Sir William Abdy, 7th Baronet

Sir William Abdy, 7th Baronet (1779 – 16 April 1868)[1] was a British politician and baronet.

Background

Born in Marylebone, he was the only son of Sir William Abdy, 6th Baronet, and his wife Mary Gordon, daughter of James Gordon.[2] Abdy was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1796.[3] In 1803, he succeeded his father as baronet.[4]

Career

He served in the British Army and was promoted to lieutenant of the South Essex Militia in 1798.[3] Later he was second lieutenant of the Southwark Volunteers.[3] In 1817, Abdy entered the British House of Commons as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Malmesbury until the following year.[5]

Abdy co-owned three estates in Antigua and St Vincent, and when the British government emancipated the slaves in the 1830s, he was compensated to the tune of about £13,000 for the liberation of over 300 slaves.[6]

Family

On 3 July 1806, he married Anne Wellesley, eldest and illegitimate born, later legitimitated, daughter of Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley and Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland, at Hyde Park Corner.[7] At some point during their marriage, she became lover of Lord Charles Bentinck and as result Abdy and his wife were divorced in 1816.[4] He never remarried and died aged 89, without legitimate issue, at Hill Street, London.[8] With his death the baronetcy became extinct.[8]

References
  1. "Leigh Rayment - Baronetage". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 1.
  3. Burke's Peerage 1999, page 1
  4. Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co. pp. 79–80.
  5. "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Malmesbury". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. "Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery". www.ucl.ac.uk.
  7. Sylvanus, Urban (1806). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part II. London: John Nichols and Son. p. 675.
  8. Sylvanus, Urban (1868). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part I. London: Bradbury, Evans & Co. p. 778.
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