BARONETAGE
Last updated 14/09/2017 (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.
ANSTRUTHER of Balcaskie, Fife
28 Nov 1694 NS 1 Robert Anstruther
MP for Fife 1709‑1710
24 Sep 1658 Mar 1737 78
Mar 1737 2 Philip Anstruther 27 May 1763
27 May 1763 3 Robert Anstruther 19 Apr 1733 2 Aug 1818 85
2 Aug 1818 4 Ralph Abercromby Anstruther 1 Mar 1804 18 Oct 1863 59
18 Oct 1863 5 Robert Anstruther
MP for Fife 1864‑1880 and St. Andrews 1885‑1886; Lord Lieutenant Fife 1864‑1886
28 Aug 1834 21 Jul 1886 51
21 Jul 1886 6 Ralph William Anstruther
Lord Lieutenant Fife 1923‑1934
5 Jul 1858 30 Sep 1934 76
30 Sep 1934 7 Ralph Hugo Anstruther
He succeeded his kinsman Sir Windham Eric Francis Carmichael-Anstruther as 12th baronet of the creation of 1700 in 1980
13 Jun 1921 19 May 2002 80
19 May 2002 8 Ian Fife Campbell Anstruther 11 May 1922 29 Jul 2007 85
29 Jul 2007 9 Sebastian Paten Campbell Anstruther 13 Sep 1962
ANSTRUTHER of Anstruther, Lanark
6 Jan 1700 NS 1 John Anstruther
MP for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1708‑1712 and 1713‑1715 and Fife 1715‑1741
c 1678 27 Sep 1753
27 Sep 1753 2 John Anstruther
MP for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1766‑1774, 1780‑1783 and 1790‑1793
27 Dec 1718 4 Jul 1799 80
4 Jul 1799 3 Philip Anstruther-Paterson
MP for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1774‑1778
13 Jan 1752 5 Jan 1808 55
5 Jan 1808 4 Sir John Anstruther, 1st baronet
He had previously been created a baronet 18 May 1798
27 Mar 1753 26 Jan 1811 57
26 Jan 1811 5 John Anstruther (Carmichael‑Anstruther from 1817)
MP for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1806‑1818
1 Jun 1785 28 Jan 1818 32
6 Feb 1818 6 John Carmichael-Anstruther
For information on the death of this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
6 Feb 1818 31 Oct 1831 13
31 Oct 1831 7 Windham Carmichael-Anstruther 9 Mar 1793 15 Sep 1869 76
15 Sep 1869 8 Windham Charles James Carmichael‑Anstruther
MP for Lanarkshire South 1874‑1880
1825 29 Jan 1898 72
29 Jan 1898 9 Windham Robert Carmichael‑Anstruther 26 Mar 1877 28 Oct 1903 26
28 Oct 1903 10 William Frederick Carmichael‑Anstruther 30 Apr 1902 29 Nov 1928 26
29 Nov 1928 11 Windham Eric Francis Carmichael‑Anstruther
On his death the creation of 1798 became extinct, while the creation of 1700 passed to his kinsman, Sir Ralph Hugo Anstruther, 7th baronet of the 1694 creation
29 May 1900 9 Apr 1980 79
9 Apr 1980 12 Sir Ralph Hugo Anstruther, 7th baronet 13 Jun 1921 19 May 2002 80
19 May 2002 13 Ian Fife Campbell Anstruther 11 May 1922 29 Jul 2007 85
29 Jul 2007 14 Sebastian Paten Campbell Anstruther 13 Sep 1962
ANSTRUTHER of Anstruther, Lanark
18 May 1798 GB 1 John Anstruther
MP for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1783‑1790, 1796‑1797 and 1806‑1811, and Cockermouth 1790‑1796; PC 1806
He succeeded to the creation of 1700 in 1808 - see preceding entry
27 Mar 1753 26 Jan 1811 57
26 Jan 1811 2 John Anstruther (Carmichael‑Anstruther from 1817)
MP for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1811‑1818
1 Jun 1785 28 Jan 1818 32
6 Feb 1818 3 John Carmichael-Anstruther 6 Feb 1818 31 Oct 1831 13
31 Oct 1831 4 Windham Carmichael-Anstruther 9 Mar 1793 15 Sep 1869 76
15 Sep 1869 5 Windham Charles James Carmichael‑Anstruther
MP for Lanarkshire South 1874‑1880
1825 29 Jan 1898 72
29 Jan 1898 6 Windham Robert Carmichael‑Anstruther 26 Mar 1877 28 Oct 1903 26
28 Oct 1903 7 William Frederick Carmichael‑Anstruther 30 Apr 1902 29 Nov 1928 26
29 Nov 1928
to    
9 Apr 1980
8 Windham Eric Francis Carmichael‑Anstruther
Extinct on his death
29 May 1900 9 Apr 1980 79
ANSTRUTHER-GOUGH-CALTHORPE of Elvetham Hall, Hants
1 Jul 1929 UK 1 Fitzroy Hamilton Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe 5 Jul 1872 29 Sep 1957 85
29 Sep 1957 2 Richard Hamilton Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe 28 Mar 1908 7 Feb 1985 76
7 Feb 1985 3 Euan Hamilton Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe 22 Jun 1966
ANSTRUTHER-GRAY of Kilmany, Fife
4 Jul 1956 UK 1 William John St. Clair Anstruther‑Gray
He was subsequently created Baron Kilmany in 1966 with which title the baronetcy then merged until its extinction in 1985
5 Mar 1905 6 Aug 1985 80
ANTROBUS of Antrobus, Cheshire and Rutherford, Roxburgh
22 May 1815 UK 1 Edmund Antrobus
For details of the special remainder included in the creation of this baronetcy, see the note at the foot of this page
6 Feb 1826
6 Feb 1826 2 Edmund Antrobus 17 May 1792 4 May 1870 77
4 May 1870 3 Edmund Antrobus
MP for Surrey East 1841‑1847 and Wilton 1855‑1877
3 Sep 1818 1 Apr 1899 80
1 Apr 1899 4 Edmund Antrobus 25 Dec 1848 11 Feb 1915 66
11 Feb 1915 5 Cosmo Gordon Antrobus 22 Oct 1859 29 Jun 1939 79
29 Jun 1939 6 Philip Humphrey Antrobus 22 Jul 1876 11 Jul 1968 91
11 Jul 1968 7 Philip Coutts Antrobus 10 Apr 1908 1 Aug 1995 87
1 Aug 1995 8 Edward Philip Antrobus 28 Sep 1938
APPLETON of South Benfleet, Suffolk
29 Jun 1611 E 1 Roger Appleton 16 Jan 1613
Jan 1613 2 Henry Appleton 1649
1649 3 Henry Appleton Jan 1670
Jan 1670 4 Henry Appleton Feb 1679
Feb 1679 5 William Appleton c 1630 15 Nov 1705
15 Nov 1705
to    
Nov 1708
6 Henry Appleton
Extinct on his death
7 Nov 1708
APREECE of Washingley, Hunts
12 Jul 1782 GB 1 Thomas Hussey Apreece 15 Nov 1744 27 May 1833 88
27 May 1833
to    
30 Dec 1842
2 Thomas George Apreece
Extinct on his death
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
19 Aug 1791 30 Dec 1842 51
ARBUTHNOT of Edinburgh
2 Apr 1823 UK 1 William Arbuthnot 24 Dec 1766 18 Sep 1829 62
18 Sep 1829 2 Robert Keith Arbuthnot 9 Sep 1801 4 Mar 1873 71
4 Mar 1873 3 William Wedderburn Arbuthnot 22 Aug 1831 5 Jun 1889 57
5 Jun 1889 4 Robert Keith Arbuthnot 23 Mar 1864 31 May 1916 52
31 May 1916 5 Dalrymple Arbuthnot 1 Apr 1867 31 Mar 1941 73
31 Mar 1941 6 Robert Dalrymple Arbuthnot 4 Jul 1919 30 Jun 1944 24
30 Jun 1944 7 Hugh FitzGerald Arbuthnot 2 Jan 1922 3 Jul 1983 61
3 Jul 1983 8 Keith Robert Charles Arbuthnot 23 Sep 1951
ARBUTHNOT of Kittybrewster, Aberdeen
26 Feb 1964 UK 1 John Sinclair Wemyss Arbuthnot
MP for Dover 1950‑1964
11 Feb 1912 13 Jun 1992 80
13 Jun 1992 2 William Reierson Arbuthnot 2 Sep 1950 7 Oct 2021 71
7 Oct 2021 3 Henry William ["Harry"] Arbuthnot 21 Mar 2011
ARCHDALE of Riversdale, co.Fermanagh
25 Jun 1928 UK 1 Edward Mervyn Archdale
MP for Fermanagh North 1898‑1903 and 1916‑1921; PC [I] 1921; PC [NI] 1922
26 Jan 1853 2 Nov 1943 90
2 Nov 1943 2 Nicholas Edward Archdale 11 Jun 1881 28 Jul 1955 74
28 Jul 1955 3 Edward Folmer Archdale 8 Sep 1921 31 Jul 2009 87
31 Jul 2009 4 Nicholas Edward Archdale 2 Dec 1965
ARMSTRONG of Gallen Priory, King's Co.
18 Sep 1841 UK 1 Andrew Armstrong
MP for King's County 1841‑1852
19 Oct 1786 27 Jan 1863 76
27 Jan 1863 2 Edmund Frederick Armstrong 27 May 1836 24 Apr 1899 62
24 Apr 1899 3 Andrew Harvey Armstrong 23 May 1866 3 Jun 1922 56
3 Jun 1922 4 Nesbitt William Armstrong 3 Jul 1875 23 Sep 1953 78
23 Sep 1953 5 Andrew St. Clare Armstrong 20 Dec 1912 27 Jan 1987 74
27 Jan 1987 6 Andrew Clarence Francis Armstrong
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
1 May 1907 21 Dec 1997 90
21 Dec 1997 7 Christopher John Edmund Stuart Armstrong 15 Jan 1940
ARMSTRONG of Ashburn Place, London
19 Oct 1892 UK 1 George Carlyon Hughes Armstrong 20 Jul 1836 20 Apr 1907 70
20 Apr 1907 2 George Elliot Armstrong 19 Jan 1866 30 Mar 1940 74
30 Mar 1940
to    
7 Jan 1944
3 Francis Philip Armstrong
Extinct on his death
16 Oct 1871 7 Jan 1944 72
ARMYTAGE of Kirklees, Yorks
15 Dec 1641 E 1 Francis Armytage c 1600 12 Jun 1644
Jun 1644 2 John Armytage 15 Dec 1629 9 Mar 1677 47
Mar 1677 3 Thomas Armytage 10 May 1652 early 1694 41
early 1694 4 John Armytage 14 Apr 1653 2 Dec 1732 79
2 Dec 1732 5 George Armytage 23 Aug 1660 24 Apr 1736 75
Apr 1736
to    
12 Oct 1737
6 Thomas Armytage
Extinct on his death
31 Jul 1673 12 Oct 1737 64
ARMYTAGE of Kirklees, Yorks
4 Jul 1738 E 1 Samuel Armytage 5 May 1695 19 Aug 1747 52
19 Aug 1747 2 John Armytage
MP for York 1754‑1758
13 Jul 1732 10 Sep 1758 26
10 Sep 1758 3 George Armytage
MP for York 1761‑1768
25 Dec 1734 21 Jan 1783 48
21 Jan 1783 4 George Armytage 11 Jun 1761 14 Jul 1836 75
14 Jul 1836 5 George Armytage 3 May 1819 9 Mar 1899 79
9 Mar 1899 6 George John Armytage 26 Apr 1842 8 Nov 1918 76
8 Nov 1918 7 George Ayscough Armytage 2 Mar 1872 15 Aug 1953 81
15 Aug 1953 8 John Lionel Armytage 23 Nov 1901 21 Jun 1983 81
21 Jun 1983 9 John Martin Armytage 26 Feb 1933
ARNOT of Arnot, Fife
27 Jul 1629 NS 1 Michael Arnot c 1680
c 1680 2 David Arnot 1 Jan 1711
1 Jan 1711 3 John Arnot 4 Jun 1750
4 Jun 1750 4 John Arnot c 1762
c 1762 5 John Arnot c 1765
c 1765 6 Robert Arnot 3 Jun 1767
3 Jun 1767 7 William Arnot 19 Jul 1782
19 Jul 1782 8 Matthew Robert Arnot 1801
1801
to    
1838
9 William Arnot
Extinct on his death
1838
ARNOTT of Woodlands, co.Cork
12 Feb 1896 UK 1 John Arnott
MP for Kinsale 1859‑1863
26 Jul 1814 28 Mar 1898 83
28 Mar 1898 2 John Alexander Arnott 16 Nov 1853 26 Jul 1940 86
26 Jul 1940 3 Lauriston John Arnott 27 Nov 1890 2 Jul 1958 67
2 Jul 1958 4 Robert John Arnott 19 Aug 1896 25 Jul 1966 70
25 Jul 1966 5 John Robert Alexander Arnott 9 Apr 1927 14 Feb 1981 53
14 Feb 1981 6 Alexander John Maxwell Armytage Arnott 18 Sep 1975
ARRAGH of Arragh, Tipperary
28 Feb 1624
to    
28 Mar 1626
I 1 Terence MacBrian Arragh
Extinct on his death
28 Mar 1626
ARTHUR of Upper Canada
5 Jun 1841 UK 1 George Arthur
Governor of British Honduras 1814‑1822, Van Diemens Land 1824‑1837, Upper Canada 1837‑1841 and Bombay 1842‑1846; PC 1846
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
21 Jun 1784 19 Sep 1854 70
19 Sep 1854 2 Frederick Leopold Arthur 20 Dec 1816 1 Jun 1878 61
1 Jun 1878 3 George Compton Archibald Arthur
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
30 Apr 1860 14 Jan 1946 85
14 Jan 1946 4 George Malcolm Arthur 26 Mar 1908 27 Jul 1949 41
27 Jul 1949 5 Basil Malcolm Arthur 18 Sep 1928 1 May 1985 56
1 May 1985 6 Stephen John Arthur 1 Jul 1953 15 May 2010 56
15 May 2010 7 Benjamin Nathan Arthur 27 Mar 1979
ARTHUR of Carlung, Ayr
10 Jan 1903 UK 1 Matthew Arthur
He was subsequently created Baron Glenarthur in 1918 with which title the baronetcy remains merged
9 Mar 1852 23 Sep 1928 76
ASGILL of London
17 Apr 1761 GB 1 Charles Asgill c 1713 15 Sep 1788
15 Sep 1788
to    
23 Jul 1823
2 Charles Asgill
Extinct on his death
For further information on this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
6 Apr 1762 23 Jul 1823 61
ASHBURNHAM of Broomham, Sussex
15 May 1661 E 1 Denny Ashburnham
MP for Hastings 1660‑1679 and 1685‑1687
c 1628 11 Dec 1697
Dec 1697 2 William Ashburnham
MP for Hastings 1710‑1713 and 1722‑1741, and Seaford 1715‑1717
1 Apr 1678 7 Nov 1755 77
7 Nov 1755 3 Charles Ashburnham c 1680 3 Oct 1762
3 Oct 1762 4 William Ashburnham 16 Jan 1710 4 Sep 1797 87
4 Sep 1797 5 William Ashburnham
MP for Hastings 1761‑1774
5 Mar 1739 21 Aug 1823 84
21 Aug 1823 6 William Ashburnham 21 Jun 1769 23 Mar 1843 73
23 Mar 1843 7 John Ashburnham 26 Dec 1770 1 Sep 1854 83
1 Sep 1854 8 Anchitel Ashburnham 8 Feb 1828 2 Dec 1899 71
2 Dec 1899 9 Anchitel Piers Ashburnham‑Clement 22 Aug 1861 5 Aug 1935 73
5 Aug 1935 10 Reginald Ashburnham 26 Aug 1865 29 Jan 1944 78
29 Jan 1944 11 Fleetwood Ashburnham 2 Mar 1869 5 Mar 1953 84
5 Mar 1953 12 Denny Reginald Ashburnham 24 Mar 1916 21 Jun 1999 83
21 Jun 1999 13 James Fleetwood Ashburnham 17 Dec 1979
ASHBY of Harefield, Middlesex
18 Jun 1622
to    
23 Dec 1623
E 1 Francis Ashby
Extinct on his death
10 Oct 1595 23 Dec 1623 28
ASHE of Twickenham, Middlesex
19 Sep 1660 E 1 Joseph Ashe
MP for Downton 1670‑1685
16 Feb 1617 15 Apr 1686 69
15 Apr 1686
to    
8 Nov 1733
2 James Ashe
MP for Downton 1701‑1705
Extinct on his death
27 Jul 1674 8 Nov 1733 59
ASHFIELD of Netherhall, Suffolk
20 Jun 1626 E 1 John Ashfield c 1597 1635 38
1635 2 Richard Ashfield c 1630 c 1684
c 1684
to    
Mar 1714
3 John Ashfield
Extinct on his death
8 Dec 1654 9 Mar 1714 59
ASHLEY of Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset
3 Jul 1622
to    
13 Jan 1628
E 1 Anthony Ashley
MP for Tavistock 1588‑1589 and Old Sarum 1593‑1594
Extinct on his death
c 1541 13 Jan 1628
ASHLEY-COOPER of Rockbourne, Hants
4 Jul 1622 E 1 See "Cooper"
ASHMAN of Stoke Bishop, Bristol
23 Nov 1907 UK 1 Sir Herbert Ashman 11 Jun 1854 26 Sep 1914 60
26 Sep 1914
to    
22 Dec 1916
2 Frederick Herbert Ashman
Extinct on his death
16 Jan 1875 22 Dec 1916 41
ASHURST of Waterstock, Oxon
21 Jul 1688 E 1 Henry Ashurst
MP for Truro 1681‑1685 and 1689‑1695, and Wilton 1698‑1701 and 1701‑1702
8 Sep 1645 13 Apr 1711 65
13 Apr 1711
to    
17 May 1732
2 Henry Ashurst
MP for Windsor 1715‑1722
Extinct on his death
after 1670 17 May 1732
ASKE of Aughton, Yorks
21 Jan 1922 UK 1 Robert William Aske
MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne East 1923‑1924 and 1929‑1945
29 Dec 1872 10 Mar 1954 81
10 Mar 1954 2 Conan Aske 22 Apr 1912 7 May 2001 89
7 May 2001 3 Robert John Bingham Aske 12 Mar 1941
ASSHETON of Lever, Lancs
28 Jun 1620 E 1 Ralph Assheton c 1581 18 Oct 1644
18 Oct 1644 2 Ralph Assheton
MP for Clitheroe 1625, 1626, Apr 1640, Nov 1640, 1660‑1662 and 1679‑1680
c 1605 30 Jan 1680
30 Jan 1680 3 Edmund Assheton 1620 31 Oct 1695 75
31 Oct 1695
to    
9 Jun 1696
4 John Assheton
Extinct on his death
1624 9 Jun 1696 71
ASSHETON of Middleton, Lancs
17 Aug 1660 E 1 Ralph Assheton 9 Jul 1626 28 Apr 1665 38
28 Apr 1665 2 Ralph Assheton
MP for Liverpool 1677‑1679 and Lancashire 1694‑1698
11 Feb 1652 4 May 1716 64
4 May 1716
to    
31 Dec 1765
3 Ralph Assheton
Extinct on his death
31 Dec 1765
ASSHETON of Downham, Lancs
4 Sep 1945 UK 1 Ralph Cockayne Assheton 13 Sep 1860 21 Sep 1955 95
21 Sep 1955 2 Ralph Assheton, 1st Baron Clitheroe
The baronetcy remains merged with the barony of Clitheroe
24 Feb 1901 18 Sep 1984 83
ASSHETON-SMITH of Vaynol Park, Carnarvon
1 Aug 1911 UK See "Duff"
ASTLEY of Melton Constable, Norfolk
21 Jan 1642
to    
7 Dec 1659
E 1 Isaac Astley
Extinct on his death
7 Dec 1659
ASTLEY of Hill Morton,Warwicks
25 Jun 1660 E 1 Jacob Astley
MP for Norfolk 1685‑1687, 1690‑1701, 1702‑1705 and 1710‑1722
1640 17 Aug 1729 89
17 Aug 1729 2 Philip Astley 20 Jul 1667 7 Jul 1739 71
7 Jul 1739 3 Jacob Astley 3 Jan 1692 5 Jan 1760 68
5 Jan 1760 4 Edward Astley
MP for Norfolk 1768‑1790
26 Dec 1729 27 Mar 1802 72
27 Mar 1802 5 Jacob Henry Astley
MP for Norfolk 1797‑1806 and 1807‑1817
12 Sep 1756 28 Apr 1817 60
28 Apr 1817 6 Jacob Astley
The abeyance of the Barony of Hastings was terminated in his favour in 1841 at which time the baronetcy merged with this title and continues to do so
13 Nov 1797 27 Dec 1859 62
ASTLEY of Pateshull, Staffs
13 Aug 1662 E 1 Richard Astley c 1625 24 Feb 1688
24 Feb 1688
to    
29 Dec 1771
2 John Astley
MP for Shrewsbury 1727‑1734 and Shropshire 1734‑1772
Extinct on his death
24 Jan 1687 29 Dec 1771 84
ASTLEY of Everley, Wilts
15 Aug 1821 UK 1 John Dugdale Astley
MP for Wiltshire 1820‑1832 and Wiltshire North 1832‑1835
27 Jun 1778 19 Jan 1842 63
19 Jan 1842 2 Francis Dugdale Astley 5 Nov 1805 23 Jul 1873 67
23 Jul 1873 3 John Dugdale Astley
MP for Lincolnshire North 1874‑1880
19 Feb 1828 10 Oct 1894 66
10 Oct 1894 4 Francis Edmund George Astley‑Corbett 6 Feb 1859 5 Feb 1939 79
5 Feb 1939 5 Francis Henry Rivers Astley‑Corbett 29 Dec 1915 10 Sep 1943 27
10 Sep 1943
to    
25 Mar 1994
6 Francis Jacob Dugdale Astley
Extinct on his death
26 Oct 1908 25 Mar 1994 85
ASTLEY-COOPER of Gadebridge,Herts
31 Aug 1821 UK 1 See "Cooper"
ASTON of Tixhall, Staffs
22 May 1611 E 1 Walter Aston
He was later created Lord Aston in 1627 with which peerage the baronetcy merged until its extinction in 1751
9 Jul 1584 13 Aug 1639 55
ASTON of Aston, Cheshire
25 Jul 1628 E 1 Thomas Aston
MP for Cheshire 1640
29 Sep 1600 24 Mar 1646 45
24 Mar 1646 2 Willoughby Aston 5 Jul 1640 14 Dec 1702 62
14 Dec 1702 3 Thomas Aston 17 Jan 1656 16 Jan 1725 68
16 Jan 1725 4 Thomas Aston
MP for Liverpool 1729‑1734 and St. Albans 1734‑1741
c 1705 17 Feb 1744
Feb 1744 5 Willoughby Aston
MP for Nottingham 1754‑1761
c 1715 24 Aug 1772
24 Aug 1772
to    
22 Mar 1815
6 Willoughby Aston
Extinct on his death
c 1748 22 Mar 1815
ATKINS of Clapham, Surrey
13 Jun 1660 E 1 Richard Atkins c 1615 19 Aug 1689
19 Aug 1689 2 Richard Atkins
MP for Buckinghamshire 1695‑1696
27 Aug 1654 28 Nov 1696 42
28 Nov 1696 3 Henry Atkins c 1684 6 Aug 1712
Aug 1712 4 Henry Atkins c 1707 29 Mar 1728
29 Mar 1728 5 Henry Atkins c 1726 1 Sep 1742
1 Sep 1742
to    
10 Jun 1756
6 Richard Atkins
Extinct on his death
c 1728 10 Jun 1756
AUBREY of Llantrithyd, Glamorgan
23 Jul 1660 E 1 John Aubrey c 1606 25 Mar 1679
Mar 1679 2 John Aubrey
MP for Brackley 1698‑1700
c 1650 15 Sep 1700
15 Sep 1700 3 John Aubrey
MP for Cardiff 1706‑1710
20 Jun 1680 16 Apr 1743 62
16 Apr 1743 4 John Aubrey c 1707 14 Oct 1767
14 Oct 1767 5 Thomas Aubrey 4 Sep 1786
4 Sep 1786 6 John Aubrey
MP for Wallingford 1768‑1774 and 1780‑1784, Aylesbury 1774‑1780, Buckinghamshire 1784‑1790, Clitheroe 1790‑1796, Aldeburgh 1796‑1812, Steyning 1812‑1820 and Horsham 1820‑1826
4 Jun 1739 14 Mar 1826 86
14 Mar 1826
to    
7 Thomas Digby Aubrey
Extinct on his death
2 Dec 1782 5 Sep 1856 73
AUBREY-FLETCHER of Clea Hall, Cumberland
20 May 1782 GB 1 Henry Fletcher
For details of the special remainder included in this creation, see the note at the foot of this page
MP for Cumberland 1768‑1806
c 1727 29 Mar 1807
29 Mar 1807 2 Henry Fletcher 4 Feb 1772 10 Aug 1821 49
10 Aug 1821 3 Henry Fletcher 18 Sep 1807 6 Sep 1851 43
6 Sep 1851 4 Henry Fletcher (Aubrey‑Fletcher from 1903)
MP for Horsham 1880‑1885 and Lewes 1885‑1910; PC 1901
24 Sep 1835 19 May 1910 74
19 May 1910 5 Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher 13 Mar 1846 5 Jan 1937 90
5 Jan 1937 6 Henry Lancelot Aubrey‑Fletcher
Lord Lieutenant Buckinghamshire 1954‑1961
10 Sep 1887 30 May 1969 81
30 May 1969 7 John Henry Lancelot Aubrey‑Fletcher 22 Aug 1912 19 Jun 1992 79
19 Jun 1992 8 Henry Egerton Aubrey‑Fletcher
Lord Lieutenant Buckinghamshire 2006-
27 Nov 1945
AUCHER of Bishopsbourne, Kent
4 Jul 1666 E 1 Anthony Aucher
MP for Canterbury 1660
1614 31 May 1692 77
31 May 1692 2 Anthony Aucher c 1685 14 Mar 1695
Mar 1695
to    
26 May 1726
3 Hewitt Aucher
Extinct on his death
c 1687 26 May 1726
AUSTEN of Bexley, Kent
10 Jul 1660 E 1 Robert Austen c 1580 30 Oct 1666
30 Oct 1666 2 John Austen
MP for Rye 1667‑1679 and 1689‑1699
1 Apr 1641 5 Jan 1699
5 Jan 1699 3 Robert Austen
MP for Rye 1699‑1701
19 Mar 1664 5 Jul 1706 42
Jul 1706 4 Robert Austen
MP for New Romney 1728‑1734 and 1736‑1741
6 Oct 1697 7 Oct 1743 46
7 Oct 1743 5 Sheffield Austen c 1700 c 1758
c 1758 6 Edward Austen c 1705 10 Dec 1760
10 Dec 1760
to    
13 Feb 1772
7 Robert Austen
Extinct on his death
c 1708 13 Feb 1772
AUSTEN of Derehams, Middlesex
16 Nov 1714
to    
22 Mar 1742
GB 1 John Austen
MP for Middlesex 1701‑1702, 1709‑1710 and 1722‑1727
Extinct on his death
after 1673 22 Mar 1742
AUSTIN of Red Hill, Yorks
16 Jul 1894 UK 1 John Austin
MP for Osgoldcross 1886‑1906
9 Mar 1824 30 Mar 1906 82
30 Mar 1906 2 William Michael Byron Austin 27 Nov 1871 13 Nov 1940 68
13 Nov 1940 3 John Byron Fraser Austin 14 Jul 1897 23 Sep 1981 84
23 Sep 1981 4 William Ronald Austin 20 Jul 1900 16 Mar 1989 88
16 Mar 1989 5 Michael Trescawen Austin 27 Aug 1927 3 Aug 1995 67
3 Aug 1995 6 Anthony Leonard Austin 30 Sep 1930 2 Feb 2017 86
2 Feb 2017 7 Peter John Austin 29 Jul 1958
AVERY of Oakley Court, Berks
6 Dec 1905 UK 1 William Beilby Avery 26 Apr 1854 28 Oct 1908 54
28 Oct 1908
to    
20 Nov 1918
2 William Eric Thomas Avery
Extinct on his death
16 Mar 1890 20 Nov 1918 28
AYKROYD of Lightcliffe, Yorks
16 Jun 1920 UK 1 William Henry Aykroyd 8 May 1865 3 Apr 1947 81
3 Apr 1947 2 Alfred Hammond Aykroyd 3 Jun 1894 29 Apr 1965 70
29 Apr 1965 3 William Miles Aykroyd 24 Aug 1923 18 Jul 2007 83
18 Jul 2007 4 Michael David Aykroyd 14 Jun 1928 21 Mar 2010 81
21 Mar 2010 5 Henry Robert George Aykroyd 4 Apr 1954
AYKROYD of Birstwith Hall, Yorks
23 Mar 1929 UK 1 Frederic Alfred Aykroyd 25 Jun 1873 31 Dec 1949 76
31 Dec 1949 2 Cecil William Aykroyd 23 Apr 1905 23 Jun 1993 88
23 Jun 1993 3 James Alexander Frederic Aykroyd 6 Sep 1943
AYLESBURY of London
19 Apr 1627
to    
1657
E 1 Thomas Aylesbury
Extinct on his death
1576 1657 81
AYLMER of Donadea, co. Kildare
25 Jan 1622 I 1 Gerald Aylmer c 1573 19 Aug 1634
19 Aug 1634 2 Andrew Aylmer c 1614 c 1681
c 1681 3 FitzGerald Aylmer 1663 9 Jun 1685 21
9 Jun 1685 4 Justin Aylmer 24 Feb 1681 1711 30
1711 5 Gerald Aylmer 6 Jan 1737
6 Jan 1737 6 FitzGerald Aylmer
MP [I] for Roscommon Borough 1761‑1768, Old Leighlin 1768‑1776, Kildare Borough 1776‑1783 and Harristown 1783‑1794
14 Sep 1736 Feb 1794 57
Feb 1794 7 Fenton Aylmer Nov 1770 23 May 1816 45
23 May 1816 8 Gerald George Aylmer 15 Sep 1798 8 Feb 1878 79
8 Feb 1878 9 Gerald George Aylmer 26 May 1830 25 Jun 1883 53
25 Jun 1883 10 Justin Gerald Aylmer
For information of the death of this baronet, see the note at the foot of this page
17 Nov 1863 15 Mar 1885 21
15 Mar 1885 11 Arthur Percy Aylmer 31 Aug 1801 7 May 1885 83
7 May 1885 12 Arthur Percy FitzGerald Aylmer 2 Mar 1858 5 Dec 1928 70
5 Dec 1928 13 Fenton John Aylmer VC
For further information on this baronet and VC winner, see the note at the foot of this page
5 Apr 1862 3 Sep 1935 73
3 Sep 1935 14 Gerald Arthur Evans Freke Aylmer 15 Oct 1869 3 Apr 1939 69
3 Apr 1939 15 Fenton Gerald Aylmer 12 Mar 1901 16 Oct 1987 86
16 Oct 1987 16 Richard John Aylmer 23 Apr 1937
AYLMER of Balrath, Meath
6 Nov 1662 I 1 Christopher Aylmer c 1620 Sep 1671
Sep 1671 2 Gerald Aylmer c 1640 Jun 1702
Jun 1702 3 John Aylmer 2 Apr 1714
2 Apr 1714 4 Andrew Aylmer 5 Nov 1740
5 Nov 1740 5 Gerald Aylmer 12 Jul 1745
12 Jul 1745 6 Matthew Aylmer 10 Apr 1724 Apr 1776 52
Apr 1776 7 Henry Aylmer
He had previously succeeded to the Barony of Aylmer in 1766 with which title the baronetcy remains merged
22 Oct 1785
AYLOFFE of Braxted Magna, Essex
25 Nov 1611 E 1 William Ayloffe
MP for Stockbridge 1621‑1622
1563 5 Aug 1627 64
5 Aug 1627 2 Benjamin Ayloffe
MP for Essex 1661‑1662
29 Aug 1592 Mar 1662 69
Mar 1662 3 William Ayloffe 3 Dec 1618 1675 56
1675 4 Benjamin Ayloffe c 1630 5 Mar 1722
5 Mar 1722 5 John Ayloffe 10 Dec 1730
10 Dec 1730
to    
19 Apr 1781
6 Joseph Ayloffe
Extinct on his death
1709 19 Apr 1781 71
AYLWEN of St Bartholomews, London
25 Nov 1949
to    
27 Sep 1967
UK 1 Sir George Aylwen
Extinct on his death
12 Nov 1880 27 Sep 1967 86
AYSHCOMBE of Lyford, Berks
28 May 1696
to    
c 1727
E 1 Oliver Ayshcombe
Extinct on his death
c 1727
 

Sir John Carmichael-Anstruther, 6th baronet [NS 1700]
Sir John, who was aged only 13, was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow Eton student in October 1831. The following account of the subsequent inquest appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 5 November 1833:-
An inquest was held on Tuesday evening, at the Swan public-house, Clewer, Windsor, Berks, before J. Hall, Esq., coroner for Berks, on the body of Sir John Carmichael Anstruther, a young gentleman, about thirteen years of age, a student of Eton College, who was accidentally shot by a fellow-collegian as they were shooting in the Goswells [a park in Windsor]. The whole charge of the gun entered immediately below the right eye of the unfortunate youth, and penetrated the brain. The following are the particulars as detailed in the inquisition:-
Joseph Hack sworn - Was going along a path about a quarter of a mile from hence on Monday last, about 20 minutes before two o'clock. Heard the report of a gun about 20 yards distant. Afterwards saw a young gentleman, named Smyth, running in the direction from whence the report came. As I proceeded along the path still farther the young gentleman ran up to me, and said, "This gentleman has shot himself." I immediately went to deceased, and took hold of his left hand as he lay on the ground; his pulse had ceased to beat, and I exclaimed, "He is quite dead." The gun was lying on deceased's left arm, with the butt-end towards his feet; the leather shot or powder case laid close by the butt-end of the gun. The accident occurred at the bottom of a barley-field. When I first saw Master Smyth, he was running from the path towards deceased. I could not see deceased at the time I heard the report of the, as I was behind some trees at the corner of the field. There were no other persons near the deceased at the time. A Mrs. Stevens was the first person who came to us after the accident. As I was looking at deceased Master Smyth ran up, when his hands and trousers were very bloody; he was much agitated, and would not believe the gentleman was dead.
James Dutton Smyth sworn - I reside at Windsor Castle, and was acquainted with deceased. I saw him yesterday morning, and took him to my father's; we afterwards bought powder and shot, and went to Eton and hired a gun of Mrs. Powell, for the purpose of shooting small birds. After we had got the gun, Powell, whom we found near the Brocas, put as across the Thames, towards Clewer. Deceased and myself took it in turns to fire off the gun. We had shot about five times; it was my turn to shoot when we arrived at a triangular field. I had the gun resting upon my left arm; deceased was very close to me, and advancing on my left side. I was standing sideways toward the deceased, with my hand upon the trigger, when the gun went off, but I cannot say whether it went off from pulling the trigger with my finger, or whether the cuff of my coat caught it. Immediately the gun went off, I ran up to the deceased, threw down the gun by his side, and fell down by him. I put my handkerchief around the wound; the shot belt lay by him, which I threw down at the same time; the powder flask was in deceased's coat pocket. We had had no dispute as to whose turn it was to shoot, and I never quarrelled with him. He was the best of tempers. Immediately after the gun went off, a man came up. I was so frightened at the time that I scarcely knew what I was about. We paid one shilling for two hours' hire of the gun. I hired it, and deceased paid for it. The gun now produced I believe to be the one we hired. About ten minutes after the accident Powell came up, and I went home with him. He brought away the gun, and I believe he took the powder flask from deceased's pocket. He put me across the river. We had engaged him to meet us at a quarter before two o'clock.
James Powell sworn - I am a labourer, and live at Eton. I keep guns to let out to hire to the Eton gentlemen and others. Was not at home when Master Smyth and deceased came to hire the gun. Saw him at the back of my house yesterday with a gun. Master Smyth and deceased gave me sixpence each to be put across the water from the Brocas to the Goswells; after which they went off by themselves shooting. I was desired to fetch them back at a quarter before two o'clock, and I returned, and cleaned out my punt. As I was crossing the water to fetch them at the time appointed, Hall the boatman was coming down the water, and said a gentleman had been shot. I went to where deceased was lying, and was much frightened. I took up the gun and the shot pouch, and Master Smyth gave me the powder horn as he returned home with me. I made all haste I could back, and sent for medical aid. When I had put Master Smyth across the water, I desired him to go and inform his tutor of the accident. I consider the gun perfectly safe; and I also consider Smyth capable of taking care of a gun, or should not let him go off with it. I returned the gun immediately I was told it was necessary I should do so.
Verdict - Accidental death. Deodand of 40s. on the gun. [In law, a deodand is an object or an instrument which becomes forfeited because it has caused a person's death. In theory, deodands were forfeit to the Crown, which was supposed to sell the object in question and then devote the profits to some pious cause. In reality, a jury which found that an object was a deodand would also appraise its value, and the owner of the deodand would be fined an equivalent amount. The rapid development of railways after 1830, and the deaths caused by train accidents where locomotives were held to be deodands with consequent large fines, led to the abolition of deodands in 1846.]
The special remainder to the baronetcy of Antrobus created in 1815
From the London Gazette of 27 December 1814 (issue 16969, page 2535):-
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent has been pleased, in the name and on behalf of His Majesty, to grant the Dignity of a Baronet of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to Edmund Antrobus, of Antrobus, in the county of Chester, and of Rutherford, in the county of Roxburgh, Esq. with remainder to his nephew, Edmund Antrobus, jun. Esq. and his heirs male, and in default of such issue, to his nephew, Gibbs Crawford Antrobus Esq. and his heirs male, both sons of his late brother, John Antrobus, Esq. deceased.
Sir Thomas George Apreece, 2nd baronet
When Sir Thomas died by his own hand in December 1842, he left a will in which his entire estate was left to St. George's Hospital at Hyde Park Corner. No relatives were mentioned in the will. Not surprisingly, the will was challenged in the Courts, on the grounds of the late >baronet's alleged insanity.
There seems to be little doubt that Sir Thomas was insane. One death notice, which appeared in the Kentish Observer after his suicide, reads as follows:-
Sir Thomas Apreece had for many years laboured under the delusion that he should live to an extreme old age, and be the subject of imbecility and decrepitude, of which he had a great dread and horror. A disappointment in love is said to have been the original cause of Sir Thomas Apreece's aberration of intellect; hence he was usually called the "mad baronet", and the "woman-hater"; and yet he required his housekeeper, a very handsome woman, to sleep in his bed-room, with five or six wax candles burning. It appears that the deceased had many peculiarities; that his pulse was only 45, his circulation very languid, his head very hot, his lower extremities very cold. Also, that he delighted in talking upon surgical subjects; in demonstrating the brain of rabbits etc. Sir Thomas generally dined at 11 a.m., and was often in the habit of riding on horseback, with his secretary and groom, half the night. He never permitted a man-servant to sleep under his roof. It is also said that he had the largest collection of reports of suicides in the world. The unfortunate deceased had literally blown his head to pieces - his teeth and portions of the brain being scattered about the room.
The following edited report is taken from the Leeds Mercury of 9 August 1845:-
One of the most prolonged arguments with respect to the will of a deceased wealthy baronet has been in progress the greater part of the last week. The deceased was Sir G.R. De Apreece, Bart. [sic], and though most wealthy, it appears that he lived in a style infinitely inferior to the position in which such wealth placed him. He had large landed property in Essex, in Hampshire, and other counties. His freehold property is worth from £180,000 to £190,000, and he left a personal estate of something short of £25,000. From the pleas it appeared that the baronet from his youth up was exceedingly eccentric. The will in dispute, and which is opposed by a sister (Mrs. Peacock) was executed at a fishmonger's shop in the neighbourhood of Fleet-street, the parties who were witnesses to it being entire strangers. The document, it is true, was duly attested, but it gave the property, real and personal, to St. George's Hospital, excepting two legacies to the executors. In bar of the validity of the will insanity is alleged.
The number of witnesses examined, and documentary evidence brought forward, is unparalleled, not less than 74 witnesses having been produced and examined upon one plea. If reliance is to be placed upon the immense mass of letters which have been brought forward in support of the will, unquestionably St. George's Hospital will reap a rich harvest by the distribution. But the deceased baronet, it appears, for years contemplated self‑destruction, and ultimately died by his own hand. He had carefully collected for years what he called a "Fact Book", in which were pasted all the accounts of murders, suicides, and dreadful accidents. From the proof that monomania upon such subjects existed in the testator's mind, the sister of the deceased has proceeded to oppose the will.
Among the arguments brought forward to prove insanity were a constant fluctuation of intention, a degree of wilfulness in character and irritable temperament, wholly inconsistent with what may be considered a sound state of mind, eccentricities the most remarkable, and incoherency of conduct. Take, for instance, his fury at meals, swearing at the cook and the servants for viands prepared for him and subsequently eating them. On one occasion he threw a hare on the fire, took it off again, and forced the leg down the servant's back, saying it was a mouse. A vast variety of similar eccentricities were brought forward. But on the other side, the documentary evidence is produced to show capacity.
The matter was eventually decided in the Prerogative Court on 14 August 1846. This report appeared in the Ipswich Journal of 15 August 1846:-
… judgment was given by Sir Herbert Jenner Fust in the case of the will of Sir Thomas Apreece. The testator, who succeeded to the title in 1831 [sic - 1833], had acted as high sheriff for the county of Cambridge, and was 51 years of age, on the 30th of December, 1842, when he committed suicide. He died possessed of large freehold estates in the counties of Huntingdon, Leicestershire, Essex etc., of the value of from £200,000 to £300,000, and of personal property to the amount of £24,000, of which from £12,000 to £13,000 was in the hands of his bankers. By his will the whole of this great property was bequeathed to St. George's Hospital, at Hyde-park corner, with legacies of £100 to each of the executors, one of whom had released in order to be examined in the suit. The executors were directed by the will to sell the whole of the estates, and the proceeds, with the personal property, to be paid over as stated.
Mrs. Peacock, the sister of the deceased, and only next of kin, opposed the will. The Court was asked to decide that the testator was insane from early youth, more especially in consequence of propensities, the nature of which need not be stated. Mr. Foster, who prepared the will, had constant intercourse with the deceased upon matters of business, and in his evidence, stated that when the subject of the will was under consideration, he never thought of testing his capacity - that he considered him eccentric and sly, but never questioned his capacity. That the deceased was most eccentric and extravagant was certain.
The Court could not hold that moral insanity alone would be sufficient to invalidate a will. Upon this point, Dr. Conolly and Mr. Lawrence had been examined in this case, and to their opinion the Court was bound to pay deference. They were of opinion that tendency of blood to the head predisposed the subject to insanity. Moral insanity [i.e. where intellectual faculties were unaffected, but where the moral principles of the mind were "depraved or perverted"] was not yet received in these courts as a reason for invalidating a will regularly made [one, albeit American, legal dictionary published in 1856 states that it has been judicially declared a 'groundless theory']. Therefore probate must be granted to the executors, and the costs on both sides be paid out of the estate.
Sir Andrew Clarence Francis Armstrong, 6th baronet
Sir Andrew appears to have led an interesting life, as is shown by his obituary which appeared in The Times of 21 January 1998:-
When Andrew Armstrong was interviewed for his first post in the Western Pacific, he was warned that one of his precursors had been killed and probably eaten by the natives. Was that likely to deter him?
"Oh, no, sir," he insisted, fresh from driving a London bus during the General Strike. He had read a feature about the South Seas in the Boy's Own Paper when he was 11 and it had captured his imagination ever afterwards. He was soon on his way to the Gilbert Islands [now Kiribati] to serve under Sir Arthur Grimble.
Tragedy of a different kind was, however, to befall Armstrong within a year of his arrival on Ocean Island [now named Banaba Island] in 1930. His bride, Phyllis, a colonel's daughter, was lighting a stove to cook their supper when it exploded. Many miles from a modern hospital, she died that night. Armstrong was himself badly burnt while trying to extinguish the flames and he bore the scars on his hands for many years.
He became a district officer on the island of Beru, and married for the second time in 1932 after meeting the New Zealand-born Laurel Stuart while on leave at Suva in Fiji, where she worked as a secretary in Government House. Boats from Australia rarely visited the islands and they lived for much of the time on tinned meat and beetroot, supplemented by fish caught by his personal fisherman. Armstrong also had to learn to sail an outrigger canoe, the only regular means of travelling between the islands.
In 1940, after more than 12 years in the Pacific, he successfully applied for a post in Nigeria, with its better career prospects, after first taking some home leave. He almost lost his life on his way there. He was sailing from Britain in a fast unescorted convoy of four passenger ships in 1941, when his ship was bombed and sunk off Sierra Leone. Armstrong was rescued by the Royal Navy and landed at Lagos, with only a shirt and shorts (given him by a member of the crew).
He went on to serve in northern Nigeria as a district officer in Bida, Zaria and Ajuba, before moving as a senior district officer to the secretariat in Kaduna. He had become an authority on mining while working in the districts, however, and was transferred to Lagos as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Power. He retired in 1961, at only 54, when Nigeria became independent.
Andrew Clarence Francis Armstrong had been born in Dublin where his father was Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum. He was nearly involved in a nasty accident at a tender age when on his way to sing in a concert in the city, dressed up as a soldier, at the start of Easter Rising. A friend travelling on the same train realised that he might be in some danger on such a day and, hiring a cab, spirited him away to an aunt's house, where he hid for several days.
At 16 he had to face the death of his father, who was Bluemantle Pursuivant in the College of Heralds. By then he had already started at St. Edmund's College, Ware, a Roman Catholic public school which he detested, though from there he won a place at Christ's College, Cambridge, to read economics.
On returning from Nigeria more than 30 years later, he found it hard to settle to a second career. He tried managing a building society, accountancy and teaching, without deriving much satisfaction from any of them. He had then to endure a further tragedy in 1969, when his elder son died during a heart by-pass operation, a technique then still in its infancy. Greatly distressed, Armstrong retired finally in order to support his wife.
He was a serious croquet player who became secretary of the Phyllis Court Club at Henley-on-Thames and regularly took part in the national croquet championships at Eastbourne.
He had a gentle rather than a forceful personality, with perfect manners and great integrity, and could reflect with satisfaction upon a life in which he never tried to do anyone down. He often remarked rather wistfully that comradeship in Nigeria was never the same after the development of Paludrine, which kept malaria at bay. Until then they all behaved towards each other with great kindness because none knew when he might be struck down - and be in desperate need of a helping hand.
In 1987 he succeeded a cousin as 6th baronet of Gallen Priory, a title bestowed in 1841. His wife Laurel died in 1988, and Andrew Armstrong is survived by his younger son, a retired lieutenant-colonel, who now becomes the 7th baronet.
Sir George Arthur, 1st baronet
The following biography of Sir George Arthur is taken from the October 1953 issue of the Australian monthly magazine Parade:-
Whatever else could be said of George Arthur - and plenty was said during his regime as Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania in the 1820s - even his many enemies had to admit that he had courage. With his courage he united great administrative ability, tireless energy and a stern and unyielding sense of duty; but his inability to temper justice with mercy, stiff-backed dignity, and his resentment of advice and criticism, oft-times confounded his good intentions.
Arthur is mostly remembered for his service in Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land) in the harsh days of the convict system - his name being identified with that place of sorrow, Port Arthur, which confounded his good intentions by becoming the most infamous penal settlement in the whole colony. He had, however, a notable - and, indeed, in many respects, distinguished - career, in the years both before and after that.
Arthur was an autocrat by nature, and both in Van Diemen's Land and later in Canada he strongly resisted all movements towards representative government. His attitude generally was that it was less important that men should be free than that they should be orderly and well-behaved. To the great majority of the free settlers in Van Diemen's Land his regime represented the worst kind of despotism, and it is recorded that when he left for England at the end of his 12-year term of office bonfires blazed in joyous celebration from one end of the island to the other.
Yet during those 12 years many material benefits had accrued to the colony, and although cruelty and injustice had been perpetrated and the island was still far from being a paradise of peace and prosperity, it had become a safer, more moral and more civilised community in several respects that it had been before. The population had trebled, revenue had increased sixfold and the annual volume of trade had grown from £75,000 to £900,000. Progress had been made in educational and religious institutions, the worst of the convicts had been relegated to Port Arthur, and the bushranging nuisance, while not exterminated, had been largely brought under control.
Arthur, a native of Plymouth, was moulded in the pattern of a martinet in the British Army which he entered at the age of 20 in 1804. He joined the 91st Highland Regiment as an ensign, and the following year was promoted lieutenant and transferred to the 35th Regiment of Foot. He accompanied that unit when it formed part of Sir James Craig's expedition against the French in Calabria, southern Italy, and fought with it in the operations which led up to the Battle of Maida in 1806 in the Napoleonic Wars. Early in 1807 the 35th was ordered to Egypt to take part in the campaign against French-held Alexandria. Shortly after the capture of that city - during the second of two unsuccessful assaults on Rosetta - Arthur made a gallant ride under fire with despatches in which he was wounded.
He was awarded his captaincy in May, 1808, and the following year led a company of his regiment engaged in the disastrous expedition against Walcheren, a large island off the coast of Holland. During the siege of Flushing he and 76 of his men distinguished themselves by beating off a sortie by 300 men of the enemy garrison and capturing 63 of them. His fine leadership on that occasion brought him to the notice of his superior officers, and he was appointed to the staff of Sir Eyre Coote, the commanding general.
He was thanked in general orders for his services and honoured with the freedom of London and Plymouth. General Coote was relieved by General Sir George Don, in civil life the Governor of Jersey, who came to regard Arthur as such an "intrepid, excellent and intelligent Officer" that when he returned to Jersey he took him with him as aide-de-camp and military secretary, a post the young man held until 1812. In November of that year he bought his majority and left England to join the 7th West India Regiment in Jamaica. He was appointed assistant quarter‑master general of the Jamaica forces, and in May, 1814, married the daughter of an artillery general [Sir John Frederick Sigismund Smith] stationed in the West Indies.
Within a month or two of his marriage he received his first civil administrative appointment - that of Superintendent of Honduras. In that post, which he held for eight years, he found himself in a curiously anomalous position by reason of the fact that although Honduras was occupied and administered by Britain it was actually owned by Spain, and no laws could be passed which had not first received the approval of the King of Spain.
Although there, as elsewhere, Arthur was ruthless in his dealings with wrongdoers, he developed an unexpected solicitude for the welfare of the negro slaves on the plantations. He punished a number of plantation owners who were cruel to their slaves, and in his reports to the Colonial Office in London there were constant references to the relatively low incidences of such cruelty. It is said that the famous emancipist William Wilberforce studied his views on the treatment and ultimate emancipation of slaves.
When in August, 1823, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, he was given a mandate by the British Government to inaugurate reforms in the system of transportation to Australia, into which there had entered many abuses. When the new Lieutenant‑Governor stepped ashore at Hobart Town on May 12, 1824, with his wife, two sons and three daughters, he found his domain in a sorry state, largely through the drunken carelessness and amiable weakness respectively of Colonel Thomas Davey [c 1758‑1823, Lieutenant‑Governor 1813‑1817] and Colonel William Sorell [1775‑1848, Lieutenant-Governor 1817‑1824], his predecessors in office.
Drunkenness and immorality were rife; smuggling, black-marketing and a confused currency situation had reduced commercial life to a condition bordering on the chaotic; agriculture was languishing; and murder and robbery were daily occurrences. Ruffianly sealers and whalers around the coasts killed aborigines and each other, and escaped convicts "gone bush" preyed on settlers virtually at will. Sorell, who had discarded efficiency to walk the easy road to popularity, had set an example in loose living by taking a mistress, the wife of an army officer, to live openly with him at Government House, and many other men in Hobart had similar irregular domestic arrangements.
Arthur, the adherent of a rigid moral code, quickly made himself unpopular with them by depriving them, by official edict, of all privileges which it was within his power to grant. His ideas on the subject of business probity were just as strict, and his war on corruption and and slackness, his insistence on the payment of import duties and the strong action he took to clean up land scandals soon had other sections of the community up in arms against him.
After December, 1825, when Van Diemen's Land was proclaimed a separate colony and Arthur was no longer subordinate to the Governor of N.S.W., he ruled virtually as a dictator. He had a Legislative Council and an Executive Council nominally to assist and advise him, but, supremely confident that his aims were right, he altered or annulled laws as he saw fit. He became involved in a number of clashes with influential men, notably a famous affair with his own Attorney-General, Joseph Tice Gellibrand [1786‑1837], whom Arthur was instrumental in having impeached on charges of unprofessional conduct. The charges arose from Gellibrand's association with an emancipated convict named [Robert] Lathrop Murray [1777‑1850], whom Arthur bitterly described as "the ablest and most wicked man in the colony". Murray and Andrew Bent [1790‑1851], editor of the Hobart Town Gazette, combined in a prolonged series of bitter attacks on the lieutenant-governor through the columns of that newspaper, and it was alleged that Gellibrand had expressed himself in sympathy with Murray's views and had helped him to keep within the libel laws. The outcome, after protracted legal proceedings - in which the prosecution was conducted by [Sir] Alfred Stephen [1802‑1894], who crowned a distinguished career in later years as Chief Justice of N.S.W. - was that Gellibrand was at first temporarily suspended and finally removed from the office of Attorney-General.
It is small wonder, in view of these and other incidents during his lieutenant-governorship, that Arthur was moved on one occasion to write to Lord Bathurst, the Colonial Secretary, that: "No man can do his duty to the Crown in this colony and be popular". His attitude to the wretched aborigines, who were treated with the utmost brutality by the great majority of the white men and who naturally retaliated, was motivated by the same good intentions as lay behind his establishment of the grim convict fortress of Port Arthur.
It culminated in the farcical "Black War" of 1830, when an army of soldiers, police and armed settlers formed a cordon from the Great Lake to St. Patrick's Head on the east coast and made a drive south with the object of segregating the blacks in Tasman Peninsula. It cost £30,000 and resulted in the capture of one old aboriginal man and a boy. In 1835, largely through the humanitarian efforts of George [Augustus] Robinson [1788‑1866], the survivors of the almost exterminated aboriginal race were gathered together on Flinders Island in Bass Strait.
Arthur took vigorous measures against the bushrangers, prominent among whom were Matthew Brady [1799‑1826], the famous Macquarie Harbour escapee, and the bestial Michael Howe [who was long since dead when Arthur first arrived]. Scores of similar predatory ruffians roamed the island, robbing and killing settlers, soldiers and constables. Arthur passed a law empowering settlers to shoot at sight any armed convict, and personally conducted a drive against bush-rangers with such success that 37 of them were captured and sentenced to death at one sitting of the court in Hobart. More than 100 were hanged in all during 1825‑26.
After his return to England in 1837 Arthur's toryism and anti-democratic leanings emerged strongly during his lieutenant-governorship of Upper Canada from March 1838, until the passing of the Act of Union which united Canada in 1841. Nevertheless, Arthur's services in Canada were rewarded with a baronetcy when he returned to England, and in 1842 with promotion to the governorship of Bombay. He was responsible for the introduction of some excellent reforms in the Bombay province in such matters as sanitation, irrigation, land taxation, railway construction and the reclamation of foreshores.
Soon after his return to England in 1846 he was made a Privy Councillor, and thereafter he lived in retirement until his death in London in 1854. His determination sometimes led him into the commission of acts of injustice and it certainly earned him a large measure of execration and hatred. Nevertheless George Arthur must be ranked as one of Britain's notable servants in a period when the British Empire was rising to the apex of its wealth and power.
Sir George Compton Archibald Arthur, 3rd baronet
Although one of my special areas of interest is the murders perpetrated by 'Jack the Ripper', I was surprised to find, in an obscure New Zealand newspaper, the report which is shown below. I can find no mention of this incident in any contemporary English papers, nor does it appear in any of the large range of books in my library that deal with the Ripper murders. I therefore recommend that it should be read with a certain degree of scepticism. The report, which appeared in the Tuapeka Times of 27 March 1889 reads as follows:-
The most intense amusement has been caused among all classes of the London world by the arrest last week of little Sir George Arthur on suspicion of being the Whitechapel murderer. Sir George is a young baronet, holding a captaincy in the Royal House [Horse?] Guards, and is a member of most of the leading clubs in town. He is also a well-known amateur actor, and was a great friend of the late Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Since the past few weeks, the old mania for 'slumming' in Whitechapel has become fashionable again. Every night scores of young men who have never been to the East End before in their lives prowl round the neighbourhood in which the murders were committed, talking with the frightened women and pushing their way into overcrowded lodging-houses. So long as any two men keep together, and do not make a nuisance of themselves, the police do not interfere with them. But if a man goes alone and tries to lure a woman off the street into a secluded corner to talk with her, he is pretty sure to get into trouble. That was the case with Sir George Arthur. He put on an old shooting coat, a slouch hat, and went down to Whitechapel for a little fun. He got it. It occurred to two policemen that Sir George answered very much the description of Jack the Ripper. They watched him, and when they saw him talking with women they proceeded to collar him. He protested, expostulated, and threatened them with the vengeance of Royal wrath, but in vain. Finally, a chance was given him to send to a fashionable western club to prove his identity, and he was released with profuse apologies for the mistake. The affair was kept out of the newspapers. But the jolly young Baronet's friends at Brook's Club considered the joke too good to be kept quiet.
Sir George is quite a figure in his way in London. He is a son of the late Sir Frederick Arthur, who was an influential man in his day. Sir George was conspicuous on the turf a few years ago, and was intimately associated with the Dowager Duchess of Montrose. He then turned his attention to theatricals, and when the Bancrofts produced 'Fedora' they allowed Sir George to appear as the corpse.
Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd baronet
Asgill was sentenced to death during the American Revolutionary War as a reprisal for the execution of an American officer, and was only reprieved due to the intercession of the King and Queen of France. The following article, written by Maurice Ross, appeared in The Chicago Daily Tribune of 18 February 1962. For a full length book on the case, see General Washington's Dilemma by Katherine Mayo [Jonathan Cape, London 1938].
On an April day in 1782, a small vessel which had been sailing south along the New Jersey coast turned shoreward and made a landing on a Monmouth county beach. The captain barked a command, and the crew hustled a resisting man ashore.
There was a tree not far from the water. The man was forced to stand under it. A rope was put around his neck.
A few minutes later the crew embarked again - but not before they had placed a placard to the dangling body.
"Having long with grief beheld the cruel murders of our brethren … we determine not to suffer without taking vengeance … Up goes Huddy for Philip White."
The men who did this deed were loyalists - Americans friendly to the British. The dead man was Capt. Joshua Huddy of the American Revolutionary army, who had been captured by a loyalist-British force a fortnight before and imprisoned in a British compound in New York. The loyalists had then tricked the British General Clinton into turning the prisoner over to them, on the pretext that he was to be exchanged for a loyalist officer captured by the patriots.
But Huddy's real destination was death, for the loyalists were convinced that he had executed or permitted the execution of two Americans friendly to the King - one of them, White, a surrendered prisoner of war.
Three days after Huddy's hanging, a band of patriots found the body. They issued what has come to be known as the Monmouth manifesto - a demand to American army headquarters to retaliate by hanging some British prisoner of war of Huddy's rank.
It was forwarded to General Washington in Philadelphia, who called a council of war. His officers decided unanimously to execute a British captain who would be chosen by lot. Congress quickly approved.
Washington accepted the decision reluctantly, but nevertheless notified General Clinton that unless the captain who had been in charge of Huddy's execution was surrendered, some British officer in American hands would die.
Those who had failed to give up Benedict Arnold for the popular Major Andre two years before were hardly likely to deliver a loyalist captain to the patriots. Furthermore, this captain had acted under orders from the New York Board of Associated Loyalists, which the British regarded as a legitimate organization. Nothing came of Washington's efforts.
Meanwhile, in a prisoner of war compound in Philadelphia, officers of Cornwallis' defeated army were awaiting the slow process of exchange to liberate them. According to article XIV of the Yorktown capitulation, they were insured against any form of retaliation or reprisal.
One day in May, the senior officer among the British prisoners - a Major Gordon - announced to his men the American decree that one of the 13 captive captains would have to die.
The commandant of the camp ordered that lots be drawn. Thirteen slips of paper were prepared. The name of one of the British captains was written on each. One of the slips bore an additional word - "UNFORTUNATE".
While the British prisoners stood close by, the 13 slips were placed in a hat. An American drummer boy stepped forward and withdrew one. There was the silence of death in the room as captors and captives alike waited for the additional word. It did not come.
Nine times more the boy plunged his hand into the hat. Nine times more he read off a name - and nothing else.
Now the 11th slip is drawn out. "Charles Asgill", the boy reads. There is a faint tremor in his voice. He masters himself, reads out one more word - "UNFORTUNATE".
A young officer in the British rank pales, wavers a little. Major Gordon, standing at his side, whispers: "For God's sake, don't disgrace your colours." The young captain brings himself under control and returns to his quarters.
The man who thus emerged into the spotlight of history was only 19. Son of a baronet of the same name who had once been lord mayor of London, young Asgill had won his captaincy at 18 and soon thereafter had sailed to join the British army in America. Well liked by his comrades and described by them as "lively, brave and handsome", he had never dreamed that the rank in which he gloried would one day be his death warrant.
Asgill's predicament captured the imagination of the masses and attracted attention throughout the colonies and Europe. Portraits of the officer were sold all over Paris and the provinces. "Does Asgill still live?" was the first question asked of anyone arriving from North America.
In the meantime, Washington wrote to Congress about the coming execution. "How far is it justifiable under the faith of a capitulation?" No answer.
As the summer days grew shorter, Washington's anxiety increased. He asked Congress to review Asgill's case. No answer.
Autumn came with Congress still wearing the cloak of silence. "If I were called on to give an opinion, I would advise that he be released", Washington wrote on Oct 7; however, Congress was not asking anyone's opinion.
Even Huddy's widow wrote to the army asking mercy. "Let that English lad go free - let him go away home to his mother, poor soul!"
This was more than Washington could stand. He protested: "I cannot forbear complaining of the cruel situation, which I now am and oftentimes have been placed in by the silence of Congress."
A letter from the French court was the intervention of Providence he had been seeking. Was not France the colonies' great ally? Had not she sent over 47,000 officers and men and 62 vessels, made loans and gifts that exceeded 9 million dollars?
Co-ordinator of this vast program was the Comte de Vergennes, minister of foreign affairs. In his usual personal and interested fashion, he revealed the court's wishes to Washington. His letter and one from Asgill's mother, transmitted to Washington by him, were dispatched to Congress. Its generally boisterous members listened attentively. Vergennes had written:
"It is as a Man of sensibility and as a tender father who feels all the force of Paternal Love, that I have the liberty to address to your Excellency my earnest solicitations in favour of a Mother and a family in Tears … The goodness of their Majesties' Hearts induces them to desire that the inquietudes of an unfortunate Mother may be calmed."
Lady Asgill's plea to the French court that "in behalf of innocence - in the cause of justice - of humanity - you would dispatch a letter to General Washington from France", was heard sympathetically by a Congress that had refused to answer Washington's entreaties for 52 consecutive days. A motion "that the life of Captain Asgill should be given as a compliment to the king of France" was made on Nov. 7. Congress directed Washington to free Asgill. Never had the commander-in-chief obeyed an order with more joy. He wrote to Asgill:
"I cannot take leave of you, Sir, without assuring you, that, in whatever light my agency in this unpleasing affair may be viewed, I was never influenced, thru the whole of it, by sanguinary motives, but by what I conceived a sense of duty, which loudly called upon me to take measures, however disagreeable, to prevent a repetition of those enormities which have been the subject of discussion. And that this important end is likely to be answered, without the effusion of blood of an innocent person, is not a greater relief to you, than it is to, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant."
Asgill took ship at New York right after his release and was reunited with his father, mother and sisters two days before Christmas. Not long afterward, he and his mother visited Versailles to thank the king and queen (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette) for taking an interest in his fate.
Six years after his departure from America, young Asgill inherited his father's baronetcy and a handsome fortune. He married Sophia Ogle, the daughter of an admiral. His rise in his profession was steady. By 1797 he was a brigadier, and by 1814, a full general. He served on the continent and in Ireland.
Asgill died in 1823, leaving one son [this seems to be incorrect, since the baronetcy became extinct on Asgill's death]. There are at least five descendants living today - all in the neighbourhood of London.'
The special remainder to the baronetcy of Fletcher (later Aubrey Fletcher) created in 1821
From the "London Gazette" of 23 April 1782 (issue 12290, page 1):-
The King has been pleased to grant the Dignity of a Baronet of the Kingdom of Great Britain to Henry Fletcher, of Clea Hall in the County of Cumberland, and of Ashley Park in the County of Surry, Esq; and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully begotten, and in Default of such Issue to the Heirs Male of the Body, lawfully begotten, of his Grandfather Philip Fletcher, Esq.
Sir Justin Gerald Aylmer, 10th baronet
Sir Justin, who was only 21 at the time, died following a severe fall from the bicycle he was riding in the neighbourhood of Cambridge University. At the subsequent inquest into his death, evidence was given that Sir Justin was suffering from chronic diabetes. The jury thereupon returned the verdict that Sir Justin had died from diabetes, accelerated by an accident.
Sir Fenton John Aylmer VC, 13th baronet
Aylmer was a Captain in the Royal Corps of Engineers in the Indian Army when he was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1891 during the Hunza-Naga Campaign in what is today northern Pakistan.
On 2 December 1891, during the assault on Nilt Fort, Aylmer blew open the inner gate of the fort by placing gun-cotton next to it and then igniting the gun-cotton. Although severely wounded, he killed several of the enemy with his revolver and remained fighting until, collapsing through loss of blood, he was carried to safety.