William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford

Who was William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford?

William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford was a member of England's House of Lords.

He was born in Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, the only surviving son of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and his second wife Arabella Holles, the daughter of John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare. He studied at Trinity College Dublin. When his father, Thomas, was executed for treason in 1641, William left the Kingdom of England for several years, mainly for fear of reprisals, and lived for a time in France. In 1652 he was allowed to return on taking an oath of abjuration. In 1662, the bill of attainder against his father was reversed by Parliament, and he regained the title of Earl of Strafford and was invested a Knight of the Garter in 1661. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1668 but was expelled in 1685.

According to his father's biographer, he led a rather "obscure, undistinguished and uninteresting life".