| Pre-Nominals: | The Right Honourable |
| Post-Nominals: | MP |
| Viscount Milton | |
| Birth Date: | 27 July 1839 |
| Death Date: | 17 January 1877 |
| Nationality: | British |
| Occupation: | Explorer and Politician |
| Spouse: | Laura Maria Theresa Beauclerk |
| Children: | 4 (including William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 7th Earl FitzWilliam and Lady Mabel Fitzwilliam) |
| Parents: | William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam Lady Frances Harriet |
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton MP (27 July 1839 – 17 January 1877) was a British nobleman, explorer,[1] and Liberal Party politician.
Fitzwilliam was the eldest son of William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 6th Earl FitzWilliam, and his wife Lady Frances Harriet Douglas, daughter of George Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton.
An epileptic, William was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Arriving in Quebec City in July 1862, Milton and Dr Walter Butler Cheadle traveled across the North American continent, wintering near Fort Carlton. After a challenging and at times humorous summer they reached Victoria, BC. Together with Butler Cheadle, he traveled up the Athabasca River and in 1863 they became the first "tourists" to travel through the Yellowhead Pass.
They later co-authored "The North-West Passage by Land"[2] and " Voyage de l'Atlantique au Pacifique, à travers le Canada",[3] which described their expedition in considerable detail.
Following his adventure in Canada, Milton entered politics and became one of the youngest members of the House of Commons. He represented the West Riding of Yorkshire South between 1865 and 1872.
On 10 August 1867, in London, Lord Milton married his third cousin Laura Maria Theresa Beauclerk (1849–1886), daughter of Lord Charles Beauclerk (a son of the 8th Duke of St Albans). They were both descended from William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, whose daughters were Charlotte Fitzwilliam, Countess Fitzwilliam and Catherine Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans. They had one son and three daughters;
Viscount Milton died on 18 January 1877, aged 37, predeceasing his father. Their son succeeded as Earl FitzWilliam in 1902 and on 17 June 1904, the daughters of Lord Milton were granted, by Royal Warrant of Precedence, the rank and precedence of daughters of an earl. His widow died on 30 March 1886 at Wentworth Woodhouse.
Anthony Bevis, "Call the Havenstreet Midwife," Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, Papers and Records, XLIX (2021), 32-44, about the birth of their son William July 1872 at Pointe de Meuron, now part of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
E. Marion Henderson, "Trousseau treasures of 1872: museum notes,” Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, Papers and Records, XII (1984), 38-47. Cut-work needle lace (pinto tagliato) doilies made by daughters of Hudson's Bay Company officer John McIntyre and the connection to the Lady Laura (Beauclerk) Milton, wife of William Viscount Milton.[4]