, daughter of

Alexander MacDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

References

External links

* * * *
William Keppel Barrington, 6th Viscount Barrington
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrington, William Barrington, 6th Viscount 1793 births 1867 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Berkshire People educated at Westminster School, London UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 Barrington, V6 William 06