Sir Robert Fitzwygram, 2nd Baronet

Who was Sir Robert Fitzwygram, 2nd Baronet?

Sir Robert Fitzwygram, 2nd Baronet FRS was a Director of the Bank of England and a Tory politician.

Fitzwygram, who began life as Robert Wigram, was the eldest son of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet, merchant and shipbuilder of Walthamstow. Wigram was interested in the foundation of the London Institution in 1805. He followed his father into Parliament in 1806 as Member of Parliament for Fowey. He was a Director of the Bank of England, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was knighted on 7 May 1818. In 1829 he was elected for the Wexford Borough but was unseated on petition in 1839. He was re-elected in 1830, but was again unseated in petition in 1831. He inherited the Wigram Baronetcy on the death of his father in 1830. In 1832 by royal license, he changed his surname to FitzWygram.

Wigram married Selina Hayes, youngest daughter of Sir John Macnamara Hayes Bt, in 1812; the couple had children. His son Robert inherited the baronetcy but died without issue. The baronetcy then passed to Fitzwygram's third son, Frederick.

Fitzwygram's numerous brothers included Joseph Cotton Wigram, Bishop of Rochester, Loftus Wigram, George Wigram, and Octavius Wigram, prominent in the City of London as a member of Lloyds and as Governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Company.