Background
Born in Mickleham, Surrey, England, William was the second son of George Wingfield (died May 1774) of Mickleham, Surrey. His mother, Mary, was the niece of George Sparrow.
Born in Mickleham, Surrey, England, William was the second son of George Wingfield (died May 1774) of Mickleham, Surrey. His mother, Mary, was the niece of George Sparrow.
Christ Church.
William"s brother, George Wingfield, Lord of Akeld, later took the surname Sparrow to comply with the will of a great uncle. The other siblings included three sisters: Anne (married Rev Thomas Hume,Canon of Salisbury, in 1793), Elizabeth (married John James in 1797), and (married John Basset in 1790). William"s paternal grandfather, also named William Wingfield, owned property in Cleadon.
He entered Christ Church, Oxford in 1789, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1792.
He was admitted to Lincoln"s Inn in 1792 and called to the bar at Lincoln"s Inn five years later. His early practise was as an equity draftsman, in all likelikhood because of the Inn"s historical association with the Court of Chancery.
In 1818, he became a Bencher, and was appointed King"s Counsel. Eight years later, he was a proprietor (one of 700) of the Russell Institution, a school of literature and science in Victorian London.
Wingfield became Chief Justice of the Brecon Circuit.
He was appointed Master in Chancery in 1824 upon the death of Sir John Simeon, 1st Baronet. He was a Trustee of the Law Fire Insurance Society.
3rd United Kingdom Parliament]
Wingfield served for a short time as a member of parliament for Bodmin during the period of 1806 to 1807 alongside Davies Gilbert.
