Fitzwilliam is a former mining village near Wakefield, but the various Fitzwilliam Stakes and Handicaps refer to the earldom of that name. The family owned large tracts of land in the north, which contained coal, and others near Newmarket.
According to Tony Barber’s book The St Leger the 4th Earl oversaw the growth of Doncaster races for fifty years up to his death in 1833. During that time, aggrieved by slanderous remarks by a Major Bower, he challenged his rival to a duel on the racecourse. Fortunately matters were smoothed over at the last minute.
The Fitzwilliam family are connected to the Zetlands (qv) via the 7th Earl’s marriage to Maud, a daughter of the 1st Marquess of Zetland. That couple had horses trained by her brother Lord George Dundas at Newmarket.
In 1979 the 10th Earl Fitzwilliam died childless. The title died with him. The family seat at Wentworth Woodhouse, about fifteen miles from Doncaster, was sold; it was a huge stately home that could cost up to £40m to renovate. According to Wikipedia it has “more than 300 rooms, although the precise number is unclear”. The family still own much of Malton in North Yorkshire.
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge was founded with the bequest of the 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion’s extensive art collection, but that title is unrelated to the racing Fitzwilliams.
DONCASTER
In the late Victorian era at Doncaster one Fitzwilliam Stakes was run in late May, between the York and Epsom meetings. There had been another one at the St Leger meeting since 1807; that lasted until 1981.
YORK
The final Fitzwilliam Handicap at York was at the Dante meeting of 1995. There had been one as early as 1822’s Ebor meeting.
NEWMARKET
In the last 50 years or so there have also been occasional Fitzwilliam races at Southwell, Fakenham, Huntingdon and Newmarket; those at Headquarters were held at the first of their autumn meetings and ran from 1992 until 5 October 2002.
Sources include:
Tote Investors Who’s Who In Racing (1939)
The English Turf (Charles Richardson, 1901)
The St Leger (Tony Barber, 2016)