Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam

William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam DSO (1910–13 May 1948) was a British aristocrat.

The fifth child and only son of the 7th Earl, he was born at the family's seat of Wentworth Woodhouse in 1910 and died in an aircraft accident over Sainte-Bauzille, Ardèche, France on 13 May 1948.

He was married to Olive ('Obby') Dorothea Plunket, the daughter of the Bishop of Ormonde, with whom he had one daughter, Anne Juliet Dorothea Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam; she married firstly Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol (and had one son, Lord Nicholas Harvey), secondly Somerset de Chair (d. 1996), with whom she had a daughter, Helena de Chair, five years later. In 1996 she married a third time, and is now known as Lady Juliet Tadgell. In Lord FitzWilliam's later years the marriage to Obby became strained and there was talk of divorce. In 1943 he inherited the Earldom from his father.

He was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys (Supplementary Reserve) in 1929. During World War II he served with distinction in the Commandos and later for the Special Operations Executive, gaining a Distinguished Service Order.

From 1946 he was linked with the recently widowed Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was also killed alongside FitzWilliam in the crash.

After his death the title passed to his second cousin, once removed Eric Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 9th Earl FitzWilliam and his fortune, estimated at 45 million pounds, passed to his daughter Juliet.

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Last updated on Friday February 22, 2008 at 03:03:49 PST (GMT -0800)
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