William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c.1609 – 21 February 1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

  between 1640 and 1653.

Fitzwilliam was the son of William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam and his wife Catherine Hyde.

In April 1640, Fitzwilliam was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Peterborough

Peterborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Peterborough is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, formally styled The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past...

 in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

. He was re-elected in November 1640 for the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

 where he remained throughout its duration. FitzwIlliam inherited the peerage on the death of his father in 1643.

Fitzwilliam died at the age of 49.

Fitzwilllian married Jane Perry, daughter of Hugh Perry and his wife Catherine Fenn in 1638. Their son William succeeded to the title and was later created Earl Fitzwilliam. Their daughter Jane married Sir Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...

.