William Barrington, 6th Viscount Barrington


William Keppel Barrington, 6th Viscount Barrington, 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, by his wife Elizabeth, second daughter of Robert Adair and Lady Caroline Keppel, a descendant of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond.
Like his father, he was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts 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, it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords. In 1837 he was instead elected to the British House of Commons as one of three representatives for Berkshire, a seat he held until 1857. He was also Chairman of the Great Western Railway between 1856 and 1857.

Personal life

On 21 April 1823, Lord Barrington married the Hon. Jane Elizabeth Liddell, fourth daughter of Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, and the former Maria Susannah Simpson. His wife served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to the Dowager Queen Adelaide. Together, they lived at Beckett Hall in Berkshire and were the parents of five sons and five daughters:
Lord Barrington died at Shrivenham, Berkshire, 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, who married Lawrence Palk, 2nd Baron Haldon, Hon. Evelyn Laura Barrington, who married George Craven, 3rd Earl of Craven, and Hon. Florence Isabel Barrington, a Sister of the Community of St Mary the Virgin.
Through his daughter Adelaide, he was a grandfather of Charles Barrington Balfour, JP DL CB, who became an army officer and an MP for Hornsey who later served as the Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire. Balfour married Lady Helena McDonnell, daughter of Alexander MacDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim.