Irish Career
In 1559 FitzWilliam was appointed Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and elected a member of the Irish House of Commons to represent Co Carlow. His conduct as treasurer provoked allegations of corruption against him and, although these were never proven, they dogged him throughout his career. Between 1559 and 1571 he served five times as Lord Justice of Ireland (during the absences of the Earl of Sussex, and of his successor, Sir Henry Sidney). In 1571 he was appointed to the office of Lord Deputy itself, but like Queen Elizabeth's other servants he received scant and infrequent allotments from the Treasury. His government was thus marked by penury and its attendant evils, inefficiency, mutiny and general lawlessness.
FitzWilliam quarrelled with the Lord President of Connaught, Sir Edward Fitton (1527–1579), but he did manage to compel the troublesome Earl of Desmond in to submission in 1574. He disliked the colonial expedition in Ulster of the Earl of Essex, and then had a further quarrel with Fitton. After a serious illness, he was allowed to resign his office.
After his return to England in 1575 FitzWilliam was appointed governor of Fotheringhay Castle, where he supervised the execution of the death sentence on Mary, Queen of Scots.
Read more about this topic: William Fitz William (Lord Deputy)
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