Background
Berkeley was born at Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London, the eldest son of Frederick Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley, by Mary Cole, daughter of William Cole.
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William FitzHardinge Berkeley
Edit ProfileMember of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Career
On 16 May 1796 Lord Berkeley married Mary Cole at Lambeth. The Earl alleged that a previous marriage between them had occurred at Berkeley, Gloucestershire, officiated by the Vicar of Berkeley, on 30 March 1785. This ceremony was, however, kept secret until after the Lambeth marriage, with Mary being known as Mission Tudor between the two dates.
Shortly after the Lambeth marriage a certificate of the Berkeley ceremony was produced, having been recovered, it was alleged, under very strange circumstances.
The couple had had six sons up to the marriage of 1796, including William Berkeley. Lord Berkeley died in August 1810, when William Berkeley applied to be summoned to the House of Lords as Earl of Berkeley.
In March 1811 the Committee for Privileges decided that the Berkeley marriage of 1786 was "not then proved" and that the petitioner"s claim was not made out. William received Berkeley Castle and the other estates by will, and on 2 July, after the adverse decision of the Lords Committee, he claimed a writ of summons as a Baron as Baron by tenure of Berkeley Castle.
The claim was fully laid before the Committee for Privileges in 1828 and 1829, but the Lords gave no judgement on the case.
The eldest son born after the 1797 Lambeth marriage of the fifth Earl, Thomas Moreton FitzHardinge Berkeley, became on the Earl"s death in 1810 de jure 6th Earl of Berkeley — however, he refused to claim his right to the earldom. In 1831 William Berkeley was raised to the peerage as Baron Segrave, of Berkeley Castle in the County of Gloucester. In 1836 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, a post he retained until his death.
In 1841 he was further honoured when he was made Earl FitzHardinge.
Membership
4th United Kingdom Parliament.
