CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet

British politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 10, 2025
Entity authorityQ7529492
Source-derived summary

Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet (c. 1756 – 27 October 1826) was an Irish-born British politician and the Controller of Storekeepers Accounts for the Royal Navy. Bellingham was charged with organizing and procuring provisions for the Vancouver Expedition. Though he never saw the Pacific Ocean, Bellingham Bay and the city of Bellingham, Washington, are named for him.

Early life

William Bellingham was the son of Col. Alan Bellingham (of Castlebellingham) and Alice Montgomery, daughter of Rev. Hans Montgomery of Grey Abbey House, County Down. Bellingham was one of four siblings (O'Bryen, Thomas, and Alan).

He attended Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1778 as a Bachelor of Arts. In 1783 he married Hester Frances Cholmondeley (1763-1844), granddaughter of George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley and daughter of Mary Woffington.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet” as british politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Bellingham and Baronet.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1756, 1826, 1778, 1783—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1755-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, Bellingham and Baronet providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet”, the useful work is to connect “british politician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 10, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7529492. VIAF identifies the subject as 40859568. The Library of Congress control number is n86084610. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1756, 1826, 1778 and 1783.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet primary sources, Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Sir William Bellingham, 1st Baronet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.