William Edward Nightingale

William Edward Nightingale (1794-1874), was son of William Shore, a Sheffield banker. When Nightingale came of age on 21 February 1815 he inherited the Derbyshire estates at Lea Hurst and Woodend in Derbyshire from, and assumed the surname of Peter Nightingale, his mother's uncle.

1818, June 1st William married Frances Smith.

Father of Frances Parthenope (Parthe) and Florence (so named after the Italian city in which she was born).

1825 the family moved to Lea Hurst which Nightingale had just built.

In 1826 he also bought Embley Park (see 1856 sketch by his daughter, Parthe), in Hampshire, and in1828 he became High Sheriff of the county.

The family invariably spent the summer at Lea Hurst and the winter at Embley Park, occasionally visiting London.

William Nightingale stood for MP for Andover in 1834, but was defeated.

William Nightingale (known also as W.E.N.) was born William Edward Shore. His mother Mary née Evans was the niece of one Peter Nightingale, a lead mining entrepreneur, under the terms of whose will William Shore inherited his estate Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, but also assumed the name and arms of Nightingale in 1815.

In 1817, when he was 23 and she 29, he married Frances "Fanny" Smith (1789–1880), from Parndon in Essex, daughter of the abolitionist, Whig member of Parliament, William Smith. They had one son, Peter, who died aged 3 of tuberculosis.

References

1. Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol. II. page 1453