Fitzwilliamite

English

Etymology

Fitzwilliam +‎ -ite

Noun

Fitzwilliamite (plural Fitzwilliamites)

1. A supporter of whig leader William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, especially his views on the need for parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation.
   • 1826, Edward Augustus Kendall, Letters to a Friend, page 856:

     There are Canningites, and Burdettites, and Fitzwilliamites, who tell us that Protestantism and Roman Catholicism absolutely mean the same thing; or, that the things, by dint of looking tenderly upon each other, have grown into perfect likenesses.

   • 1908, Standish O'Grady, The Flight of the Eagle, page 114:

     So Perrott's Irish friends learned that the Fitzwilliamites were formulating a charge against Perrott, with O'Rouane for chief witness.

   • 1994, Walter Ellis, The Oxbridge Conspiracy, page 315:

     Finally, Carey's own suffragan in Canterbury, the Bishop of Dover, Richard Llewellin, is a Fitzwilliamite and was ordained at Westcott House, the very seminary where Robert Runcie and John Habgood were once principals.