WINDHAM, William (c.1674-1730), of Earsham, Norf.

The younger son of a Norfolk squire by the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Windham served under Marlborough, losing a leg at Blenheim. In 1720 he bought an estate at Earsham, where he built a house out of his profits from the South Sea bubble.R. W. Ketton-Cremer, Norf, Portraits, 70, 79. Entering Parliament in 1722 for the venal borough of Sudbury, he obtained a place, whose salary was raised from £200 to £400 ‘in view of his sufferings in the service’.C. G. T. Dean, Chelsea Hospital, 211. Returned on the Treasury interest for Aldeburgh in 1727, no doubt through the influence of his first cousin, Lord Townshend, he died 22 Apr. 1730.