Commodore
Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley
Bt JP KCB VD CStJ
Caricature of Sir R Bulkeley Bt, by Leslie Ward, Vanity Fair, 7 August 1907
Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey
In office
30 November 1896 – 7 July 1942
Preceded byRichard Davies
Succeeded byThe Marquess of Anglesey
High Sheriff of Anglesey
In office
1887–1887
Preceded byDavid Hughes
Succeeded byHenry Herbert Williams
Personal details
Born
Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley

(1862-12-04)4 December 1862
Died7 July 1942(1942-07-07) (aged 79)
Spouse
Lady Magdalen Yorke
​
​
(m. 1885; died 1940)​
RelationsSir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (grandfather)
Henry Bingham Baring (grandfather)
Sir Godfrey Baring, 1st Baronet (cousin)
Children4
Parent(s)Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 11th Baronet
Mary Emily Baring
EducationEton College

Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet JP KCB VD CStJ (4 December 1862 – 7 July 1942) was an English sailor, yachting enthusiast and public official who was a friend of King Edward VII.

Early life

Pastel portrait of his younger half-sister, Bridget (née Williams-Bulkeley) Guinness, 1909

Williams-Bulkeley was born on 4 December 1862. He was the son of heiress Mary Emily Baring and Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 11th Baronet, a Captain in the Royal Horse Guards.[1] In 1864, his father divorced his mother after alleging she committed adultery with Lt.-Col. Henry Armitage of the Coldstream Guards. He then married Margaret Elizabeth Peers Williams (a daughter of Lt.-Col. Thomas Peers Williams), in 1866. His mother married Lt. John Oakley Maund (a son of William Herbert Maund) in 1867. From his father's second marriage, he had a younger half-sister, Bridget Henrietta Frances Williams-Bulkeley (who married Benjamin Seymour Guinness and was the mother of Gp. Capt. Loel Guinness and Meraud Guinness).[2]

His paternal grandparents were Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet and Maria Frances Massey-Stanley (a daughter of Sir Thomas Stanley-Massey-Stanley, 9th Baronet).[3] His maternal grandparents were Maj. Henry Bingham Baring and Lady Augusta Brudenell (a daughter of Robert Brudenell, 6th Earl of Cardigan). Among his first cousins were Sir Godfrey Baring, 1st Baronet.[2]

While attending Eton, he succeeded his father as the 12th Baronet Williams, of Penrhyn, County Caernarvon on 28 January 1884.

Career

Officers of the Women's Royal Naval Service marching past Dame Katharine Furse (Director) and Commodore Sir Richard Williams Baulkley, 12th Baronet, at Crystal Palace.

He gained the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers' Liverpool Brigade and also held the rank of Lieutenant colonel in the British Army, commanding the Royal Anglesey Royal Engineering Militia. He was awarded the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Officers' Decoration. Sir Richard was also a Younger Brethren of Trinity House,[2] and in 1914, he commanded the Royal Naval Depot at the Crystal Palace, London.[4]

He served as mayor of Beaumaris in 1885 and 1893. He held the office of High Sheriff of Anglesey in 1887 and was Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey in 1896. He also served as Justice of the Peace for Carnarvonshire.[2]

He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1916 and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1922. He was also made a Commander of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.[2]

Williams-Bulkeley was described as the "largest landowner in Wales" and for that reason, the "King of Wales," as he also "traced his descent, in common with the royal House of Tudor, from Marchudd Ap Cynan, a friend of Rhodi Mawr, ninth century King of Wales."[4] He inherited the family seat, Baron Hill, Anglesey,[5] and his lands in Wales included "Snowdon, the loftiest mountain in Wales and England, whose principal peak, Y-Wyddfa, rises 3,560 feet above the sea, and Beaumaris Castle, a historic pile on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales."[4] In 1920, he "sold part of his Anglesey estate, including most of the town of Beaumaris, for over $500,000.[6] In 1921, it was reported that Snowdon was for sale and in 1926, it was announced that he had presented Beaumaris Castle to the British nation."[4][lower-alpha 1]

Royal Naval Reserve

Williams-Bulkeley's cutter, the Britannia, c. 1899

A member of the Royal Yacht Squadron for 58 years, he was the first Royal Naval Reserve officer to be appointed Commodore of the Squadron in 1927.[4] He gained "the distinction of having owned more yachts than any other member, including for a brief period the royal yacht Britannia, raced by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII".[4] The gaff-rigged cutter had been ordered by the Prince of Wales in 1892 and designed by George Lennox Watson. It was completed in 1893 and Williams-Bulkeley owned and raced it between 1899 and 1900 after which it was owned and used by the King for cruising.[12]

Personal life

On 10 December 1885, Williams-Bulkeley was married to Lady Magdalen Yorke (1865–1940), a daughter of Charles Yorke, 5th Earl of Hardwicke and Lady Sophia Wellesley (a daughter of Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley).[13] Together, they were the parents of:[2][14]

Sir Richard died at his home in Anglesey on 7 July 1942 at age 79.[4] As his only son predeceased him, he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his grandson, Lt.-Col. Richard Harry David Williams-Bulkeley (1911–1992).[2]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Thomas Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley had bought Beaumaris Castle from the Crown in 1807 for £735, incorporating it into the park that surrounded his local residence, Baron Hill.[7][8][9] Some of the castle's stones may have been reused in 1829 to build the nearby Beaumaris Gaol.[10] In 1925, Williams-Bulkeley retained the freehold and placed the Beaumaris Castle into the care of the Commissioners of Works, who then carried out a large scale restoration programme.[11]
    Sources
    1. ↑ Griffith, John Edwards (1914). Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families, with Their Collateral Branches in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and Other Parts. Bridge Books. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-9508285-5-8. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 1039.
    3. ↑ Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage (and companionage) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1880. p. 153. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NoRz, Wlrelesa to T. Nsw (9 July 1942). "'KING OF WALES,' 79, LANDOWNER, DEAD; Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley Possessor of Mount Snowdon Stricken in Anglesey Home A FRIEND OF EDWARD VII In Royal Yacht Squadron for 58 Years--His Baronetcy Was Created in 1661". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
    5. ↑ Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1907). Parliamentary Papers: 1850-1908. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 4. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    6. ↑ Taylor, Arnold (2004) [1980], Beaumaris Castle (5th ed.), Cardiff, UK: Cadw, ISBN 1-85760-208-0
    7. ↑ Taylor 2004, p. 17; "Part 2: Significance and Vision" (PDF), Cadw, p. 62, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2012, retrieved 12 September 2012
    8. ↑ £735 in 1807 could equate to between £56,000 and £2,600,000 in 2011 terms, depending on the measure used.
    9. ↑ "Measuring Worth Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1830 to Present", MeasuringWorth, retrieved 12 September 2012
    10. ↑ Taylor 2004, p. 15
    11. ↑ Taylor 2004, p. 17
    12. ↑ "King George to race his Britannia again" (PDF). New York Times. 1920-03-10.
    13. ↑ "EARL OF HARDWICKE DEAD.; Fought In the Crimea and India, and Was Rewarded for His Services in the Mutiny". The New York Times. 19 May 1897. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
    14. ↑ "Royal Descents". The Genealogical Magazine. Elliot Stock: 343. 1901. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    15. ↑ "Life story: Richard Gerard Wellesley Williams-Bulkeley". livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk. Lives of the First World War. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    16. ↑ "Generis Alma Windham Mainwaring (née Williams-Bulkeley)". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    17. ↑ Times, Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph To the New York (13 June 1913). "TWO TITLED WEDDINGS.; Royal Wedding Gifts for the Son of the Earl of Erne". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
    18. ↑ "Æira Helen Chadwick (née Williams-Bulkeley)". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
    19. ↑ "Siriol Penelope Diana Katherine Bulkeley-Johnson (née Williams-Bulkeley)". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
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