Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam

[1] He was the only son of Thomas FitzWilliam, 4th Viscount FitzWilliam by his first wife Mary Stapleton, a daughter of the English statesman Sir Philip Stapleton and his first wife Frances Hotham.

[2] The FitzWilliam family is recorded in Ireland from about 1210, and by the seventeenth century had become one of the largest landowners in Dublin.

The older family home of Merrion Castle was, rather surprisingly, allowed to fall into decay: it was a ruin by 1730, and was pulled down later in the century.

[3] Richard spent his later years in England, but his heirs returned to Mount Merrion.

Lord Fitzwilliam married Frances Shelley, daughter of Sir John Shelley, 3rd Baronet of Michaelgrove and his first wife Bridget Neville, daughter of George Nevill, 11th Baron Bergavenny.