Background
Strafford was the only son of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672-1739). His father was a cousin of William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, who died childless, on whose death in 1695 he became the 3rd Baron Raby.
Strafford was the only son of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672-1739). His father was a cousin of William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, who died childless, on whose death in 1695 he became the 3rd Baron Raby.
His paternal great-grandfather was Sir William Wentworth of Ashby Puerorum, a younger brother of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford of an earlier creation. However, the Strafford fortune, with the estate of the great Jacobean house of Wentworth Woodhouse, went to a nephew of the second Earl"s by marriage. The title of Earl of Strafford 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.
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 of the West Riding of Yorkshire on 4 August 1757. As its principal designer, this gained him an entry in Colvin"s Biographical Dictionary of British son
Portraits of Strafford include one by Sir Joshua Reynolds which was engraved as a mezzotint by James Macardell. 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.