BARONETAGE
Last updated 30/10/2018 (18 Jan 2024)
Date Type Order Name Born Died Age
Dates in italics in the "Born" column indicate that the baronet was baptised on that date; dates in italics in the "Died" column indicate that the baronet was buried on that date.
ABDY of Felix Hall, Essex
14 Jul 1641 E 1 Thomas Abdy by May 1612 14 Jan 1686
14 Jan 1686 2 Anthony Abdy c 1655 2 Apr 1704
2 Apr 1704 3 Anthony Thomas Abdy c 1690 11 Jun 1733
11 Jun 1733 4 William Abdy by Sep 1689 18 Jan 1750
18 Jan 1750 5 Anthony Thomas Abdy
MP for Knaresborough 1763‑1775
c 1720 7 Apr 1775
7 Apr 1775 6 William Abdy c 1732 21 Jul 1803
21 Jul 1803
to    
16 Apr 1868
7 William Abdy
MP for Malmesbury 1817‑1818
Extinct on his death
1779 16 Apr 1868 88
ABDY of Albyns, Essex
9 Jun 1660 E 1 Robert Abdy c 1615 1670
1670 2 John Abdy c 1643 1691
1691 3 Robert Abdy
MP for Essex 1727‑1748
8 Apr 1688 27 Aug 1748
27 Aug 1748
to    
1 Apr 1759
4 John Abdy
MP for Essex 1748‑1759
Extinct on his death
c 1714 1 Apr 1759
ABDY of Moores, Essex
22 Jun 1660
to    
1662
E 1 John Abdy
Extinct on his death
c 1620 1662
ABDY of Albyns, Essex
8 Jan 1850 UK 1 Thomas Neville Abdy
MP for Lyme Regis 1847‑1852
21 Dec 1810 20 Jul 1877 66
20 Jul 1877 2 William Neville Abdy
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
18 Jun 1844 9 Aug 1910 66
9 Aug 1910 3 Anthony Charles Sykes Abdy 19 Sep 1848 17 May 1921 72
17 May 1921 4 Henry Beadon Abdy 13 Jun 1853 1 Dec 1921 68
1 Dec 1921 5 Robert Henry Edward Abdy 11 Sep 1896 16 Nov 1976 80
16 Nov 1976 6 Valentine Robert Duff Abdy 11 Sep 1937 27 Jun 2012 74
27 Jun 2012 7 Robert Etienne Eric Abdy 22 Feb 1978
ABEL of Cadogan Place, London
25 May 1893
to    
6 Sep 1902
UK 1 Frederick Augustus Abel
Extinct on his death
17 Jul 1827 6 Sep 1902 75
ABERCROMBIE of Edinburgh, Midlothian
21 May 1709
to    
14 Nov 1724
GB 1 James Abercrombie
Extinct on his death
14 Nov 1724
ABERCROMBY of Birkenbog, Banff
20 Feb 1636 NS 1 Alexander Abercromby c 1603 by Dec 1684
by Dec 1684 2 James Abercromby 20 Sep 1734
20 Sep 1734 3 Robert Abercromby 11 Mar 1787
11 Mar 1787 4 George Abercromby 1750 18 Jul 1831 81
18 Jul 1831 5 Robert Abercromby
MP for Banffshire 1812‑1818
4 Feb 1784 6 Jul 1855 71
6 Jul 1855 6 George Samuel Abercromby 22 May 1824 14 Nov 1872 48
14 Nov 1872 7 Robert John Abercromby 14 Jun 1850 24 Jul 1895 45
24 Jul 1895 8 George William Abercromby
Lord Lieutenant Banff 1946‑1964
18 Mar 1886 9 Sep 1964 78
9 Sep 1964 9 Robert Alexander Abercromby 15 Aug 1895 19 Oct 1972 77
19 Oct 1972
to    
16 May 2003
10 Ian George Abercromby
Extinct on his death
30 Jun 1925 16 May 2003 77
ABNEY-HASTINGS of Willesley Hall, Derby
28 Feb 1806 UK See "Hastings"
ACHESON of Market Hill, co. Armagh
1 Jan 1628 NS 1 Archibald Acheson 9 Sep 1634
9 Sep 1634 2 Patrick Acheson c 1611 6 Oct 1638
6 Oct 1638 3 George Acheson 4 Aug 1629 1685 55
1685 4 Nicholas Acheson
MP [I] for Armagh County 1695‑1699
c 1656 1701
1701 5 Arthur Acheson
MP [I] for Mullingar 1727‑1749
26 Jan 1688 8 Feb 1749 61
8 Feb 1749 6 Archibald Acheson
MP [I] for Dublin University 1741‑1761, Armagh County 1761‑1776 and Enniskillen 1776
He was created Baron Gosford in 1776 with which title the baronetcy remains merged
1 Sep 1718 5 Sep 1790 72
ACKROYD of Dewsbury, Yorkshire
5 Jul 1956 UK 1 Cuthbert Lowell Ackroyd 1892 11 Apr 1973 80
11 Apr 1973 2 John Robert Whyte Ackroyd 2 Mar 1932 30 Aug 1995 63
30 Aug 1995 3 Timothy Robert Whyte Ackroyd 7 Oct 1958
ACLAND of Columb John, Devon
1 Mar 1644 E 1 John Acland c 1591 24 Aug 1647
24 Aug 1647 2 Francis Acland 1649
1649 3 John Acland c 1636 1655
1655 4 Arthur Acland c 1655 1672
1672
21 Jan 1678
 
E
5
1
Hugh Acland
He obtained a fresh creation 21 Jan 1678
MP for Barnstaple 1679 and Tiverton 1685‑1687
c 1639 9 Mar 1714
Mar 1714 6 Hugh Acland
MP for Barnstaple 1721‑1727
26 Jan 1697 29 Jul 1728 31
29 Jul 1728 7 Thomas Acland (Dyke Acland from 1745)
MP for Devon 1746‑1747 and Somerset 1767‑1768
14 Aug 1722 24 Feb 1785 62
24 Feb 1785 8 John Dyke-Acland Mar 1778 Apr 1785 7
Apr 1785 9 Thomas Dyke-Acland 18 Apr 1752 17 May 1794 42
17 May 1794 10 Thomas Dyke-Acland
MP for Devon 1812‑1818 and 1820‑1831 and Devonshire North 1837‑1857
29 Mar 1787 22 Jul 1871 84
22 Jul 1871 11 Thomas Dyke-Acland
MP for Somerset West 1837‑1847, Devon North 1865‑1885 and Wellington (Somerset) 1885‑1886; PC 1883
25 May 1809 29 May 1898 89
29 May 1898 12 Charles Thomas Dyke-Acland
MP for Cornwall East 1882‑1885 and Launceston 1885‑1892
16 Jul 1842 18 Feb 1919 76
18 Feb 1919 13 Arthur Herbert Dyke-Acland
MP for Rotherham 1885‑1899; Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education 1892‑1895; PC 1892
13 Oct 1847 9 Oct 1926 78
9 Oct 1926 14 Francis Dyke-Acland
MP for Richmond (Yorks) 1906‑1910, Camborne 1910‑1922, Tiverton 1923‑1924 and Cornwall North 1932‑1939; Financial Secretary to the War Office 1908‑1910; Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1911‑1915; Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1915; Secretary to the Board of Agriculture 1915‑1916; PC 1915
7 Mar 1874 9 Jun 1939 65
9 Jun 1939 15 Richard Thomas Dyke-Acland
MP for Barnstaple 1935‑1945 and Gravesend 1947‑1955
26 Nov 1906 24 Nov 1990 83
24 Nov 1990 16 John Dyke-Acland 13 May 1939 26 Sep 2009 70
26 Sep 2009 17 Dominic Dyke-Acland 19 Nov 1962
ACLAND of Fairfield, Somerset
9 Dec 1818 UK 1 John Palmer-Acland
MP for Bridgwater 1781‑1784
11 Feb 1756 23 Feb 1831 75
23 Feb 1831
to    
25 Oct 1871
2 Peregrine Palmer Palmer-Acland (Fuller-Palmer-Acland from 1834)
Extinct on his death
10 Nov 1789 25 Oct 1871 81
ACLAND of Oxford, Oxon
16 Jun 1890 UK 1 Sir Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland 23 Aug 1815 16 Oct 1900 85
16 Oct 1900 2 William Alison Dyke Acland 18 Dec 1847 26 Nov 1924 76
26 Nov 1924 3 William Henry Dyke Acland 16 May 1888 4 Dec 1970 82
4 Dec 1970 4 Hubert Guy Dyke Acland 8 Jun 1890 6 May 1978 87
6 May 1978 5 Antony Guy Acland 17 Aug 1916 14 Dec 1984 68
14 Dec 1984 6 Christopher Guy Dyke Acland 24 Mar 1946
A'COURT of Heytesbury House, Wiltshire
4 Jul 1795 GB 1 William Pierce Ashe A'Court
MP for Heytesbury 1781‑1790 and 1806‑1807
1747 22 Jul 1817 70
22 Jul 1817 2 William A'Court
He was created Baron Heytesbury in 1828 with which title the baronetcy remains merged
11 Jul 1779 31 May 1860 80
ACTON of London
30 May 1629
to    
22 Jan 1651
E 1 William Acton
Extinct on his death
22 Jan 1651
ACTON of Aldenham, Salop
17 Jan 1644 E 1 Edward Acton
MP for Bridgnorth 1640 and 1640‑1644
20 Jul 1600 29 Jun 1659 58
Jun 1659 2 Walter Acton
MP for Bridgnorth 1660
c 1621 3 Sep 1665
c Sep 1665 3 Edward Acton
MP for Bridgnorth 1689‑1705
c 1650 28 Sep 1716
28 Sep 1716 4 Whitmore Acton
MP for Bridgnorth 1710‑1713
1 Apr 1678 9 Jan 1732 53
9 Jan 1732 5 Richard Acton 1 Jan 1712 20 Nov 1791 79
20 Nov 1791 6 John Francis Edward Acton 3 Jun 1736 12 Aug 1811 75
12 Aug 1811 7 Ferdinand Richard Edward Acton (Dalberg‑Acton from 1833) 24 Jul 1801 31 Jan 1837 35
31 Jan 1837 8 John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
He was subsequently created Baron Acton in 1869 with which title the baronetcy remains merged, although as at 30 Jun 2014 the baronetcy does not appear on the Official Roll of the Baronetage
10 Jan 1834 19 Jun 1902 68
ADAIR of Flixton Hall, Suffolk
2 Aug 1838 UK 1 Robert Shafto Adair 26 Jun 1786 24 Feb 1869 82
24 Feb 1869 2 Robert Alexander Shafto Adair, later [1873] 1st Baron Waveney 25 Aug 1811 5 Feb 1886 74
5 Feb 1886 3 Hugh Edward Adair
MP for Ipswich 1847‑1874
26 Dec 1815 2 Mar 1902 86
2 Mar 1902 4 Frederick Edward Shafto Adair 26 Dec 1860 8 Apr 1915 54
8 Apr 1915 5 Robert Shafto Adair 18 Aug 1862 9 Oct 1949 87
9 Oct 1949
to    
4 Aug 1988
6 Allen Henry Shafto Adair
Extinct on his death
3 Nov 1897 4 Aug 1988 90
ADAM of Blair Adam, Kinross
20 May 1882
to    
6 Dec 1922
UK 1 Charles Elphinstone Adam
Lord Lieutenant Kinross 1909‑1911
Extinct on his death
For further inormation, see the note at the foot of this page
7 Aug 1859 6 Dec 1922 63
ADAM of Hankelow Court, Sussex
15 Feb 1917 UK 1 Frank Forbes Adam 17 Jun 1846 22 Dec 1926 80
22 Dec 1926 2 Ronald Forbes Adam 30 Oct 1885 26 Dec 1982 97
26 Dec 1982 3 Christopher Eric Forbes Adam 12 Feb 1920 17 Jan 2009 88
17 Jan 2009 4 Stephen Timothy Beilby Forbes Adam 19 Nov 1923 22 Mar 2019 95
22 Mar 2019 5 Nigel Colin Forbes Adam 7 Dec 1930 8 Jan 2022 91
8 Jan 2022 6 Charles David Forbes Adam
As of 31 Mar 2023, this baronetage does not appear on the Official Roll
8 Oct 1957
ADAMS of London
13 Jun 1660 E 1 Thomas Adams
MP for London 1654‑1655 and 1656‑1658
c 1586 24 Feb 1668
24 Feb 1668 2 William Adams 8 Jun 1634 1687 53
1687 3 Thomas Adams 16 Aug 1659 Aug 1690 31
Aug 1690 4 Charles Adams c 1665 12 Aug 1726
12 Aug 1726 5 Robert Adams c 1754
c 1754
to    
12 Apr 1770
6 Thomas Adams
Presumably extinct on his death
12 Apr 1770
AFFLECK of Dalham Hall, Suffolk
10 Jul 1782 GB 1 Edmund Affleck
MP for Colchester 1782‑1788
19 Apr 1725 19 Nov 1788 63
19 Nov 1788 2 Gilbert Affleck 24 Dec 1740 17 Jul 1808 67
17 Jul 1808 3 James Affleck 29 Apr 1759 10 Aug 1833 74
10 Aug 1833 4 Robert Affleck 27 Jan 1763 7 May 1851 88
7 May 1851 5 Gilbert Affleck 9 Jun 1804 18 Nov 1854 50
18 Nov 1854 6 Robert Affleck 28 Jul 1805 9 Oct 1882 77
9 Oct 1882 7 Robert Affleck
For information on this baronet's wife, see the note at the foot of this page
4 Mar 1852 4 Dec 1919 67
4 Dec 1919
to    
24 Jul 1939
8 Frederick Danby James Affleck
Peerage references state that the title became extinct on his death, but see the note at the foot of this page
3 Feb 1856 24 Jul 1939 83
AGNEW of Lochnaw Castle, Wigtown
For further information on this family, see the note at the foot of this page
28 Jul 1629 E 1 Patrick Agnew c 1578 1661
1661 2 Andrew Agnew 1671
1671 3 Andrew Agnew 9 Jun 1702
Jun 1702 4 James Agnew 9 Mar 1735
9 Mar 1735 5 Andrew Agnew
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
21 Dec 1687 21 Aug 1771 83
21 Aug 1771 6 Stair Agnew 9 Oct 1734 28 Jun 1809 74
28 Jun 1809 7 Andrew Agnew
MP for Wigtownshire 1830‑1837
21 Mar 1793 12 Apr 1849 56
12 Apr 1849 8 Andrew Agnew
MP for Wigtownshire 1856‑1868
2 Jan 1818 25 Mar 1892 74
25 Mar 1892 9 Andrew Noel Agnew
MP for Edinburgh South 1900‑1906
14 Aug 1850 14 Jul 1928 77
14 Jul 1928 10 Fulque Melville Gerard Noel Agnew
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
6 Oct 1900 28 Aug 1975 74
28 Aug 1975 11 Crispin Hamlyn Agnew 13 May 1944
AGNEW of Great Stanhope Street
2 Sep 1895 UK 1 William Agnew
MP for Lancashire South East 1880‑1885 and Stretford 1885‑1886
20 Oct 1825 31 Oct 1910 85
31 Oct 1910 2 George William Agnew
MP for Salford West 1906‑1918
19 Jan 1852 19 Dec 1941 89
19 Dec 1941 3 John Stuart Agnew 16 Sep 1879 27 Aug 1957 77
27 Aug 1957 4 John Anthony Stuart Agnew 25 Jul 1914 6 Feb 1993 78
6 Feb 1993 5 George Keith Agnew 25 Nov 1918 12 Apr 1994 75
12 Apr 1994 6 John Keith Agnew 19 Dec 1950 22 Jun 2011 60
22 Jun 2011 7 George Anthony Agnew 18 Aug 1953
AGNEW-SOMERVILLE of Clendry, Wigtown
31 Jan 1957 UK 1 Peter Garnett Agnew
MP for Camborne 1931‑1950 and Worcestershire South 1955‑1966
9 Jul 1900 26 Aug 1990 90
26 Aug 1990 2 Quentin Charles Agnew-Somerville 8 Mar 1929 13 Oct 2010 81
13 Oct 2010 3 James Lockett Charles Agnew-Somerville 26 May 1970
AINSLIE of Great Torrington, Lincs
19 Nov 1804 UK 1 Robert Ainslie
For information on the special remainder included in this creation, see the note at the foot of this page
MP for Milborne Port 1796‑1802
c 1730 21 Jul 1812
21 Jul 1812
to    
14 Mar 1858
2 Robert Sharpe Ainslie
MP for Mitchell 1802‑1806
Extinct on his death
For further information on the fate of this baronetcy, see the note at the foot of this page
8 Jan 1777 14 Mar 1858 81
AINSWORTH of Ardanaiseig, Argyll
12 Jan 1917 UK 1 John Stirling Ainsworth
MP for Argyllshire 1903‑1918
30 Jan 1844 24 May 1923 79
24 May 1923 2 Thomas Ainsworth 8 Feb 1886 1 Mar 1971 85
1 Mar 1971 3 John Francis Ainsworth 4 Jan 1912 30 Apr 1981 69
30 Apr 1981 4 Thomas David Ainsworth 22 Aug 1926 24 Nov 1999 73
24 Nov 1999 5 Anthony Thomas Hugh Ainsworth 30 Mar 1962
AIRD of Hyde Park Terrace
5 Mar 1901 UK 1 John Aird
MP for Paddington North 1887‑1905
3 Dec 1833 6 Jan 1911 77
6 Jan 1911 2 John Aird 6 Nov 1861 20 Oct 1934 72
20 Oct 1934 3 John Renton Aird 7 Aug 1898 20 Nov 1973 75
20 Nov 1973 4 George John Aird 30 Jan 1940 4 May 2023 83
4 May 2023 5 James John Aird 12 Jun 1978
AIRMINE of Osgodby, Lincs
28 Nov 1619 E 1 William Airmine
MP for Boston 1621‑1622 and 1624‑1625, Grantham 1625 and 1641 and Lincolnshire 1626 and 1628‑1629
11 Dec 1593 10 Apr 1651 57
10 Apr 1651 2 William Airmine
MP for Cumberland 1646‑1653
14 Jul 1622 2 Jan 1658 35
2 Jan 1658
to    
1668
3 Michael Airmine
Extinct on his death
21 Sep 1625 1668 42
AITCHISON of Lemmington, Northumberland
31 Jan 1938 UK 1 Sir Stephen Aitchison 1863 26 Aug 1942 79
26 Aug 1942 2 Walter de Lancey Aitchison 14 May 1892 14 Oct 1953 61
14 Oct 1953 3 Stephen Charles de Lancey Aitchison
For further information on the death of this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
10 Mar 1923 12 May 1958 35
12 May 1958 4 Charles Walter de Lancey Aitchison 27 May 1951
AITKEN of New Brunswick
3 Jul 1916 UK 1 William Maxwell Aitken
He was subsequently created Baron Beaverbrook in 1917 with which title the baronetcy remains merged
25 May 1879 9 Jun 1964 85
ALBU of Grosvenor Place and Johannesburg, South Africa
12 Feb 1912 UK 1 George Albu 26 Oct 1857 27 Dec 1935 78
27 Dec 1935 2 George Werner Albu 3 Sep 1905 18 Feb 1963 57
18 Feb 1963 3 George Albu 5 Jun 1944
ALEN of St Wolstans, Kildare
7 Jun 1622
to    
7 Mar 1627
I 1 Thomas Alen
Extinct on his death
c 1566 7 Mar 1627
ALEXANDER of Menstre, Clackmannan
12 Jul 1625 NS 1 William Alexander
He was subsequently created Earl of Stirling in 1633 with which title the baronetcy then merged until its extinction in 1739
c 1576 12 Feb 1640
ALEXANDER of Dublin
11 Dec 1809 UK See "Cable-Alexander"
ALEXANDER of Ballochmyle, Ayr
22 Jan 1886 UK See "Hagart-Alexander"
ALEXANDER of Edgehill, Stamford, Connecticut
2 Jul 1921 UK 1 Douglas Alexander 4 Jul 1864 22 May 1949 84
22 May 1949 2 Douglas Hamilton Alexander 6 Jun 1900 1983 83
1983 3 Douglas Alexander 9 Sep 1936
ALEXANDER of Sundridge Park, Kent
19 Nov 1945 UK 1 Sir Frank Samuel Alexander 17 Jun 1881 18 Jul 1959 78
18 Jul 1959 2 Charles Gundry Alexander 5 May 1923 31 Dec 2009 86
31 Dec 2009 3 Richard Alexander 1 Sep 1947 2 Dec 2019 72
2 Dec 2019 4 Edward Samuel Alexander 1 Oct 1974
ALISON of Possil House, Devon
25 Jun 1852 UK 1 Archibald Alison 29 Dec 1792 23 May 1867 74
23 May 1867 2 Archibald Alison 21 Jan 1826 5 Feb 1907 81
5 Feb 1907 3 Archibald Alison 20 May 1862 7 Nov 1921 59
7 Nov 1921 4 Archibald Alison 5 Nov 1888 9 Dec 1967 79
9 Dec 1967
to    
13 Jan 1970
5 Frederick Black Alison
Extinct on his death
5 Aug 1893 13 Jan 1970 76
ALLAN of Kingsgate, Kent
18 Sep 1819
to    
14 Sep 1820
UK 1 Alexander Allan
MP for Berwick upon Tweed 1803‑1806 and 1807‑1820
Extinct on his death
c 1764 14 Sep 1820
ALLAN of Lucknow, India
22 Jan 1858 UK See "Havelock-Allan"
ALLEN of London
14 Jun 1660 E 1 Thomas Allen 15 Dec 1690
15 Dec 1690
to    
10 Jun 1730
2 Thomas Allen
Extinct on his death
c 1648 10 Jun 1730
ALLEN of Marlow, Bucks
23 Jan 1933 UK 1 Frederick Charles Allen 19 Jun 1864 27 Sep 1934 70
27 Sep 1934
to    
19 Jan 1939
2 Francis Raymond Allen
Extinct on his death
11 Jan 1910 19 Jan 1939 29
ALLEYN of Hatfield, Essex
24 Jun 1629 E 1 Edward Alleyn c 1586 Nov 1638
Nov 1638 2 Edmund Alleyn c 1632 2 Nov 1656
2 Nov 1656 3 Edmund Alleyn c 1658
c 1658 4 George Alleyn 1664
1664 5 George Alleyn 1702
1702 6 Clopton Alleyn 8 Sep 1726
8 Sep 1726 7 George Alleyn c 1746
c 1746
to    
15 Sep 1759
8 Edmund Alleyn
Extinct on his death
15 Sep 1759
ALLEYNE of Four Hills, Barbados
6 Apr 1769 GB 1 John Gay Alleyne 28 Apr 1724 1801 77
1801 2 Reynold Abel Alleyne 10 Jun 1789 14 Feb 1870 80
14 Feb 1870 3 John Gay Newton Alleyne 8 Sep 1820 20 Feb 1912 91
20 Feb 1912 4 John Meynell Alleyne 11 Aug 1889 17 Dec 1983 94
17 Dec 1983 5 John Olpherts Campbell Alleyne 18 Jan 1928
ALLIN of Blundeston, Suffolk
7 Feb 1673 E 1 Thomas Allin c 1613 5 Oct 1685
5 Oct 1685
to    
Oct 1696
2 Thomas Allin
MP for Dunwich 1678 and 1689
Extinct on his death
Oct 1696
ALLIN of Somerleyton, Suffolk
14 Dec 1699 E 1 Richard Allin
MP for Dunwich 1709‑1710
c 1659 19 Oct 1725
19 Oct 1725 2 Thomas Allin 12 Aug 1765
12 Aug 1765 3 Ashurst Allin c 1720 6 Nov 1770
6 Nov 1770
to    
30 Apr 1794
4 Thomas Allin
Extinct on his death
30 Apr 1794
ALLSOPP of Hindlip Hall, Worcs
7 May 1880 UK 1 Henry Allsopp
He was subsequently created Baron Hindlip in 1886 with which title the baronetcy remains merged
19 Feb 1811 2 Apr 1887 76
ALSTON of Odell, Beds
13 Jun 1642 E 1 Thomas Alston c 1609 11 Jul 1678
Jul 1678 2 Rowland Alston c 1654 24 Sep 1697
Sep 1697 3 Thomas Alston
MP for Bedford 1698‑1701
c 1676 Dec 1714
Dec 1714 4 Rowland Alston
MP for Bedfordshire 1722‑1741
6 Sep 1679 2 Jan 1759 79
2 Jan 1759 5 Thomas Alston
MP for Bedfordshire 1747‑1761
18 Jul 1774
18 Jul 1774
to    
29 Jun 1791
6 Rowland Alston
Extinct on his death
29 Jun 1791
ALSTON of Chelsea, London
20 Jan 1682 E 1 Joseph Alston 31 May 1688
May 1688 2 Joseph Alston c 1640 14 Mar 1689
14 Mar 1689 3 Joseph Alston c 1665 29 Jan 1716
29 Jan 1716 4 Joseph Alston 15 Sep 1691 1718 26
1718 5 Evelyn Alston 12 Nov 1692 15 Apr 1750 57
Apr 1750 6 Evelyn Alston c 1721 1783
1783 7 William Alston 10 Apr 1722 Nov 1801 79
Nov 1801
to    
6 Mar 1819
8 William Alston
Extinct on his death
1746 6 Mar 1819 72
AMCOTTS of Kettlethorpe Park, Lincs
11 May 1796 GB 1 Wharton Amcotts
MP for East Retford 1780‑1790 and 1796‑1802
23 Feb 1740 26 Sep 1807 67
26 Sep 1807
to    
14 May 1854
2 William Ingilby (Amcotts Ingilby from 1812)
MP for East Retford 1807‑1812, Lincolnshire 1823‑1832 and Lincolnshire North 1832‑1835
He subsequently succeeded to the baronetcy of Ingleby of Ripley, Yorks in 1815. Both baronetcies extinct on his death
20 Jun 1783 14 May 1854 70
AMORY of Knightshayes Court, Devon
21 Mar 1874 UK See "Heathcote-Amory"
AMYAND of Moccas Court, Hereford
9 Aug 1764 GB See "Cornewall"
ANDERSON of St Ives, Hunts
3 Jan 1629
to    
1630
E 1 John Anderson
Extinct on his death
1630
ANDERSON of Penley, Herts
3 Jul 1643 E 1 Henry Anderson c 1608 7 Jul 1653
7 Jul 1653
to    
16 Aug 1699
2 Richard Anderson
Extinct on his death
c 1635 16 Aug 1699
ANDERSON of Broughton, Lincs
11 Dec 1660 E 1 Edmund Anderson 10 Aug 1605 19 Jan 1661 55
Jan 1661 2 John Anderson 23 Dec 1628 18 Mar 1670 41
18 Mar 1670 3 Edmund Anderson c 1661 17 Dec 1676
17 Dec 1676 4 Edmund Anderson 7 Jan 1629 c 1703
c 1703 5 Edmund Anderson 4 Nov 1687 3 May 1765 77
3 May 1765 6 William Anderson 31 Mar 1722 9 Mar 1785 62
9 Mar 1785 7 Edmund Anderson 11 Sep 1758 30 May 1799 40
30 May 1799 8 Charles John Anderson 5 Oct 1767 24 Mar 1846 78
24 Mar 1846
to    
8 Oct 1891
9 Charles Henry John Anderson
Extinct on his death
24 Nov 1804 8 Oct 1891 86
ANDERSON of Eyworth, Beds
13 Jul 1664 E 1 Stephen Anderson c 1644 19 Jan 1707
19 Jan 1707 2 Stephen Anderson 1 Oct 1678 21 Oct 1741 63
21 Oct 1741
to    
19 Feb 1773
3 Stephen Anderson
Extinct on his death
15 Nov 1708 19 Feb 1773 64
ANDERSON of Mill Hill, Middlesex
14 May 1798
to    
21 May 1813
GB 1 John William Anderson
MP for London 1793‑1806
Extinct on his death
c 1736 21 May 1813
ANDERSON of Fermoy, Cork
22 Mar 1813
to    
4 Apr 1861
UK 1 James Caleb Anderson
Extinct on his death
21 Jul 1792 4 Apr 1861 68
ANDERSON of Parkmount, Belfast and Mullaghmore, Monaghan
22 Jun 1911
to    
16 Jul 1921
UK 1 Sir Robert Anderson
Extinct on his death
8 Dec 1837 16 Jul 1921 83
ANDERSON of Ardtaraig, Perth
7 May 1919
to    
9 Dec 1942
UK 1 Sir Kenneth Skelton Anderson
Extinct on his death
21 Dec 1866 9 Dec 1942 75
ANDERSON of Harrold Priory, Beds
15 Jun 1920
to    
11 Apr 1963
UK 1 John Anderson
Extinct on his death
8 May 1878 11 Apr 1963 84
ANDERTON of Lostock, Lancs
8 Oct 1677 E 1 Francis Anderton c 1628 9 Feb 1678
9 Feb 1678 2 Charles Anderton 1657 30 Dec 1691 34
30 Dec 1691 3 Charles Anderton 1705
1705 4 James Anderton 5 Oct 1710
5 Oct 1710 5 Laurence Anderton c 1680 4 Oct 1724
4 Oct 1724
to    
12 Feb 1760
6 Francis Anderton
Extinct on his death
12 Feb 1760
ANDRE of Southampton
4 Mar 1781
to    
11 Nov 1802
GB 1 William Lewis Andre
Extinct on his death
25 Nov 1760 11 Nov 1802 41
ANDREWS of Doddington, Northants
11 Dec 1641 E 1 William Andrews c 1649
c 1649 2 John Andrews c 1665
c 1665 3 William Andrews 15 Aug 1684
15 Aug 1684 4 Francis Andrews 3 Apr 1759
3 Apr 1759
to    
1804
5 Williams Andrews
Extinct on his death
1804
ANDREWS of Lathbury,Bucks
27 May 1661
to    
27 Aug 1696
E 1 Henry Andrews
Extinct on his death
c 1629 27 Aug 1696
ANDREWS of Shaw Place, Berks
19 Aug 1766 GB 1 Joseph Andrews 30 Oct 1727 29 Dec 1800 73
29 Dec 1800
to    
27 Feb 1822
2 Joseph Andrews
Extinct on his death
22 Sep 1768 27 Feb 1822 53
ANDREWS of Comber, Down
6 Jul 1942
to    
18 Feb 1951
UK 1 James Andrews
Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland 1937‑1951; PC [NI] 1924
Extinct on his death
3 Jan 1877 18 Feb 1951 74
ANNESLEY of Mountnorris, co. Armagh
7 Aug 1620 I 1 Francis Annesley
He was subsequently created Viscount Valentia in 1622 with which title this baronetcy remains merged, although as at 30 Jun 2014 this baronetcy does not appear on the Official Roll of the Baronetage
2 Jan 1586 23 Nov 1660 74
ANSON of Birch Hall
30 Sep 1831 UK 1 William Anson 13 Aug 1772 13 Jan 1847 74
13 Jan 1847 2 John William Hamilton Anson
For further information on the death of this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
26 Dec 1816 2 Aug 1873 56
2 Aug 1873 3 William Reynell Anson
MP for Oxford University 1899‑1914; PC 1911
14 Nov 1843 4 Jun 1914 70
4 Jun 1914 4 Denis George William Anson
For further information on the death of this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
14 Aug 1888 3 Jul 1914 25
3 Jul 1914 5 John Henry Algernon Anson 13 Jan 1897 10 Mar 1918 21
10 Mar 1918 6 Edward Reynell Anson 31 Jan 1902 26 Jun 1951 49
26 Jun 1951 7 Peter Anson 31 Jul 1924 17 Apr 2018 93
17 Apr 2018 8 Philip Roland Anson 4 Oct 1957
 

Sir William Neville Abdy, 2nd baronet [creation of 1850] and his wives
Following Sir William's death, the following article appeared in the Hobart Mercury on 15 September 1910:-
A strange and grimly pathetic figure has passed from the world with the death of Sir William Abdy, Bart. Here … can be traced the failure of the hereditary principle. The title is an old one and goes back to 1641 [although not in this creation], but the line was broken in 1868 when the 7th holder died without children, at the age of ninety. This Sir William Abdy had married, sixty years previously, a beautiful Miss Wellesley, [illegitimate] daughter of the victor of Waterloo's elder brother [i.e. Marquess Wellesley]. The marriage led to a cause célèbre, and was dissolved by Act of Parliament. Miss Wellesley subsequently married Lord Charles Bentinck, and, in due time, became grandmother to the present Duke of Portland [and also grandmother to the then Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, one of whose grand-daughters was Queen Elizabeth II].
The Sir William Abdy who has just died belonged to another branch of the family which had also secured a baronetcy. He was no more fortunate in affairs of the heart than the husband of Miss Wellesley had been. Born in 1844, and succeeding to the title in 1877, he was married for the first time in 1883.
Sir William was interested in the famous Belt v. Lawes libel action, and was fascinated by one of the witnesses, a Mdlle. Marie Therese Petritzka. He secured an introduction to this lady through Mr. Belt, and settled £20,000 upon her on their marriage. [The libel action referred to occurred in 1882, when Richard Claude Belt, a noted sculptor, sued Charles Lawes (later Sir Charles Lawes, 2nd baronet), himself a sculptor, over articles allegedly written by Lawes which had appeared in 'Vanity Fair' and elsewhere. For further information, see the note under the Lawes baronetcy.]
Three years later Sir William prosecuted Belt for obtaining money under false pretences, and the "sculptor" was convicted at the Old Bailey. Sir William Abdy's story was that Belt told him that a lady named Morphy, who had been a mistress of the Sultan, was anxious to find a purchaser for some valuable jewels which her royal protector had given her. Sir William paid £8,000 for a parcel of paste jewels. After that, law suit followed law suit in quick succession. In 1892 the first Lady Abdy sued her husband for divorce without success. In 1897 Sir William figured as co-respondent in a notorious St. John's Wood [divorce] case. Soon after his second marriage [Marie Petritzka had died in September 1902], he sued his wife for a divorce, and won [he had married again in December 1902 and won the divorce in 1905]. Finally, in spite of the fact that he was paralyzed as a result of an accident in the hunting field many years earlier, Sir William married the present Lady Abdy [in February 1909]. He showered a pitiable wealth of presents upon her. A country house near Dorking, a cheque for £5,000, two motor-cars, jewels galore, horses and the like. The lady recently made a small sensation by falling out of an aeroplane with Mr. Grahame White, and by offering a large sum (some say £50,000) for the furtherance of aviation in England.
This last reference regarding the third Lady Abdy relates to an incident which occurred in June 1910, which was reported in The Times on 20 June of that year:-
There was keen competition to obtain the privilege of making the first passenger flight with Mr. C. Grahame‑White at Brooklands on Saturday, but Lady Abdy, who secured the right, was not to be envied her experience, for, through the engine not working well, both she and the airman were thrown to the ground, though fortunately neither was hurt.
… After Lady Abdy had taken her place in the aeroplane the machine was started, but it only rose a few feet in the air. The motor was not firing properly, and it became evident that unless the engine would pick up the machine would have to be brought to the ground. The airman described a half-circle, and they had just cleared the River Wey, but had scarcely done so when the opposite bank was struck and the machine was badly damaged. One of the blades of the propeller was broken off, and the right fore plane was damaged.
One must have a certain admiration for Lady Abdy's courage. Her flight came less than 7 years after the Wright Brothers' supposed first flight in December 1903. I say "supposed first flight" because, while I have no doubt that this flight occurred, I have always felt that the flights made by the New Zealander Richard Pearse pre-dated the Wright Brothers' flight (although whether they were "controlled" flights is open to question), and that he has never been given the credit he deserves.
In March 1912, Lady Abdy was again in the headlines after she had given a man named Clairmonte Arnot in charge after he allegedly stole a diamond and pearl brooch belonging to her. After he was acquitted of the theft, Arnot sued Lady Abdy for false imprisonment, to his cost. In the Court's judgment, as reported in The Times of 26 March 1912:-
Mr. Justice Scrutton said "that in this case the defendant [Lady Abdy] gave the plaintiff [Arnot] into custody on a charge of theft. At the Sessions the jury acquitted the plaintiff of the theft. Thereupon the plaintiff brought an action for false imprisonment, not for malicious prosecution, and that action was tried on two days last week. His Lordship left to the jury the question whether the brooch was stolen, and they found that it had not been stolen. He further left to the jury the question of damages, and they returned a verdict for a farthing damages. The interpretation to be put upon that finding was, he thought, that, while they acquitted the plaintiff of theft, they considered his conduct was such as disentitled him from recovering damages. People talked of a person leaving a Court without a stain upon his character, and his Lordship supposed that a man who had been on two occasions acquitted of theft was in that position, but his Lordship had rarely seen a more contemptible person in the witness-box than the plaintiff on his own showing, and he (the Judge) took the same view as the jury as to damages. In these circumstances there would be judgment for the plaintiff for one farthing, but without costs.
Sir Charles Elphinstone Adam, 1st baronet [UK 1882]
William Patrick Adam was a Liberal politician and colonial administrator, who was MP for Clackmannan and Kinross from 1859‑1880. During that period, he was twice First Commissioner of Works (1873‑1874 and 1880), Paymaster General (1873‑1874), and Governor of Madras (1880‑1881), which post he held at his death.
He was about to be created a baronet at the time of his death. Accordingly, his eldest son, Charles Elphinstone Adam was created a baronet in his place. In addition, in the London Gazette (issue 25110, page 2409) there appeared a notice dated 22 May 1882, which stated that:-
The Queen has been pleased to ordain and declare that Emily Eliza Adam, Widow of the Right Honourable William Patrick Adam, C.I.E., later Governor of the Presidency of Fort St. George, at Madras, in the East Indies, shall have, hold, and enjoy, the same style, title, place, and precedence to which she would have been entitled had her said husband survived, and been created a Baronet.
Julia Georgina Affleck, wife of Sir Robert Affleck, 7th baronet
The following article appeared in the Weekly Irish Times on 8 January 1910:-
It has long been the fashion for ladies of title to be connected with trade, but only her own personal acquaintances have known that for the past seven or eight months Lady Affleck, the wife of Sir Robert Affleck, Bart., has been engaged as a saleswoman at Messrs. Selfridge's great emporium in Oxford street. In fact, up to a few days ago, only Mr. Gordon Selfridge and Mr. A. W. Best (the staff superintendent) knew that the smart saleswoman in the costumes department, dressed in the regulation black costume and known to her fellow assistants as Mme. Julie, was the wife of a baronet, who had seen financial misfortune. Mr. Best, in an interview, said that Lady Affleck was among the 10,000 people who applied for situations when Selfridge's opened last spring. "She told me her life-story," said Mr. Best, "explained that she had spent thousands a year in shops, and was prepared to take any situation I could offer. I was (added Mr. Best) so struck with her grit and determination under misfortune that I decided to give her a trial and appointed her a 'critic' - that is to say, she opened an account with Selfridge's, and proceeded to make purchases in all the various departments, and give as her criticism a written report. In this position she proved a great success. Her former experience served her in good stead, and her reports were full of excellent criticisms of the various departments in which she made purchases. The result was that I eventually gave her a position in the costumes department as saleswoman, and an excellent saleswoman she proved herself to be."
Lady Affleck, who was a Miss Julia Georgina Prince, daughter of Mr. John Sampson Prince, was married to Sir Robert Affleck, the seventh Baronet, on March 9, 1886. In 1900 Sir Robert sold the Dalham Hall estate, near Newmarket, to the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes for £107,000. Dalham Hall had been the seat of the Afflecks for a couple of centuries. It is a stately house, built during the reign of Queen Anne by one of the Bishops of Ely, and the estate comprised over 3,000 acres. The property afforded the best partridge shooting in England. The title was conferred in 1782 on Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Affleck in consideration of his gallant conduct in command of the centre division in the memorable victory gained by Admiral Rodney on April 12 of that year. The Admiral had no issue, and was succeeded by his nephew, who, in turn, was succeeded by his cousin so that the relationship between the Admiral and the present baronet is not very intimate. The Afflecks are descended from Gilbert Affleck, of Dalham Hall, a descendant of the ancient Scottish family of Auchinleck, Admiral Sir Edmund being the ninth son. Sir Robert Affleck's affairs were before the Bankruptcy Court in 1903. The accounts showed liabilities of £45,000, and the assets were expected to produce a surplus of £11,000. Debtor attributed his difficulties to his having been defrauded of £10,000 by a solicitor and to his capital being locked up in the Barton Court Estate, Hants.
For further information regarding the Affleck's family seat at Dalham Hall, see the following link:-
The story of Lady Affleck is of great interest to me at a personal level, since my paternal grandmother was employed in the book department at Selfridge's during the same period, and it is thus very possible that the two ladies knew each other.
The fate of the Affleck baronetcy
The obituary of Sir Frederick Affleck, 8th baronet, which was published in The Times on 27 July 1939, reads:-
The death of Sir Frederick Affleck, eighth baronet, is announced by a Reuter message from Brisbane. He was a fruit grower. Born on February 3, 1856, Frederick Danby James Affleck was the eldest son of the late Rev. James Danby Affleck, third son of the fourth baronet. He succeeded his cousin in 1919. In 1904 he married Lily, daughter of Alfred Quarm Ross, and had two sons, the elder being Mr. Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, who was born in 1905. [my emphasis]
Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, born 29 March 1905, is also shown as the heir to the baronetcy in the eighth baronet's entry in Who's Who.
On the face of it, therefore, there would seem to be little doubt that Sir Frederick left male heirs, apparently legitimate, who would normally be expected to inherit the baronetcy, but the title, on the death of the eighth baronet, appears to have become extinct. I can find no trace of the baronetcy after 1939 - no entry ever appeared in Who's Who which indicates that the title passed to a son, and Colin Parry's Index of Baronetage Creations states that the title became extinct in 1939. Now, however, due to the kindness of my friend, archivist Nicholas Kingsley, who runs a magnificent site at landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/ I am able to finally resolve this question. If you wish to know anything about the landowning families of the British Isles and the country houses they lived in, Nick's page is where you should go. Nick was able to supply me with a copy of the Affleck file held in the National Archives, and for this I am very grateful to him.
The letters in the file cover a period of nine years, a period explained by the distance between London and Brisbane during a time of warfare, together with the apparent dilatoriness of the Civil Service (or at least one of its members). Many of the documents in the file are merely "covering" letters of the "please find attached" variety, and I have therefore limited this note to those documents of substance. The first of these is a letter from the 8th baronet's widow to the Registrar of the Baronetage, appended below. I have retained Lady Affleck's underlinings.
7th March 1940
The Registrar of the Baronetage, London
Dear Sir,
Please accept my regrets, that owing to the war, the uncertainty of safe delivery of overseas mail, family trouble, and the state of my health; you have not been ere this [been] notified of the death of my late husband, Frederick Danby James Affleck, 8th baronet, son of the Rev. James Danby Affleck, Dalham, Suffolk, England, who died at the General Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on the 24th July 1939, aged 83 years, 6 months. Born 1856, February 3rd.
I was associated with Sir Frederick 15 years previous to our marriage. During that period I bore him three children, Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, born at Wynnum, Brisbane, Queensland, March 29th 1905, Dalham, registered Dalham, christened Dalham Robert Affleck, born at Morningside, Brisbane, Queensland May 3rd 1906, Pansy Gabrielle Affleck, born at Crows Nest, Toowoomba, Queensland, January 17th 1909, deceased June 7th 1914.
The children were registered in their father's surname. Before residing with Mr. Affleck, I had been living apart from my husband by deed of separation drawn out by Messrs O'Shea and O'Shea, Solicitors, Brisbane.
One day in Toowoomba, as Frederick and I were about to entrain for Brisbane, he purchased The Toowoomba Chronicle"; it contained a paragraph referring to the death by accident on the railway line, of a man whose Christian and surnames, description and age corresponded to that of [my] husband.
Mr. Affleck and I held no doubt whatever but that it was he - strengthened by the fact that my husband was a hopeless inebriate, the more so that the accident occurred near a mental home from which the man had wandered. That was in 1911.
Later, not having seen or heard from him for a period of 13 years (thirteen) and being fully convinced of his death Mr. Affleck and I were married at Brisbane, November 23, 1918.
Years passed. Just 13 years later 1931, I met my first husband's sister whom I had not seen for 26 years.
She said her brother had died in Sidney [sic] a few years previous to our conversation.
I then realised that my second marriage was not valid.
Frederick and I again married, not before satisfying Mr G. Porter, Reg. General for Births, Marriages and Deaths, Brisbane, Queensland that I was free to take this step.
Acting upon his advice, I obtained confirmation of the decease of my first husband from the Reg. General, Sidney, who sent word that he had found the entry-of-death.
Mr. Porter read the document from the Reg. General, Sidney, made further inquiry - then upon that information, consented to my marriage with Sir Frederick, which took place in Ann Street Presbyterian Church, Brisbane, June 21st, 1939.
Six days later, on the 27th June, 1939 my three children were legitimated at the Registry Office for Births, Marriages and Deaths, Brisbane by Mr. Scott, Deputy Registrar in the presence of Sir Frederick and myself.
Four weeks later Sir Frederick passed away.
Subsequently I consulted Mr. Corser one of the partners in the legal firm of O'Shea & O'Shea, Corser & Wadley, who gave me his assurance that our son Frederick James Siddartha having been legitimated prior to his father's demise, is by virtue of that legitimacy now the lawful successor to the Baronetcy.
My son, who hopes next year to establish himself with you request[s] me in the meantime to communicate with "The Registrar of the Baronetage, London.
Sir Frederick died happy in the knowledge that his children were legitimate, and spoke of the matter two days before his death, saying that he was now ready to leave us.
He was an English gentleman.
Will you please be so good as to forward all correspondence on this matter, whether to my son or myself to the address as under:
Lilley Affleck,
Seaville Avenue,
Scarborough,
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia.
Thanking you, I am, Faithfully Yours
Lilley Affleck
The next document of importance in the file is that written by an A.J. Eagleston and dated August 1940. It will be noted that Eagleston's note contains the term "incorporeal hereditament" and it would be wise to understand the meaning of these words before proceeding further. A hereditament is any kind of property that can be inherited. Hereditaments are divided into two classes - corporeal and incorporeal. Corporeal hereditaments are "such as affect the senses, and may be seen and handled by the body; incorporeal are not the subject of sensation, can neither be seen nor handled, are creatures of the mind, and exist only in contemplation." [Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England.] An example of a corporeal hereditament is land held in freehold. On the other hand, examples of incorporeal hereditaments include such items as hereditary dignities and titles of honour (including baronetcies), coats of arms, rights of way, easements, rents and pensions.
1. Frederick Danby James Affleck, the 8th baronet, died in Queensland on the 24th July, 1939. A claim to the baronetcy has been made on behalf of his elder son, Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, born in Queensland on the 29th March, 1905.
   The claimant was born before the marriage of his parents. The question for decision is whether he is entitled to succeed his father in the baronetcy.
2. The claimant was born in Queensland in 1905; his father was the deceased baronet; and his mother was Lily Ross who at the time of the birth was married to somebody other than the father of the claimant.
   In 1918 the claimant's father went through a form of marriage with Lily Ross in Queensland. Subsequently it was learned that the husband of Lily Ross was still alive.
   On the 21st June, 1939, it having been established then that the husband of Lily Ross was dead, the claimant's father and his mother were married in Brisbane.
   The claimant was, in accordance with the requirements of the Queensland Legitimation Acts, registered on 27 July, 1939.
3. It must be observed that this narrative of facts is based on information supplied by Lily Ross; the facts have not been verified from official records. No doubt this can easily be done, but it seems desirable to clear up the legal point set out below before giving the applicant the trouble of producing the documents.
   The deceased baronet had lived in Queensland from a date prior to 1905 until his death in 1939. It seems clear that he was domiciled in Queensland both at the time of the claimant's birth and at the time of his own marriage, and this has been assumed for the purpose of this memorandum.
4. There seems to be no doubt that the claimant is legitimate according to the law of Queensland. Copies of the Queensland Legitimation Acts, 1899 and 1938, are attached to this memorandum. It should perhaps be added, though of course it does not affect the validity of the applicant's claim to the title, that the claimant and his younger brother are understood to have been convicted at Brisbane in 1937 of robbery and blackmail and sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment.
5. Since the claimant's father was domiciled in Queensland at the time of the marriage with the claimant's mother, and since the claimant by the law of Queensland, became legitimated by this marriage, that the claimant is in England recognised as having been legitimated from the date of the marriage and is in the same position as a person legitimated by the Act; and this, it seems is so notwithstanding the exception contained in section 1(2) of the Act as regards the case where the father or mother is married to a third person when the illegitimate child was born. (Collins v Attorney-General 1931). The grounds for this decision are not very clearly brought out in the report; but presumably the decision was based on the view that the words "nothing in this Act shall operate to legitimate a person" in section 1(2) should not be construed as having effect in relation to the operation of extraneous law as applied by section 8, since that law, being a law of the domicile, should be applied in its entirety and without any limitation.
6. But by section 10 of the Act of 1926 nothing in that Act is to affect the succession to any dignity or title of honour. From this it would appear to follow that the legitimation in Queensland cannot enable the claimant to succeed to the baronetcy unless he would have been entitled to succeed under the law of England as it was before the Legitimacy Act 1926 was passed.
7. Before the passing of the Legitimacy Act 1926, the law, it is submitted, was this:- a person born before the marriage of his father and mother was recognised by English law as legitimate provided that his father was domiciled at the time of the birth of the child and at the time of the marriage in a country by the law of which the child was legitimated by the subsequent marriage, but such legitimacy did not enable the person to succeed as heir to lands in England (see the authorities cited in In re Goodman's Trusts (1881)).
8. It seems, therefore, that the Claimant is entitled to succeed unless the succession to a baronetcy is governed by the same rule as formerly applied to succession as an heir to lands in England.
   Although there have been cases of a claim to a Scottish peerage by a person born before the marriage of his parents (Strathmore Peerage case 1821, Lauderdale Peerage (1885)) the general case of a claim to a dignity or title of honour by such a person appears never to have arisen.
   There is ample authority for maintaining that a peerage is an inalienable incorporeal hereditament (Viscountess Rhondda's claim (1922), Earl Cowley v. Countess Cowley 1901). But the only case relating to a baronetcy which has been found is the case of Sir T. Rivett Carnac's Will (1885) in which it was held that, where the patent for a baronetcy was granted to the grantee and the heirs male of his body, the dignity was descendible as an estate tail, notwithstanding that no place was named in the creation of the title. The effect of this decision is that the dignity of baronetcy is an incorporeal hereditament and therefore "land" within the meaning of the Settled Land Act 1882; and if this case was rightly decided it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the judicial decisions as to the descent of land to legitimated Barons are applicable [my emphasis].
9. The decision as to the claim of Frederick James Siddartha Affleck would, therefore, appear to depend on the answer given to the following question:-
   The claimant having been born before the marriage of his father and mother, and the claimant's father having been domiciled in Queensland at the time of the marriage and at the time of the claimant's birth, and the claimant being legitimate according to the law of Queensland, is the claimant as eldest son of his father entitled to the baronetcy?
10. It may be observed that a decision that a person in Mr. Affleck's position is incapable of succeeding to a baronetcy may possibly lead to an awkward and undesirable conflict of laws. The effect would be that he is legitimate for all purposes in his country of domicile (Australia), and, since the Legitimacy Act 1926, legitimate for all purposes except succession to a title in England. Suppose he insists on assuming and using the title after being told that his right to do so is not recognised by His Majesty. The only means of enforcing the decision is by refusing to receive him at Court as a baronet or to give him the title in official documents. This is done in England on the advice of His Majesty's British Ministers acting on a finding of the British Privy Council. But in Australia the right of advising His Majesty belongs to His Australian Ministers, and they might advise that as the man is legitimate without reservation by Australian law His Majesty ought to recognise his title in the Commonwealth.
11. This is very unlikely to happen in the present case, as the character of the claimant is not such as to secure either public sympathy or official support for him; but the same question might easily arise in the case of a popular and respected citizen of Australia, and the fact that a man's right to a title was not recognised in England owing to a technical difference between the English and Australian law of legitimation the logical base of which is removed, or at least greatly weakened, by the removal of the corresponding difference as to the succession in the case of a landed estate might cause friction and ill-feeling. This seems a good reason for getting the question settled on a particular case of such a nature that the point of law can be discussed on its merits alone sine ira et studio [without hate and zealousness].
No further action appears to be have been taken until June 1949, when the following note was submitted to the Attorney General for his opinion.
CLAIM TO THE BARONETCY OF AFFLECK
SUBMITTED FOR THE OPINION OF A LAW OFFICER
PURSUANT TO ART. II OF THE ROLL OF THE
BARONETAGE ROYAL WARRANT DATED 10TH MARCH 1922
1. Art. II of the Royal Warrant of 10th March 1922 provides that if in any case the Secretary of State finds difficulty in advising the King as to the validity of the claims of any person to be placed or to be retained on the Roll he shall refer the matter to one of the Law Officers for his Opinion thereon and shall, after that opinion has been obtained, decide whether the case shall be referred to the Privy Council for decision or not.
2. This case was sent to Swan on the 5th September 1940 and again in 1947. It is another regrettable instance of Swan's inactivity for the Home Office were unable to obtain any opinion. There is, as usual in these cases of delay, no record in the Department. Further copies of the papers have, therefore, been submitted.
3. The short point on which a Law Officer's Opinion is requested is whether the legitimation of the elder son of the baronet per subsequens matrimonium of his parents who were domiciled in Australia is recognised by English law and, if so, whether he is entitled to succeed to the baronetcy.
4. Affleck, the 8th Baronet, lived in Queensland from a date prior to 1905 until his death in 1939 and was clearly domiciled there.
5. The elder son, the claimant, was born on the 29th March 1905 before the marriage of his parents, his mother then being married to somebody other than the father of the claimant.
6. In 1918 the claimant's father and mother went through a form of marriage in Queensland. Subsequently it was learned that the husband of the mother was still alive.
7. On 21st June 1939, it having been established then that her husband was dead, the claimant's father and mother were married in Brisbane.
8. The Claimant was, in accordance with the requirements of the Queensland Legitimation Acts, 1899 to 1938, registered on the 27th June 1939.
9. The father died in Queensland on the 24th July 1939.
10. The claimant is clearly legitimate according to the law of Queensland.
11. Is the claimant recognised as legitimated by English law?
12. Sec. 8 of the Legitimacy Act 1926 provided that where the parents of an illegitimate person marry and the father was domiciled at the time of the marriage in a country, other than England, by the law of which the illegitimate person became legitimated by virtue of such subsequent marriage, that person shall be recognised in England as having been so legitimated.
13. The claimant's legitimation is therefore, I submit, recognised in England notwithstanding Sec. 1 (2) which provides:
   "Nothing in this Act shall operate to legitimate a person whose father or mother was married to a third person when the illegitimate person was born."
   See Collins v A-G (1931) 145 L.T. which held that the restriction under Sec. 1 (2) does not apply when the person seeking to be declared legitimate is domiciled abroad and when by the law of the domicile he would be legitimated per subsequens matrimonium.
14. As far as is known, the claimant is domiciled in Australia.
15. Sec. 10 of the 1926 Act provides:
   "Nothing in this Act shall affect the succession to any dignity or title of honour or render any person capable of succeeding to or transmitting a right to succeed to any such dignity or title"
16. It follows, therefore, that the legitimation in Queensland cannot enable the claimant to succeed to the title unless he would have been entitled to succeed under the law of England before 1st January 1927, the date when the 1926 Act came into force.
17. [Then follows reference to a number of English cases regarding the law of extraneous legitimation prior to 1926 which lead to the conclusion below]
18. The conclusion is that before 1927 the law recognised as legitimate a person born before the marriage of his father and mother provided that his father was domiciled at the time of the birth of the child and at the time of the marriage in a country by the law of which the child was legitimated by the subsequent marriage; but that such legitimacy did not enable the person to succeed as heir to lands in England. [my emphasis]
19. The question remains, what is the nature of a baronetcy? Is it an incorporeal hereditament and therefore land?
20. In peerage cases there is ample authority for maintaining that a peerage is an inalienable incorporeal hereditament. Viscountess Rhondda's claim (1922 2 A.C. 339)
21. In re Sir F. Rivett-Carnac's Will (1885) which appears to be the only case relating to a baronetcy, it was held that a baronetcy was an incorporeal hereditament and was "land" within the meaning of the Settled Land Act 1882. There was no difference in these respects between a baronetcy and other descendible dignities.
22. [This paragraph contains a discussion of the situation in Scotland where a legitimated child is entitled to succeed to a title or dignity.]
23. I submit that there can be no doubt that the claimant could not have succeeded to the baronetcy as the law was before the Act of 1926 and it follows from Sec. 10 of the Act that he cannot do so now. (This is, in a way, fortunate, as the claimant and his younger brother are understood to have been convicted at Brisbane in 1937 of robbery and blackmail and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment.)
   If you approve I will so formally notify the Home Office.
Initialled M.E.R[eed]
Finally, immediately following the submission to the Attorney General above, there is a letter from Reed to the Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, dated 22 June 1949, which reads:-
Sir,
I have submitted to the Attorney-General the papers accompanying your letter of 5th September 1940, respecting the claim of Mr. Frederick James Siddartha Affleck to the Baronetcy of Affleck of Dalham Hall.
I am directed to inform you that in the Attorney-General's opinion, the claimant cannot succeed to the Baronetcy.
I am, Sir
Your obedient Servant
M E Reed
In summary therefore, both Frederick James Siddartha Affleck and his younger brother Dalham Robert Affleck were born before the marriage of their parents. However, their parents subsequently married a short time prior to the death of the 8th&nbs;baronet, and, under the laws of Queensland, the two sons became legitimated when this marriage took place. However, this legitimation did not extend to the succession to incorporeal hereditaments (i.e. the baronetcy) and as a result, there being no other heirs, the baronetcy had become extinct on the death of the 8th baronet.
********************
Readers who have followed the story so far will, no doubt, have noticed references to the Affleck brothers' criminal records (Paragraph 4 in Eagleton's note and paragraph 23 of Reed's note). Given that the Affleck family lived in Queensland, I searched the Australian newspapers for mention of Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, and found that he (and his younger brother) were indeed "wrong 'uns". Four articles referring to them were published in the Melbourne Argus between 1937 and 1939, as follows (all four articles refer to the events as having occurred in Brisbane):-
25 November 1937 -
After a brief retirement a jury to-day brought in a verdict of guilty on all charges of conspiracy and blackmail against Dalham Robert Affleck, aged 31 years, labourer, Frederick James Affleck, aged 32 years, labourer, and Ernest Barker, aged 39 years, grocer. They were remanded until December 2 for sentence.
The charges arose out of incidents in a flat at New Farm [a suburb of Brisbane], when John Wilson, a young lad employed in a city store, was enticed to a flat and assaulted. While unconscious he was photographed. Defendants then used the photographs in an endeavour to extort money from Wilson.
The Crown Prosecutor, addressing the jury, said that Wilson was in a serious condition in hospital with a bullet wound in his chest. "If the boy should die defendants would be morally guilty of murder," he said.
His Honour, in remanding them for sentence, said he regarded the crime as extremely serious. The maximum penalty was life imprisonment; although he did not intend to impose that sentence.
3 December 1937 -
Dalham Roger Affleck, aged 31 years, labourer, and Frederick James Affleck, aged 30 years [sic for 32], labourer, were each sentenced in the Criminal Court to-day to four years' imprisonment, with hard labour on charges that they threatened to extort money from John Frank Wilson by accusing him of gross indecency; that they demanded money with intent to steal; threatened to use violence and use or publish, a photograph of an act of indecency.
Ernest Barker, aged 39 years, grocer, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour on similar charges, sentence being suspended on his entering into a bond of £100 and one surety of £100 …
31 July 1939 -
Sir Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, ninth baronet of Dalham Hall, succeeded to the title while in Boggo road gaol, Brisbane. He and his brother, Dalham Robert Affleck, will spend nearly three more years in gaol as the result of a sentence for robbery and blackmail committed in Brisbane last year.
His father, the eighth baronet, Sir Frederick Danby James Affleck, died in Brisbane last week, and was buried in the Toowong Cemetery.
In an interview in the gaol, the new baronet, who is aged 34 years, said he hoped to go to England to take up the title when he was free. He also hopes to become an author.
The late Sir Frederick Affleck had lived in Queensland since the [1880s], and was aged 83 years when he died. He had farms in the Wide Bay district. In 1903 he was the licensee of the National Hotel, Brisbane. There is no estate accompanying the title.
9 August 1939 -
Sir Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, aged 34 years, ninth baronet of Dalham Hall, Suffolk, England lost an appeal in the Criminal Appeal Court to-day against his conviction on November 24, 1937 on a charge of having in company robber a youth of a letter and two receipts. Affleck was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on this charge. He is also serving sentences for conspiracy and blackmail. He recently succeeded to the title while in gaol.
********************
After I posted my initial draft of this note on the pages of a newsgroup of which I am a member, a fellow member advised me to have a look at a book entitled Sunshine and rainbows: the development of gay and lesbian culture in Queensland [Thanks, Richard!] This book was written by Professor Clive Moore of the University of Queensland, and Professor Moore has kindly granted me permission to quote the relevant section of his book in this note, as follows:-
… Boggo Road prison in Brisbane was Queensland's main jail for several decades. It has housed many illustrious inmates, even the occasional Knight of the realm, but probably only one Baronet, Sir Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, 9th Baronet, of Dalham, County Suffolk, England. The 'camera blackmailers' case, as it became known, rocked Brisbane in 1937, when a Brunswick Street apartment building, still standing today, became infamous as a centre of a gay pornography and blackmail racket.
The Honourable Sid Affleck first came to the attention of the Queensland police in late 1937 when he and his brother Dalham, with Ernest Barker, were charged with conspiring to, and actually blackmailing John W. They had threatened to accuse John W., a blond twenty-one year old shop assistant of Penny's Department Store in nearby Fortitude Valley, of committing an act of gross indecency. One evening in early September, Dalham Affleck met John W on his way to All Saints Church, luring him back to his flat in the Avalon building in Brunswick Street 'to see some eastern articles'. Once there, Dalham Affleck king-hit John W, knocking him out. The young man claimed to have regained consciousness to find himself lying on a bed wearing only his singlet, with the two Affleck brothers going through his belongings. While their victim was unconscious, the Afflecks had photographed him committing 'gross indecency', presumably oral sex, with Dalham Affleck. When the police raided the flat in November they found a camera concealed in the wardrobe, focussed on the bed, along with negatives and photos of other young men in similar positions. In evidence the Afflecks admitted running a club for 'jaded business men who desired to come there for a play-around and be photographed in the nude. We have never demanded money from any of them and I can call them to prove it.' During the Affleck's tenancy, Flat G in the Avalon building seems to have become a gay brothel, the brothers providing themselves or other young men for sexual services for well-to-do business men, and indulging in a bit of blackmail on the side.
The Afflecks wanted to blackmail John W, suggesting that he steal money from his employers to pay them. A week after the incident John W was so distressed that, in a state of nervous collapse, he had to consult his doctor. This was because the Afflecks had visited him at work, attempting further intimidation. John W, wisely, then told Pennys' manager of the plot. The police became involved, providing John W with marked pound notes to give to the Afflecks. On 21 September Detective 'Nobby' Clark went to the flat, finding Dalham Affleck and the marked notes. Later, when his younger brother [sic - should be older brother] and Barker returned from the movies, the detective took possession of a series of negatives 'of Brisbane residents in indecent and revolting positions in the nude. And, with one lone exceptional female of the species, the figures were all males.'
Only one of the negatives showed John W and Dalham Affleck, but Dalham featured in most of them. Mr. Justice Macrossan spoke to the jury on the nature of the photo including John W, instructing them to place no stigma on the young man's character, despite the Affleck's protestations that their young victim led them on … John W was not available to give evidence in the November trial because he had attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself on the day of the Court proceedings.
Dalham and Sid Affleck were each sentenced to four years' imprisonment with hard labour. Barker, who developed the photographs, received a suspended sentence of two years with hard labour. In 1939 their request for the right of appeal to the Full Court was refused and they remained incarcerated in Boggo Road Prison, where in July 1939 the Honourable Sid inherited his father's title.
Born in the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum in 1905 and educated in Crow's Nest on the Darling Downs where his parents had a farm, Sid Affleck moved to Sydney in 1925. Soon involved in the criminal underworld, he was convicted of breaking and entering houses and carrying an unlicensed gun. Declared an habitual criminal in 1932 when he was sent to prison for another three years, he was released 'on licence' in April 1937, returning to Brisbane. His brother Dalham also ran foul of the law in Sydney, moving back to Brisbane where he established a school of dramatic art, and wrote and produced several plays, including radio plays. The brothers also ran a florist's shop in the city. Dalham was described by the Sunday Mail as a man of considerable talents, who, 'when in funds, was one of the best-dressed and smartest looking men to be seen in Queen Street.'
Presumably their return had something to do with the health of their eighty-three-year-old father Sir Frederick Danby James Affleck. The title dated back to the eighteenth century but most of the wealth and the family seat, Dalham Hall, had left the family before Sid and Dalham's father settled in Queensland. The Afflecks claim to have been defrauded of £400,000 by a crooked solicitor early in the twentieth century, which was always brought up by Sid Affleck to explain his antisocial ways. Sid's father had never expected to inherit the title, but did so when his cousin died childless in 1919. The 8th baronet had lived in Queensland since the 1880s … in his later years he lived at Dunwich on Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay, then in old age moved to another coastal area, Scarborough, in 1937, a pathetic, blind and poverty-stricken figure, further humiliated by his sons' misdeeds in Brunswick Street.
The 9th baronet and his brother were released from Boggo Road Prison in 1941 but Sir Sid managed to return for another six months almost immediately when he was apprehended for stealing a man's belongings from the Salvation Army's Peoples' Palace in the city. His grieving mother was interviewed by Truth in December 1941, after Sid had resumed his residence in prison. It is not often that a mother has to confront having given birth to two criminals who turned to gay pornography and prostitution for a living. She spoke of the 'curse of the Afflecks', supposed to have been visited on the family over generations.
… the Affleck brothers disappear from view in 1941. The title is no longer current, indicating presumably that the 9th baronet never married and that there were no cousins to whom it could pass. Today, the Avalon apartments in Brunswick Street remain in good repair, the street-corner now a well-known haunt for prostitutes, both male and female. One cannot help thinking that if Sid and Dalham had still been living there they would have had a hand in organising their activities.
The statement that the Affleck brothers disappear after 1941 is not strictly correct. On 22 November 1941, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that
Frederick James Affleck, 35, labourer, eldest son of the ninth [sic] baronet of Dalham, County Suffolk, was sentenced in the Police Court [in Brisbane] today to six months' imprisonment on a charge of having stolen clothing worth £16. Detective Sergeant Harold said that Affleck's father died at Brisbane in 1939, It was not known whether Affleck succeeded to the title, but he claimed he had.
He was again in trouble in 1943 - the Broken Hill Barrier Miner of 5 May 1943 reported that
Frederick James Affleck, stated to be the ninth baronet of Dalham Hall, England, or in line for the baronetcy, was sentenced to three months' gaol in the [Brisbane] Summons Court on a charge of selling sly-grog. Two privates of the United States Provost Corps gave evidence that they bought two bottles of wine for 30s from Affleck in a city lane.
I understand that Siddartha Affleck died in 1975 and was buried at the Mt. Gravatt Cemetery. I have no information on the date of death of Dalham Affleck. Given their sexual proclivities, I initially assumed that neither of the brothers ever married, but I have been advised by my correspondent Michael Andrews-Reading that Dalham Affleck married a woman named Mary Reeding in Queensland in 1928. Unfortunately Michael has been unable to discover any further details. In addition, it seems that Dalham Affleck contracted another marriage in 1942 with a Rita Sheppeard. As a result, there exists the possibility that either, or both, of Dalham's marriages produced a son, who would, but for the law relating to incorporeal hereditaments, have become entitled to the baronetcy, assuming he outlived his father.
The Agnew baronets created in 1629
The following history of the Agnew family was published in The Scotsman on 19 September 1900:-
There is a delightful old legend belonging to the north of France which explains in a most satisfactory way the derivation of the Norman and Scottish surname of Agnew. The old story runs as follows. Among the Norsemen who conquered Northern France, and gave birth to that terribly active race which made itself for centuries such a thorn in the side of Western Europe, was an old Thane who settled near Bayeux. Both he and his wife were now well stricken in years, and childless, and their desire was for a son. Their prayer was heard, and twin boys came home to the childless house. The old couple rejoiced with great joy; but soon their joy was turned into mourning, for the boys sickened, and both died on the same day. While the bodies were lying unburied, a stranger arrived at their house, and the old couple laid aside their grief to do the duties of hospitality to their visitor. In thus entertaining a stranger, they ministered to an angel unawares. The guest was the holy Saint Martin of Tours, who, being shown to the guest-chamber when night came, took water and consecrated it, and going to the room where the bodies lay, sprinkled them with the holy water, and then left the house. When the next mornin the old Thane came to bury his dead, he found the boys alive and well. The children hence-forward bore the names of "Agneaux" - Lambs of God. The date of the miracle is not given - it would perhaps spoil a miracle to have too exact a date attached to it; but the truth of the event cannot be questioned, for do not the descendants of these "Heavenly Twins" still hold in the Bocages [i.e. the wooded countryside characteristic of northern France, with small, irregular shaped fields and many hedges and copses] of Normandy the same land which the old Norse Thane won for himself, and are there not Agnews in France, and England, and Ireland, and Scotland - in fact, wherever the Normans have entered in and possessed the land?
The descendants of the old Thane multiplied in numbers, and added to their possessions in Normandy, and when in the course of centuries the iron-handed Duke William led his Normans across the Channel to the conquest of England, there were found among his knights more than one of the cadets of the family of Agneaux. To one was given lands at Redenhall, in Norfolk; another was settled in Hertfordshire; in the course of years the old name was corrupted to de Aignell. The Hertfordshire branch of the stock did not prosper, and when John de Aignell grew to manhood about the middle of the fourteenth century, he found that the land which his forebears had acquired at the Conquest had all melted away. He was a pushing young fellow, so he got together a small body of retainers, and set out in search of fortune. Scotland was then in a chronic state of unrest; or rather it was further down than usual, for David II was on the throne, and he was an incapable. To Edinburgh, therefore, went Aignell with his little band of followers, seeing a likelihood of employment. The King welcomed the Knight, and desiring to strengthen the Royal power in far-off Galloway, sent Aignell there, making him keeper of the Royal Castle of Lochnaw, on the western shore of Wigtownshire, looking across the Irish Channel to County Antrim. Here, then, John de Aignell settled down about 1365, as the King's representative, and in the course of time the family name was softened, adopting the French pronunciation again, and was spelt Agnew.
The story of the family is a very pleasant one to think of, for the Agnews, as a race, have had the faculty - not too common in Scotland - of keeping in sympathy with the mass of the people in politics and religion, while holding their own among their fellow Barons. In the fifteenth century, the Agnew of his time tried to uphold the Royal Authority against the power which the Black Douglas exercised from Threave Castle, but was overpowered, and for a time driven from Lochnaw. When in the long run the King prevailed, he rewarded Agnew by making him Hereditary Sheriff of Wigtownshire, an office which remained in the family from 1451 to 1747, when hereditary jurisdictions were abolished in Scotland. Next century was a dark one for Scotland, and the Agnews took their share in the fighting which went on. The Sheriff of the time of James IV led the levies of Galloway to Flodden, and returned so badly wounded that he died in a few days; his son was one of the many Galloway men who were slain in the terrible defeat of the Scots on Pinkie Cleuch; the grandson adopted the Reformation, but like Galloway men as a whole supported Queen Mary, fought for her at Langside [1568], and formed one of her escort when she galloped after that crushing defeat from Glasgow to the shores of the Solway.
Under Mary's son [i.e. James I of England], a baronetcy was conferred on the Agnew family. [It was actually conferred in the reign of Charles I.] In the seventeenth century the Agnews were Presbyterians, and like their neighbours "Westlan' Whigs". Son succeeded father as Sheriff and as member for Wigtownshire in the Scottish Parliament. One took part in the famous Parliament of 1638, which defied Charles I; a cadet of the house was in the Presbyterian army which defeated Montrose at Philiphaugh [13 September 1645]; when Cromwell had overpowered the Scots, Agnew was for a time deprived of his Sheriffship, and an English lawyer appointed in his place. But the darkest day for the family came with the Restoration. Lochnaw had to pay a heavy fine; and matters went from bad to worse with the Agnews, as well as with Galloway as a whole, where the King's ecclesiastical policy was fully developed. Galloway was stubbornly Presbyterian, and had to be coerced; the Sheriff sided with the people and not with the Crown, so he was deposed, and Claverhouse [i.e. John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee] was appointed in his place in 1682.
The memory of these years - it is still known as the "killing time" - is very vivid to this day all over the western shires. The family was driven from Lochnaw, and the house was plundered. But better times came to the Agnews with the Revolution; for Presbyterianism was re-established, and their relatives and good neighbours the Dalrymples of Stair were among the most powerful men in Scotland. The outstanding figure among the Agnews during the eighteenth century was General Sir Andrew Agnew [see next note], the last who held the position of Hereditary Sheriff; his long life extended from 1687 to 1771. As a young man he was present at Marlborough's great victory of Ramillies [23 May 1706]; he commanded the Scottish Fusiliers at Dettingen in 1743; and when that regiment was recalled to join the Duke of Cumberland's army which gathered to resist Prince Charlie, Agnew came to Scotland with it, and commanded the detachment which defended Blair Castle against Lord George Murray - one of the most picturesque episodes in the campaign. The Rebellion cost the Lochnaw family the loss of the Hereditary Sheriffship, which they had held for three centuries, for the Government saw that it was absolutely necessary to sweep away all hereditary jurisdictions, and friends who had stood by the Government had to suffer as well as those who had used their power against it.
During the present century the estate of Lochnaw and the title have been held by three Sir Andrew Agnews. The grandfather of the present Baronet was well known in Scotland as one of "the heroes of the Disruption", and in Parliament, where he sat for Wigtownshire, as the promoter of Sabbatarian legislation. In his own district he was beloved as a kind proprietor, and a deeply religious man. His son, who succeeded in 1849, was also well known and widely respected. He served his own county - Wigtownshire - in Parliament from 1856 to 1868, and died in 1892.
Sir Andrew Agnew, 5th baronet of Lochnaw
The saying "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes" is often, but wrongly, attributed to a number of men, and in particular the American General William Prescott, who were present at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. But the phrase was recorded 32 years earlier, as is shown in a letter to The Times of 15 January 2003:-
At Dettingen, Flanders, on June 27, 1743, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw (5th baronet) gave to the men of his regiment, the 21st of Foot, an order from which this saying is derived. A man of spirit even for the times, he had earlier in the day replied to a brigade order that "the scoundrels will never have the impudence to attack the Scots Fusiliers", but they did.
Formed in square, the Scots Fusiliers held a steady fire rolling along their line and kept off the advancing French infantry. Sir Andrew, a resourceful and experienced officer, had in training practised a novel battle drill with the men in his square should they be attacked by cavalry.
At last, the opportunity to spring this trap appeared when the square was attacked by enemy cuirassiers. Instead of employing the orthodox tactic of seeing them off by standing firm and taking the charge on muskets and pikes, Sir Andrew gave orders that as the cavalry approached the front line the two centre companies should divide from the centre and fall back from the outer markers. This novel approach allowed the cavalry to charge through a line with the Fusiliers facing inwards. At this point Sir Andrew gave the command:
"Dinna fire till ye can see the whites o' their e'en … if ye dinna kill them they'll kill you." The French, as they rode through this lane of soldiers, were subjected to a withering crossfire and destroyed.
Later in the day King George II, who commanded the Army but was a little out of his depth, rode up and said: "So, Sir Andrew, I hear the cuirassiers rode through your regiment today."
"Ou, ay, yer Majestee," was the reply, "but they dinna get oot again."
The Battle of Dettingen was the last occasion when an English sovereign personally led his troops into battle.
Sir Fulque Melville Gerard Noel Agnew, 10th baronet of Lochnaw
The following report appeared in The Scotsman of 3 October 1929. I have retained their spelling of the baronet's name of "Fulke" rather than the "Fulque" which is to be found in baronetage reference works.
When Sir Fulke Agnew arrives this month in Scotland, "finis" will be written to an interesting chapter in an interesting career. A year ago, he was a sergeant of the United States Marines in Shanghai; to-day he is a Baronet.
Sir Fulke, who was educated at Harrow, was born in 1900. When his course at Harrow was finished he did not, contrary to the wishes of his family, enter the College at Sandhurst but enlisted in the Army as a common private. As a private he served in France and Egypt, ultimately serving in India on the frontier, for which campaign he was awarded the service medal.
At the conclusion of his service he decided to go to Mexico, but even this common voyage was not made in the orthodox manner, for he crossed the Atlantic in a 130-foot yacht. When trouble arose in Mexico he went to the United States, and from there to Alaska, returning later to California, where he saw service as a cavalryman, and wrestled with steers as a cowpuncher.
Then came the trouble in the Far East, and Mr. Agnew, as he then was, decided that the best method of seeing things for himself would be to join the United States Marines. Unfortunately for his hopes, he was drafted to the Philippines, a full year elapsing before he reached Shanghai. It was at Shanghai that he first received intimation of his fortune, but for a year, while the legal formalities were being completed, he continued to serve as a sergeant in the Intelligence Department.
The Ainslie baronetcy created in 1804
Firstly, this baronetcy was created with a special remainder, as follows:-
From the London Gazette of 9 October 1804 (issue 15744, page 1266):-
The King has been pleased to grant the Dignity of a Baronet of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland unto Sir Robert Ainslie, of Great Torrington, in the County of Lincoln, Knight, late His Majesty's Ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully begotten, with Remainder to Robert Sharpe Ainslie, of Market Stainton, in the said County of Lincoln, Esq; Nephew of the said Sir Robert Ainslie, and Son of General George Ainslie, deceased, and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully begotten.
My friend Nicholas Kingsley is the author of a blog at http://www.landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/ which presents the results of many years of research into the land-owning families of the British Isles. Nick has very kindly allowed me to reprint the following selection of his blog which deals with the fate of the Ainslie baronetcy after the death of the 2nd baronet in 1858. If you are interested in the history of the land-owning families of Great Britain, then Nick's blog should become one of your favourite websites.
The mystery of the disappearing baronetcy revolves around the character and circumstances of Sir Robert Sharp Ainslie. Despite having a conventional upbringing and becoming rather briefly a diplomat and an MP, Sir Robert seems to have been an obsessively private person: he supplied no information about his family to the compilers of baronetage publications and was inconsistent in his use of his title during his lifetime; at his death he requested that his grave should not be marked in any way. It has usually been reported that he died without surviving male heirs, and thus that the family baronetcy expired with him, but research has shown that actually left three surviving sons and four daughters, born to Robert Sharpe and Elizabeth Ainslie between 1804 and 1825. I have traced baptisms for most of these children in London parish registers, and the entries give no hint that they were illegitimate, but there is no trace of a marriage between the parents. No trace, that is, until 1835, when Robert Sharpe Ainslie - no mention of the baronetcy - and Elizabeth Wanger were quietly married in the unlikely setting of Bethnal Green. The reason his sons did not inherit the baronetcy is thus explained: under English law they were and remained illegitimate. But how did this situation develop? It seems probable that Elizabeth was originally a mistress, probably of lower social status, but their children were all acknowledged and they lived together as a family, so why did he wait so long to regularise their union? The fact that when a marriage did take place it was seemingly in a rather clandestine service at Bethnal Green also suggests that there may have been an element of deception involved. Had Sir Robert allowed the world to assume that a marriage to Elizabeth had taken place before the birth of his children? And if so, were his children - mostly young adults at the time of the marriage - aware of their circumstances? We shall probably never know the answers to these questions, but what is clear is that Sir Robert must have been a complex and rather self-centred man, whose choices robbed his family of the status which was rightfully theirs.
The sons were George Ainslie (1804-75) and Robert Ainslie (1812-95) who both entered the church, and Charles Ainslie (1816/21-1863) of Rowntree Cottage, Edmonton, who became an architect; a fourth son, Henry Ainslie (c 1813-57) became mentally incapacitated after a period in the Army. A sermon of George's which survives from the late 1830s suggests that he possessed an exceptional humility and found himself inadequate to the emotional demands on a clergyman working with the urban poor; he may have had a breakdown in 1854 and thereafter never held a benefice, but worked as assistant secretary of the Church Building Society and the Additional Curates Society.
Canon Robert Ainslie (1812-95) pursued a more orthodox clerical career, retiring as vicar of Grimsby and a minor canon of Lincoln Cathedral in 1879, and moving to live with his unmarried sisters at Rolls Farm, Chingford, which remained in the family until the death of Elizabeth Ainslie (1818-1901). Elizabeth clearly saw her death as marking the end of the family line, but she did in fact have a nephew, Shirley Robert Ainslie, who continued the family name until his own early death in 1907.
As a coda to this story, it may be noted that following the death of Sir Robert Sharpe Ainslie in 1858 his first cousin once removed, Col. Henry Francis Ainslie, a gifted amateur artist who recorded his travels in the army in a series of watercolours, lost no time in petitioning the Queen and the Prime Minister for the revival of the baronetcy in their [his?] favour, but the appeals were unsuccessful and the baronetcy was allowed to lapse.
Sir Stephen Charles de Lancey Aitchison, 3rd baronet
Sir Stephen died from gunshot wounds on 12 May 1958. The following reports appeared in The Times:-
14 May 1958 (with a dateline of Berwick-on-Tweed, May 13):-
Sir Stephen Charles de Lancey Aitchison, aged 35, managing director of the grocery firm of Walter Willson Ltd., was found dead from gunshot wounds in woods near the family home at Coupland Castle, Wooler, Northumberland last night after he had gone out shooting. It is thought that his gun went off when he stumbled over tree roots or in trying to cross a trench. An inquest is to be held tomorrow …
16 May 1958:-
Shena, Lady Aitchison, of Coupland Castle, Wooler, Northumberland, at an inquest at Wooler yesterday, said that her son, Sir Stephen de Lancey Aitchison, aged 35, who was found shot near his home on Monday night, had "lost his children and his home", but had vowed he would never take his life, particularly because of his religious beliefs.
Mr H.J. Percy, the Coroner, recorded a verdict that there was insufficient evidence to enable him to determine how the shooting occurred. The cause of death was head injuries caused by a gunshot wound.
Lady Aitchison said that her son had taken a flat in Newcastle upon Tyne, but had never moved into it. His home was with her. On the day of his death he was normal and cheerful.
The Coroner - Do you know if he had any mental or physical troubles? - His marriage and home were broken up. There was a divorce pending; I have nothing to say on that. He had lost his children and his home - is that not enough to upset anyone?
Thomas Brewis, the gardener, said that Sir Stephen Aitchison had handled guns since he was a boy. The gun, a 12-bore which he would have used to shoot pigeons or ducks, was lying slightly under his legs and the right barrel had been fired.
Dr. A.N. Bousfield said that Sir Stephen Aitchison suffered from spasms of nervous tension. "We did not discuss it, but we both knew that his domestic affairs were the cause," he added. "He never said he would take his own life."
Sir John William Hamilton Anson, 2nd baronet
Sir John Anson, together with twelve other men, women and children, was killed in a railway accident at Wigan on 2 August 1873. The following summary of the accident is taken from contemporary newspapers and from L.T.C. Rolt's fascinating book Red for Danger: A History of Railway Accidents and Railway Safety (John Lane, London, 1955).
The train, commonly known as the 'Tourist Special', left Euston for Scotland at 8 p.m. on the night of 2 August 1873. It was drawn by two locomotives and by the time it left Crewe the train consisted of 25 carriages, many of them coaches belonging to wealthy families, including a coach reserved for Sir John Anson.
As the train was running through Wigan station at about 1.20 a.m., the driver noticed that sparks were flying from the rear carriages. Fearing that part of his train had become detached, he applied his brakes, bringing the train to a gradual stop.
The down platform at Wigan was an island platform, with a set of facing points leading to a loop around the back of the platform. The first fifteen carriages had passed safely over these facing points, but the sixteenth carriage, which was occupied by Lady Florence Leveson Gower and a companion, was derailed, together with all carriages that were travelling behind it. Some of the carriages had run up the ramp at the end of the platform, including that which contained Sir John Anson, which stood upon its roof on the platform, with five bodies, including that of Sir John and his valet, scattered around it.
In all, thirteen passengers were killed and thirty injured. At the subsequent public inquiry into the disaster, the facing points were minutely examined, but no defect in them was ever established. Many surviving passengers did, however, commented that they had been alarmed several times during their journey about the speed of the train, which had caused the carriages to rock and sway. The inquiry accepted that the train was probably travelling too fast, with the result that one of the carriages had jumped the points, dragging all the other carriages with it. No satisfactory explanation was, however, ever advanced, and the cause of the Wigan crash remains a matter of speculation.
In June 1875, the Anson family successfully sued the London and North-Western Railway for compensation, but I have been unable to find what damages were awarded to them.
Sir Denis George William Anson, 4th baronet
Sir Denis succeeded to the title in June 1914, but he wasn't to enjoy it for long, since he drowned in the Thames a month later.
The following account of his death and the subsequent inquest are taken from the Adelaide Advertiser of 10 August 1914:-
The tragic deaths of the young baronet, Sir Denis Anson and Mr. William Mitchell, who were drowned in the Thames in the early hours of last Friday morning [3 July], were, it seems, brought about by sheer folly born of natural high spirits, stimulated by champagne. Sir Denis, who was only 26 [25] years of age, was the son of the late Mr. Frederick Arthur Anson, of Piraki, New Zealand, and spent the early part of his boyhood in New Zealand. He came to England to be educated at Eton, and later went to Oxford University. He studied law, and a short time ago was called to the bar, and began practice in chambers in Mitre Court, Temple, in the same building where his uncle, the late Sir William Anson, to whose baronetcy Sir Denis only succeeded about a month ago, had chambers.
Sir Denis was the only son of his parents, and the youngest of a family of five. At the time of the tragedy he was living in Half Union-street with his mother and sister.
The tragedy had its origin in one of the now fashionable "midnight picnics" up the river. Sir Denis Anson was one of a party of 12 or 14 ladies and gentlemen who boarded a steam launch at Westminster Pier shortly after midnight on Thursday. The party included Count Constantine Beckendorff, a son of the Russian Ambassador, Miss Iris Tree, daughter of the famous actor [Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree], the Hon. Kasper Ridley (brother of Viscount Ridley), Mr. Raymond Asquith (son of the Prime Minister) and Lady Diana Manners, daughter of the Duke of Rutland, and there were also a number of musicians on board to discourse sweet music during the trip. The party, it appears, took supper whilst the launch was making its way up the river to Hampton Court, and nothing untoward happened until the homeward journey was nearing completion. It seems to have been a very merry party, and Sir Denis appears to have endeavoured to add to the merriment by what schoolboys term "playing the goat" - climbing about the superstructure of the launch and the like. Presently, when the launch was nearing Battersea Bridge Sir Denis announced his intention of diving overboard, and climbed on to the bridge to do so. Captain White, who was in charge of the launch, appears to have prevented him carrying out his intention, and to have cautioned Sir Denis as to his conduct.
What actually happened thereafter has produced half a dozen stories, differing materially in detail, but the main facts are clear. Sir Denis was chaffed by some of his companions about his threat to dive overboard, and to prove his courage took a header into the river. The ebb tide was running very fast at the time, and the River Thames at this point is full of swirls and eddies, against which a strong swimmer in nature's garb would find it almost useless to struggle. For a man hampered by clothing - even light evening dress, minus coat - it was courting disaster to do what Sir Denis did, even if his swimming abilities were above the ordinary. The unfortunate young fellow seems to have realised the fact that he had over-estimated his powers very quickly, for he called out something which those on the launch who heard his cries took to be an indication that the baronet was in difficulties. Bandsman Mitchell was the first to act. Without waiting to remove his clothing he plunged overboard to the rescue. It was gallant madness, for, clothed was he was, Mitchell could make no sort of fight against the fast running tide, and was carried away. A few seconds after Mitchell's plunge there was another splash, and Count Beckendorff had followed Mitchell's lead. But neither Mitchell nor the Count had gone far before a strangled cry arose from Sir Denis, and a moment later the waters had closed over his head. That was the last seen of the young baronet. Meanwhile the launch had been stopped and put about, and a waterman, who had heard Sir Denis' cry of distress, came upon the scene in a rowing boat. By that time, however, poor Mitchell had also disappeared, and Count Beckendorff was in dire distress, when the waterman came to his rescue and pulled him into the boat. The Count was in an exhausted condition, and but for the timely arrival of the waterman there would have been a triple tragedy. As it was, two men lost their lives. The launch and the rowing-boat cruised about the place where Sir Denis and Mitchell had disappeared for a long time, but of the two poor fellows not a trace could be found. Mitchell's body was washed up by the tide near Battersea Bridge on Saturday morning, but several days elapsed before the mortal remains of Sir Denis Anson were discovered lying beneath a raft of timbers near Lambeth Bridge, some three miles away from the scene of the tragedy.
At the inquest a large amount of attention was paid to the question of Sir Denis' sobriety. It was admitted that the young baronet had partaken of wine, but it was strenuously denied by every witness that he was inebriated in any sense of the word. "He was merry and full of life", said the captain of the launch, but was certainly not intoxicated, in the opinion of the skipper. And that was the burden of all the witnesses' testimony. Sir Denis was, as always, full of life and fun, and was the life and soul of the party, but he had not had too much drink. So the jury found a verdict of accidental death, and added thereto the rider that they found that Sir Denis was "quite sober, but full of fun".