William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (17 March 1722 – 10 March 1791), styled Viscount Wentworth until 1739 was a peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

 and member of the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

Ancestry and career

Strafford was the only son of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672-1739)

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672-1739)

Lieutenant-General Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford , KG , known as Thomas Wentworth, 3rd Baron Raby from 1695 to 1711, was a diplomat and First Lord of the Admiralty....

. His paternal great-grandfather was Sir William Wentworth of Ashby Puerorum, a younger brother of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...

 of an earlier creation. His father was a cousin of William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford

William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford

William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford was a member of England's House of Lords.He was a son of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and his second wife Arabella Holles. When his father, Thomas, was executed in 1641, William left the Kingdom of England for several years. In 1652 he was...

, who died childless, on whose death in 1695 he became the 3rd Baron Raby

Baron Raby

There have been two creations of the title Baron Raby, both in the Peerage of England. The first was in 1640, as a subsidiary title of the Earl of Strafford . The first earl was attainted and his peerages declared forfeit in 1641, but heir obtained a reversal in 1662...

. However, the Strafford fortune, with the estate of the great Jacobean house of Wentworth Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house near the village of Wentworth, in the vicinity of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. "One of the great Whig political palaces", its East Front, long, is the longest country house façade in Europe. The house includes 365 rooms and covers an...

, went to a nephew of the second Earl's by marriage.

The title of Earl of Strafford

Earl of Strafford

Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history.The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I...

 was created for the third time in 1711, for Strafford's father, and thus came to him on his father's death in 1739. He was also 2nd Duke of Strafford in the Jacobite Peerage

Jacobite peerage

After the deposition by the English parliament in February 1689 of King James II and VII from the thrones of England and Ireland , he and his successors continued to create peers and baronets, which they believed was their right...

. He played less of a political role than his father, although he was granted a farm of the post fines on 25 March 1756 and was appointed a deputy lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 of the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

 on 4 August 1757.

Architect

Strafford added a neo-Palladian range to Wentworth Castle

Wentworth Castle

Wentworth Castle is a stately home and estate near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. It was originally the seat of the Earls of Strafford. An older house existed on the estate, then called Stainborough, when it was purchased by Thomas Wentworth, Lord Raby , in 1711...

, his country house in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, a project begun in 1759 and completed in 1764. As its principal designer, this gained him an entry in Colvin's Biographical Dictionary of British Architects.
Strafford's friend Horace Walpole described this south front on August 2, 1770, as showing "the most perfect taste in architecture":

Marriage

In 1741, Strafford married Lady Anne Campbell (born about 1715, died 1785), the second of the five daughters of John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll

John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll

Field Marshal John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, 1st Duke of Greenwich KG , known as Iain Ruaidh nan Cath or Red John of the Battles, was a Scottish soldier and nobleman.-Early Life:...

. The two became part of a social set which included Horace Walpole, who considered the countess to be a "vast beauty" and immortalized her in a poem which was published in 1765.

When Strafford was widowed in 1785, society gossip quickly linked his name with that of Lady Louisa Stuart

Lady Louisa Stuart

Lady Louisa Stuart was a British writer of the 18th and 19th centuries. Her long life spanned nearly ninety-four years.-Early life:...

 (1757–1851), leading Lady Diana Beauclerk to remark "So Lady Louisa Stuart is going to marry her great-grandfather, is she?" However, Stuart looked on Strafford merely as an elderly uncle, and not as a suitor, and he for his part did nothing to promote such an alliance.

Strafford died without issue in 1791. He was succeeded by his first cousin's son, Frederick Wentworth, 3rd Earl of Strafford

Frederick Wentworth, 3rd Earl of Strafford

Frederick Thomas Wentworth, 3rd Earl of Strafford was a British peer.He was the eldest son of William Wentworth, a gentleman usher of the privy chamber to Augusta, Princess of Wales...

.

Likenesses

Portraits of Strafford include one by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...

 which was engraved as a mezzotint

Mezzotint

Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...

 by James Macardell

James MacArdell

James MacArdell was an Irish engraver of mezzotints.-Life:He was born in Cow Lane , Dublin, around 1729. He learnt mezzotint-engraving from John Brooks. When Brooks moved to London about 1746, MacArdell and other pupils followed. He opened a print shop at the Golden Head in Covent Garden, where in...

. The copy of this in the National Portrait Gallery is erroneosly described as of 'William Wentworth, 4th Earl of Strafford (1722–1791)'.

Strafford's countess was also painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.