William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC ( 2 May 1737 – 7 May 1805 ), known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782 – 1783 during the final months of the American War of Independence.

John Petty ( originally John Fitzmaurice ), second son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry ( see the Earl of Kerry for earlier history of the family ), and his wife Anne, the daughter of the noted political economist Sir William Petty ( whose wife had been created Baroness Shelburne and whose two sons had been created Baron Shelburne and Earl of Shelburne respectively, but who had died without heirs ; see these title for more information ).

However, he is better known to history under his former title of Earl of Shelburne.

The courtesy title for the Lord Lansdowne's eldest son and heir apparent alternates between Earl of Kerry and Earl of Shelburne.

Earl of Shelburne is a title that has been created two times while the title of Baron Shelburne has been created three times.

On the early death of his elder brother the Earl of Kerry in 1836 he became known under the courtesy title Earl of Shelburne.

The most significant impact from this war was the settling of large numbers of Loyalist refugees in the region, especially in Shelburne and Parrtown ( Saint John ).

The case was brought by three same-sex couples who applied for and were denied marriage licenses in the towns of Milton, Shelburne and South Burlington.

The following Shelburne administration was short-lived, however, and in April 1783 Fox returned to power, this time in an unexpected coalition with his old enemy Lord North.

At the same meeting of the board of trustees at which Professor Moore was elected president of Williams College, May 2, 1815, Dr. Packard of Shelburne introduced the following motion: " That a committee of six persons be appointed to take into consideration the removal of the college to some other part of the Commonwealth, to make all necessary inquiries which have a bearing on the subject, and report at the next meeting.

The William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne | " Lansdowne Antinous " was found at Hadrian's Villa in 1769 ( Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge )

Lord Rockingham died only three months after coming to power ; he was succeeded by another Whig, William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne.

Pitt, however, was comfortable joining the Shelburne Government ; he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Streatham Park was later leased to Prime Minister Lord Shelburne, and was the venue for early negotiations with France that lead to the Peace Treaty of 1783.

Shelburne was first settled in 1756 as part of Deerfield, Massachusetts, known then as " Deerfield Northwest ".

It was initially organized as the district of Shelburne in 1768, named in honor of William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, an Irish-born British politician, who later served as Prime Minister during the American Revolutionary War.

Shelburne was officially incorporated as a town in 1775.

Shelburne Township was organized August 17, 1879.

First granted in 1769 by Governor John Wentworth, the town was named for William Petty Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne.

The town was first settled in 1771, and incorporated on December 13, 1820, when Shelburne voters chose to keep the name.

It included Shelburne Addition until that was set off and incorporated in 1836 as Gorham.

In 1784, Shelburne County was formed in part from southwestern portions of Queens County.

Shelburne County was founded in 1784 shortly following the influx of Loyalist settlers evacuated from the newly independent United States of America.

It was originally named Port Roseway, until it became a very busy town and was considered to be the capital of Nova Scotia, in which the name was changed to Shelburne in an attempt to please Lord Shelburne, the British Prime Minister from 1782 to 1783.

The Loyalists exodus created new communities across Nova Scotia, including Shelburne, which briefly one of the larger British settlements in North America, and infused the province with additional capital and skills.

Lord Kerry had married Anne Petty, the daughter of Sir William Petty, Surveyor General of Ireland, whose elder son had been created Baron Shelburne in 1688 and ( on the elder son's death ) whose younger son had been created Baron Shelburne in 1699 and Earl of Shelburne in 1719.

On the younger son's death the Petty estates passed to the aforementioned John FitzMaurice, who changed his branch of the family's surname to " Petty " in place of " FitzMaurice ", and was created Viscount FitzMaurice later in 1751 and Earl of Shelburne in 1753 ( after which his elder son John was styled Viscount FitzMaurice ).

In 1766, Lady Shelburne visited the landscape garden created by Charles Hamilton on his estate Painshill Park.

Playwright Dan Needles created the character while working in Shelburne, Ontario.

Prime Minister King created a seat for Ralston by appointing the MP for Shelburne — Yarmouth, Paul Lacombe Hatfield, to the Senate, thus opening the riding for a by-election.

* William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne ( 1737 – 1805 ) ( created Marquess of Lansdowne in 1784 )

His younger son John Petty was created Earl of Shelburne in the Peerage of Ireland in 1753 and his son, the second Earl of Shelburne, was created Marquess of Lansdowne in 1784.

Buckland-Shelburne Regional Elementary School ( in Shelburne ) serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grades for the two towns, and students from grades 7-12 attend Mohawk Trail Regional High School.

All of the town offices, except for the Shelburne Volunteer Fire Department, are located within the area of Shelburne Falls, including the police department ( which shares the town hall ), a post office ( which also serves the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls ), and the Arms Library, which is connected to the regional library networks.

Shelburne provided excellent soil for farming on either side of the Androscoggin River, but not far from the stream it becomes mountainous.

His entry into parliament for the seat of Wycombe in 1761 under the auspices of Lord Shelburne, who had selected him " as a bravo to run down Mr. Pitt ," was characterized by a vigorous attack on William Pitt the Elder, of whom, however, he ultimately became a devoted adherent.

Returning to England in September 1760, he failed to gain promotion in the army despite his achievements, and turned to Shelburne for help.

Shelburne introduced him to Lord Bute and brought him into parliament for his borough of Chipping Wycombe ( 1761 – 1774 ), and then for Calne ( 1774 – 1790 ).

In 1782 he was appointed Prime Minister for a second time ( with Charles James Fox and Lord Shelburne as secretaries of state ) and, upon taking office, pushed for an acknowledgement of the independence of the United States, initiating an end to British involvement in the American War of Independence.

* The Earl of Shelburne — Secretary of State for the Home Department

In that house, or the church itself, he was visited by Founding Fathers of the United States such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine ; other American politicians such as John Adams, who later became the second president of the United States, and his wife Abigail ; British politicians such as Lord Lyttleton, the Earl of Shelburne, Earl Stanhope ( known as " Citizen Stanhope "), and even the Prime Minister William Pitt ; philosophers David Hume and Adam Smith ; agitators such as prison reformer John Howard, gadfly John Horne Tooke, and husband and wife John and Ann Jebb, who between them campaigned on expansion of the franchise, opposition to the war with America, support for the French Revolution, abolitionism, and an end to legal discrimination against Roman Catholics ; writers such as poet and banker Samuel Rogers ; and clergyman-mathematician Thomas Bayes, of Bayes ' theorem.

After holding subordinate offices under William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and William Pitt the Younger, he entered the cabinet in 1791 as Secretary of State for the Home Department.

In December 1761 he asked Lord Shelburne, a patron, for his assistance in gaining appointment as Chief Justice of Chester, writing again in July 1762 to " prevail upon Lord Bute to recommend me to his Majesty's Notice ", anticipating an upcoming vacancy in the Court of Common Pleas.

In April 1782 it was suggested in cabinet by Lord Shelburne that North should be brought to public trial for his conduct of the American War, but the prospect was soon abandoned.

George III observed to the new Prime Minister Lord Shelburne that he " must see that the great success of Lord Rodney's engagement has so far roused the nation, that the peace which would have been acquiesced in three months ago would now be a matter for complaint ".

* Secretary of State for the Southern Department: Lord Shelburne ( 1766 – 1768 ), Lord Weymouth ( 1768 – 1770 )

As a reward for his conduct at the Battle of Kloster Kampen Shelburne was appointed an aide-de-camp to George III.

When Pitt was made Prime Minister in 1766 Shelburne was appointed as Southern Secretary a position which he held for two years.

In 1761 Shelburne was employed by Bute to negotiate for the support of Henry Fox.

Defending it in the House of Lords, Shelburne observed " the security of the British colonies in North America was the first cause of the war " asserting that security " has been wisely attended to in the negotiations for peace ".