Name Richard 7th | ||
 | ||
Died February 4, 1816, London, United Kingdom | ||
Education Trinity Hall, Cambridge | ||
Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1 August 1745 – 4 February 1816) was an Irish viscount in the FitzWilliam family, who was a benefactor and musical antiquarian. He founded the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, with a bequest of his library and art collection on his death in 1816. He was also a significant developer of his time in Dublin, Ireland.
Biography
Richard FitzWilliam was baptised on 22 August 1745. He was the eldest son of Richard FitzWilliam, 6th Viscount FitzWilliam, and his wife Catherine Decker, daughter of Sir Matthew Decker, 1st Baronet, a wealthy Dutch-born merchant. He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, receiving an MA in 1764. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789 and elected the second Member of Parliament for Wilton in Wiltshire from 1790 to 1806 when it still had two representatives. He succeeded to his father's title in 1776.
He developed part of south-east Dublin in the Georgian style. This included:
Richard FitzWilliam mainly lived in Richmond near London, where his mother had inherited the estates of her father Sir Matthew Decker, but he made frequent visits to Mount Merrion House, south of Dublin. He left his large Irish estates to his first cousin's son, the 11th Earl of Pembroke, and his art collection and library to the University of Cambridge, together with funds to house them; this formed the Fitzwilliam Museum.