Shelburne was born William Fitzmaurice in Dublin in 1737. His family was part of the Anglo-Irish elite. He is one of only two Irish born British Prime Ministers (the other being the Duke of Wellington). His childhood was spent in Southern Ireland and he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.

William Fitzmaurice then served in the army, with a purchased commission in the 20^th Foot Regiment.  During the Seven Years’ War Shelburne fought at the Battles of Minden and Kloster-Kampen. So impressive was his service that he was appointed an aide-de-camp to King George III. Though his military career effectively ended at this point, he continued to receive promotions, finishing at the rank of general in 1783.

In 1760, Fitzmaurice was elected as Member of Parliament for Wycombe, but he did not take up his seat. His father died in May 1761, and Fitzmaurice was elevated to the peerage as the Earl of Shelburne.

In 1763, Shelburne joined the Grenville ministry as First Lord of Trade. In 1766, he became Southern Secretary in Lord Chatham’s government.

Shelburne gained a reputation as an intellectual. Over time, he developed an embryonic programme of institutional and ‘economical’ reforms that he believed would greatly benefit the country, including electoral reform and reducing the length of parliamentary terms.

He also supported a conciliatory policy towards the American colonies, where discontent at British rule was rising, and where war broke out from 1775. In the House of Lords, he associated with the opposition Whigs who attacked Lord North’s government over the American war. Though, his objection was more about the use of violence to compel submission, and he did not support American independence until after the decisive defeat at Yorktown in 1781.

In 1780, Shelburne fought a duel against a Scottish MP, William Fullarton, who had taken offence at Shelburne’s comments about him in the House. Shelburne missed his shot, and was lightly wounded in the groin in return, reassuring his aides that ‘I don’t think Lady Shelburne will be any the worse for it.’

With the fall of Lord North in early 1782, the King initially asked Shelburne to be Prime Minister, but Shelburne suggested Rockingham who he thought could better guarantee a majority. In this government, Shelburne became Home Secretary. But the government was uneasy, the King made no secret of the fact that he preferred Shelburne, while Rockingham had the Parliamentary support. After just three months, on 1 July 1782, Rockingham died in an influenza epidemic.

The King asked Shelburne to be Prime Minister three days after Rockingham’s death.

Shelburne threw himself into the details of the American peace talks, formally taking place in Paris. The Americans, tired of deadlock, had chosen to negotiate directly with the British, bypassing their French and Spanish allies. Shelburne agreed, corresponding personally with the negotiators, and even conducting negotiations in his study in Lansdowne House.

He believed that offering the most generous terms possible would help to found a good trading and diplomatic relationship in the future, and would also undercut French ambitions. Consequently, with the exception of British Canada, the Americans received everything they wanted between the Appalachians and the Mississippi. There was little firm action towards compensating Loyalists for their lost property, and the Indian tribes who had fought with the British would receive nothing. Though Shelburne would not be in power when it was finally signed and accepted, the terms he negotiated formed the basis for the eventual peace.

Shelburne’s ministry had several major problems. Few of his Cabinet ministers cared about Shelburne’s reform plans. Nor was there a clear majority in the House, while the gifted Chancellor of the Exchequer William Pitt the Younger seemed to be the coming man. Worst of all was Shelburne’s inability to manage men. He rarely met his Cabinet, and did not care about party political organisation, leaving his ministry weak in Parliament. In January 1783 Lord Keppel and the Duke of Richmond resigned in frustration. Shelburne tried to negotiate with Charles James Fox and Lord North, but they would not be deterred from efforts to bring him down.

After being defeated on a motion of censure in the House of Commons, Shelburne resigned in March 1783. His premiership had lasted just 266 days.

After retirement, Shelburne continued to be involved in politics, and hoped for high office. But these hopes were not met. He became more radical as he grew older, supporting the French Revolution, opposing Pitt’s wartime measures, and advocating for a compromise peace with France. He was created Marquess of Lansdowne in 1784.

Shelburne married Lady Sophia Carteret in 1765 and they had one child before her death in 1771. He remarried to Louisa FitzPatrck in 1779, and they had two children before her death in 1789.

Shelburne was also a founder of the Boodle’s Club in London. He was gifted a famous painting of George Washington (who he considered ‘the greatest man living’) during the 1790s that is now called the Lansdowne Portrait and can be seen in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. A copy hangs in the East Room of the White House.

Shelburne died in 1805.