Thomas Peers Williams

Lt.-Col. Thomas Peers Williams (27 March 1795-8 September 1875) was an MP for Great Marlow 1820-1868 and [http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/fathercommons.htm Father of the House of Commons] December 1867-1868. Peers Williams, of Craig-y-Don near Beaumaris on Anglesey and Temple House, near Marlow, was also active in the Anglesey Hunt.

He first became an MP in 1820 for the constituency of Great Marlow (usually known as Marlow), and retired in 1868 after serving 48 years. In the last year, he was Father of the House of Commons from December 1867, succeeding Henry Cecil Lowther who had entered the House in 1812 and retired as MP in 1867.

Family background

His grandfather Thomas Williams (1737-1802) was a prominent attorney and active in the copper industry. He was the son of one Owen Williams of Cefn Coch in Llansadwrn, who owned also Tregarnedd and Treffos. About 1785, Williams became chief agent of copper mines owned partly by the earl of Uxbridge and partly by the family of Llysdulas; for a time both parties entrusted the management to Williams alone. He was closely associated with the Uxbridge family and helped several sons get elected to Parliament. In 1790, probably with help from the earl of Uxbridge, he was elected for Great Marlow, and held the seat till his death on 30 November 1802. (The seat was won in 1820 by his grandson and retained until 1868). Four generations from Thomas Williams of Llanidan to his great-grandson Lt-General Owen Lewis Cope Peers Williams (d. 1904) held the Great Marlow seat with intervals, from 1790 until 1885.

His son Owen Williams (1764-1832), also MP for Great Marlow ['Parishes: Bisham', A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 (1923), pp. 139-152. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43195. Date accessed: 24 February 2008.] , married [http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=634980 Margaret Hughes] , and had a son Thomas Peers Williams (the subject of this article). Three of the younger Thomas's daughters were married to members of the House of Lords, two others to sons of lords.

The elder Thomas's descendants gradually released their hold on the copper industry; they are now remembered as owners of the Craig-y-don estate and the founders of banks. Several were Members of Parliament.

Marriage and children

Peers Williams married 27 August 1835 Emily Bacon (d. 24 November 1876), daughter of Anthony Bacon, of Elcott, Berkshire [Emily Bacon was apparently the sister of Anthony Bacon; their grandfather was the ironmaster Anthony Bacon (d. 1786). The identification is not certain, because General Bacon's father is described as of a different estate.]

[http://www.thepeerage.com/p2912.htm#i29113 Lt Col Thomas Peers Williams] had at least two sons [According to a website, a Thomas Peers Williams sold the Craig-y-Don development at Llandudno, named after the family estate in Anglesey, in 1884. However, no other reference to this gentleman has been found.] and several daughters who married into the peerage.
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43195 Lieutenant General] Owen Lewis Cope Peers Williams (12 July 1836 Berkeley Square, London - 2 October 1904 Temple House, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire) of Craig-y-Don, Llandegfan, Anglesey ‎(which he sold)‎, and Temple House, Bisham, Great Marlow, Bucks, sometime MP for Great Marlow 1880-1885. He married 1stly 18 August 1862 Fanny Florence Caulfeild (1838 Florence, Italy - 28 July 1876 Berwick House, Stable Yard, St.James's, London), younger daughter of St.George Francis Caulfeild and yr sister of Emily, Countess of Lonsdale by whom apparently no issue. He married 2ndly 1882 Nina Mary Adelaide Sinclair, and had no issue. () [ [http://www.caulfeild.co.uk/ged/individual.php?pid=I0161&ged=Caulfeild.GED] . Owen Peers Williams is listed in Burke's Landed Gentry 1855 and in Burke's Peerage 1975.] [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43195 Temple House] , built by Thomas Williams of Llanidan, is described as "a three-storied stucco mansion of early 19th-century date and has a tetrastyle lonic portico running the full height of the building" which stood in a beautiful park on the river bank.. See [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43195 'Parishes: Bisham'] , "A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3" (1923), pp. 139-152. Date accessed: 24 February 2008.]
* [http://www.historygallery.com/prints/vanityfair/sandownpark/sandownpark.htm Hwfa Williams] (fl. 1914), who with his wife was prominent in the court of Edward VII. He was manager of the racing course Sandown Park, created about 120 years ago. His wife Mrs Hwfa Williams (affectionally remembered by Felix Yusupov) [Felix Yusupov. "Lost Splendour" [Chapter Fifteen]

] was a notable society hostess, and known as the best-dressed woman in England. They were both still alive in 1913. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A04E1DF133BE633A25755C2A9679C946296D6CF Mrs Hwfa Williams's charity ball] ] In 1914, Williams was shot and badly wounded in the Pall Mall by an overworked telegraph clerk. [See Barbara Tuchman, "The Guns of August", p. 167.] His wife later authored "It Was Such Good Fun", an account of Edwardian high society life.
** Gwenfra Williams [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9805E5D6113CE633A25754C0A9679C946396D6CF "NEW LONDON HOME FOR MRS. AVA ASTOR; Fine Residence to be Ready for the Early Opening of the Social Season"] . "The New York Times" 27 January 1912, Section: PARTS 111 AND 1V CABLE NEWS WIRELESS AND SPORTING SECTIONS, Page C2, 1363 words. According to the article, their house in Ovington Square narrowly escaped being burnt down by fire on Boxing Day, and Mr Williams was ill with influenza. The daughter is mentioned as in America with Mrs Bridget Guinness.]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p1123.htm#i11225 Emily Gwendoline Williams] (July 1839-9 November 1932), wife since 1863 of the 2nd Earl Cowley;
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p2159.htm#i21583 Nina Janet Bronwen Williams] (died 1939) who married 1870 Hon Seton Montolieu Montgomerie (15 May 1846-26 Nov 1883) a younger son of the 13th Earl of Eglinton & Winton, and had issue three daughters. [Leo van der Pas. [http://worldroots.com/foundation/personages/hughmontgomeriedesc1739.htm Descendants of Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglintoun (1739-1819)] . Retrieved 24 February 2008]
* Margaret Elizabeth Williams (died 10 August 1909) married 12 August 1866 Sir Richard Mostyn Lewis Williams-Bulkeley, 11th Baronet (20 May 1833-28 January 1884) of Baron Hill, Beaumaris, Anglesey; son of Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (1801-1875). [ Leo van der Pas. [http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2000-06/0961429861 "Diversary tactics - One"] GEN-MEDIEVAL mailing list, 19 June 2000. Retrieved 24 February 2008. The ancestry of Stavros Niarchos (b. 1985) is detailed; his ancestress is Margaret Elizabeth Williams, maternal grandmother of the banker Loel Guinness.] . Their son the 12th Baronet and grandson the 13th Baronet served as Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey; the latter was also Lord Lieutenant of Gwynedd.
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p2731.htm#i27301 Edith Peers-William] (died 23 June 1897), who married 1871 Heneage Finch, 7th Earl of Aylesford (1849-1885), and had two daughters. The Earl and his wife separated in 1877, when she became involved with the married Marquess of Blandford, the future 8th Duke of Marlborough. In 1881, she bore a son, later known as [http://www.thepeerage.com/p5658.htm#i56577 Guy Bertrand] (b. 1881). This son was baptized only in 1883 as a son of the 7th Earl; his claims to the peerage (made presumably by his mother or maternal kin) were denied by the House of Lords in July 1885. Edith, Countess of Aylesford never married Lord Blandford.
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10379.htm#i103790 Evelyn Katrine Gwenfra Williams] (1855-11 March 1939 West Green House, Hartley Wintney, Hants) who married firstly 7 March 1882 the 3rd Duke of Wellington (1846-1900) in 1882; they had no issue. She remarried in 1904 a Wellesley cousin Col. Hon. Frederick Arthur Wellesley (1844-1931), a son of the 1st Earl Cowley, as his third wife. Frederick Wellesley had previously married 1873 (div. 1882) Emma Loftus, granddaughter of the 2nd Marquess of Ely, and then married 1884 (div 1897) Catherine Candelin. He was also her brother-in-law, as the younger brother of the 2nd Earl Cowley, husband of her eldest sister.

Landownership

The grandson Thomas Peers Williams was a [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/GreatLandowners.htmla considerable landowner in Wales] , as recorded with 7,010 acres in 1873. He owned estates in Anglesey and Berkshire, and elsewhere.

Notes

References

*
* [http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-WILL-THO-1737.html Biography of Thomas Williams] , the grandfather, from the National Library of Wales. Accessed 24 February 2008.
* Leigh Rayment. [http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/fathercommons.htm Fathers of the House of Commons] . Last updated 6 December 2006, and accessed 24 February 2008.
* Leigh Rayment. [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/gcommons2.htm Members of Parliament for Great Marlow] . Last updated 6 April 2007, and accessed 24 February 2008.