FITZROY, Lord James Henry (1804-1834), of 47 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, London

Fitzroy, the 4^th duke of Grafton’s youngest son, sat briefly as a Reformer for Thetford before a short illness took his life at the young age of thirty. A member of a politically distinguished and sporting family who held extensive estates in Norfolk and Northamptonshire, Fitzroy’s father had represented Thetford before coming in for Cambridge University in 1784, alongside William Pitt the Younger, to whom he was especially close.1B. Falk, The royal Fitzroys: dukes of Grafton through four centuries (1950), 7, 236; G.B. Smith, ‘Fitzroy, George Henry, fourth duke of Grafton (1760-1844)’, rev. K. D. Reynolds, Oxf. DNB., www.oxforddnb.com. Though initially a Tory, by the time Fitzroy’s father succeeded to the dukedom in 1811, he was a steadfast supporter of the Whigs.2HP Commons, 1790-1820, iii. 766-7. Fitzroy had matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1821, but did not graduate, electing instead to pursue a career in the army with the Guards.3HP Commons, 1820-1830, v. 146-7. In 1830 he had been brought in by his father for Thetford as a replacement for his elder brother, Charles, Whig Member for the borough since 1818, whose compulsive gambling habit had become a source of embarrassment to the family.4Ibid., 141-2. Fitzroy had voted for the reintroduced reform bill at its second reading, 6 July 1831, and in his only known contribution to debate, spoke out against a bill to transfer Thetford’s assizes to Norwich.5Ibid., 141.

The revised reform bill having restored Thetford’s second Member, Fitzroy offered again for the borough at the 1832 general election.6Ibid, ii. 1742-3. At the nomination his proposer declared that Fitzroy ‘would not step over the threshold of St. Stephen’s shackled by promises to support particular measures’.7Norfolk Chronicle, 15 Dec. 1832. His own speech was more prosaic, and after calling for abolition of the slave trade and a ‘judicious reform in church and state’, he was returned unopposed.8Ibid.

Like his father, Fitzroy made little impact in the Commons. He was an occasional attender who made no known speeches in the post-Reform era. His select committee work was also limited.9Fitzroy is known only to have sat on the 1833 Montgomery election committee: A.J.E. Cockburn and W.C. Rowem, Cases of controverted elections (1833), 343. He voted with Whig ministers on most major issues, although he backed radical motions for the abolition of military flogging, 2 Apr. 1833, and the ballot, 25 Apr. 1833. He voted against currency reform, 24 Apr. 1833, and shorter parliaments, 22 May 1833.10R. Gooch, The book of the reformed Parliament: being a synopsis of the votes of the reformed House of Commons (1834). He supported Lord Althorp’s motion to replace church rates with a land tax, 21 Apr. 1834.

Fitzroy died in harness at his London residence in July 1834 after a feverish illness of ten days.11A portion of the journal kept by Thomas Raikes from 1831 to 1847 (1856), i. 269; The Times, 28 July 1834. The family papers and correspondence are held by the Suffolk Record Office.12Suffolk RO, Grafton Mss.