Richard FitzWilliam was baptised on 22 August 1745. He was the eldest son and heir of Richard FitzWilliam, 6th Viscount FitzWilliam by his wife Catherine Decker, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Matthew Decker, 1st Baronet of Richmond, Surrey, England, a wealthy Dutch-born merchant, by his wife Henrietta Watkins.
Early origins
The Irish FitzWilliam family appears to have been un-related to the prominent English FitzWilliam Family, Earls FitzWilliam, but is however said in some sources to have split off from the English FitzWilliams during the reign of King Richard II when a member of that family accompanied the king's son Prince John to Ireland, following his appointment as Chief Governor of Ireland. The coats of arms of the two families, adopted at the start of the age of heraldry c.1200-1215, are however apparently identical: Lozengy argent and gules.
Career
He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in England, and received an MA in 1764. He succeeded to his father's title in 1776 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. He was elected as the second Member of Parliament for Wilton in Wiltshire from 1790 to 1806.
Residences
Although he made frequent visits to Mount Merrion House, south of Dublin, Richard FitzWilliam lived mainly at FitzWilliam House in the parish of Richmond, Surrey, to the west of London, where he formed his large art collection. He bequeathed it to his heir George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, who renamed it "Pembroke House" and the site is now represented by "Pembroke Villas" 5 pairs of large semi-detached Victorian villas on the north eastern side of Richmond Green. FitzWilliam had inherited the estate from his mother Catherine Decker. John Macky in his Journey through England, described the Decker estate at Richmond as follows:
Richard Bradley in his General treatise of husbandry and gardening for the month of July described the estate as follows:
Urban development
He developed part of south-east Dublin in the Georgian style. This included:
An Act to enclose the centre of Fitzwilliam Square in 1813.
Mistress
Fitzwilliam never married but in the late 1980s it was discovered that starting in 1784 he had a six-year romance with a 15-year-old French Opera dancer from Paris, Marie Anne Bernard, known to him by her stage-name Zacharie. The relationship was brought to light when a collection of 299 of her letters sent to Fitzwilliam were found amongst his papers at Wilton House in Wiltshire, the seat of the Herbert family, Earls of Pembroke, descendants of his cousin and heir George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke. The letters make it clear that he fathered three illegitimate children by Zacharie, namely a daughter who died in infancy and two sons, Bily and Fitz, who together with his own wife and children later moved to Richmond, Surrey, close to his natural father, who provided for him in his will. Zacharie's last letter is dated December 1790, during the French Revolution, and details of her future life are unknown.
Death & succession
He died unmarried and without legitimate progeny on 4 February 1816, in Bond Street, Mayfair, London, having a few months previously fallen off a ladder in his library when he broke a knee. He was buried at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Richmond, where survives his inscribed monument, now affixed to an outside wall. His titles devolved by law successively on his younger brothers, namely John FitzWilliam, 8th Viscount FitzWilliam and then to Thomas FitzWilliam, 9th Viscount FitzWilliam, following whose death without issue in 1833 they became extinct. He bequeathed his large Irish estates to George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, his first cousin's son, and his art collection and library to the University of Cambridge, together with funds to house them, which became the Fitzwilliam Museum.
