William Burton Conyngham
Irish politician
William Burton Conyngham (1733 – 31 May 1796) was an Anglo-Irish politician.
Life
He was born William Burton, the second son of Francis Burton and Mary Conyngham, sister of Henry Conyngham, 1st Earl Conyngham. In 1781, his name was changed by Royal Licence to inherit the estates of his uncle.
He was a student at Queens' College, Cambridge from 1750 and in turn at Lincoln's Inn from 1753, he then proceeded to follow a military career, being commissioned as a Captain in 1759, and by 1769 he had advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in the 12th Dragoons. He resigned his Regular Army commission in 1774, but in April 1793 he was appointed Colonel to raise and command the new Prince of Wales's Own Donegal Militia.
Conyngham was a longtime Member of Parliament. From 1761 to 1777 he represented Newtown Limavady, from 1776 to 1777 as well as from 1783 to 1790 Killybegs. Between 1776 and 1783 and again between 1790 and 1796, he sat in the Irish House of Commons for Ennis.
Conyngham planned a settlement on the previously unpopulated island of Rutland, Ireland, having installed, from 1784, a street of residences and business premises, post office, school house and a fish landing and processing facility. The island remained inhabited into the 1960s.
The public source identifies “William Burton Conyngham” as irish politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Burton and Conyngham.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8007072. VIAF identifies the subject as 73797022. The Library of Congress control number is nr2003012650. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1733, 1796, 1781 and 1750.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Burton Conyngham” 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.