William Langham Christie (31 May 1830 – 28 November 1913)[1] of Glyndebourne, Sussex, and Tapeley, North Devon, was a British Conservative Party politician.
He was the son of Langham Christie, who had inherited Glyndebourne, the Sussex country house now famous for its music festival, after paying off a rival family claimant. William succeeded his father in 1861.
William was the grandson of Daniel Beat Christin, a Swiss of obscure origins who anglicised his surname to Christie on entering the service of the East India Company and who retired to England in the 1780s having made a sudden fortune and an advantageous marriage to the daughter of Sir Purbeck Langham which brought Glyndebourne into the Christin/Christie family.[2]
During the 1870s William made substantial alterations to Glyndebourne, adding a brick extension, ornate stonework and balustrading. In 1876 he engaged architect Ewan Christian to install bay windows and add decorative brickwork to give the house its current Jacobean appearance.[3]
He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes at the 1874 general election, having unsuccessfully contested the seat in 1865 and 1868.[4] He was the first Conservative MP to represent Lewes in the House of Commons since Henry Fitzroy had died in 1860. Christie was re-elected in 1880, and retired from Parliament at the 1885 general election.[4]
