PEERAGES
Last updated 12/09/2017 (19 Jan 2024)
Date Rank Order Name Born Died Age
DORMAND OF EASINGTON
13 Oct 1987
to    
18 Dec 2003
B[L] John Donkin Dormand
Created Baron Dormand of Easington for life 13 Oct 1987
MP for Easington 1970‑1987
Peerage extinct on his death
27 Aug 1919 18 Dec 2003 84
DORMER
30 Jun 1615 B 1 Sir Robert Dormer, 1st baronet
Created Baron Dormer 30 Jun 1615
26 Jan 1551 8 Nov 1616 65
8 Nov 1616 2 Robert Dormer, later [1628] 1st Earl of Carnarvon 1610 20 Sep 1643 33
20 Sep 1643 3 Charles Dormer, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon 25 Oct 1632 25 Nov 1709 77
25 Nov 1709 4 Rowland Dormer 1651 27 Sep 1712 61
27 Sep 1712 5 Charles Dormer 22 Apr 1668 2 Jul 1728 60
2 Jul 1728 6 Charles Dormer 7 Mar 1761
7 Mar 1761 7 John Dormer 2 Jun 1691 7 Oct 1785 94
7 Oct 1785 8 Charles Dormer 30 Apr 1725 30 Mar 1804 78
30 Mar 1804 9 Charles Dormer 10 Jan 1753 2 Apr 1819 66
2 Apr 1819 10 John Evelyn Pierrepont Dormer Mar 1771 9 Dec 1826 55
9 Dec 1826 11 Joseph Thaddeus Dormer 1 Jun 1790 5 Jul 1871 81
5 Jul 1871 12 John Baptist Joseph Dormer 22 May 1830 22 Dec 1900 70
22 Dec 1900 13 Roland John Dormer 24 Nov 1862 9 Feb 1920 57
9 Feb 1920 14 Charles Joseph Thaddeus Dormer 24 Feb 1864 4 May 1922 58
4 May 1922 15 Charles Walter James Dormer 20 Dec 1903 27 Aug 1975 71
27 Aug 1975 16 Joseph Spencer Philip Dormer 4 Sep 1914 21 Dec 1995 81
21 Dec 1995 17 Geoffrey Henry Dormer 13 May 1920 10 May 2016 95
10 May 2016 18 William Robert Dormer 8 Nov 1960
DORSET
c 1070
to    
3 Dec 1099
E 1 Osmund, Count of Sées
Created Earl of Dorset c 1070
Lord Chancellor c 1070‑1078; Bishop of Salisbury 1078‑1099; Canonized as St. Osmund 1457
Peerage extinct on his death
3 Dec 1099

29 Sep 1397
to    
6 Oct 1399
M 1 John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset
Created Marquess of Dorset 29 Sep 1397
KG 1396
He was degraded from the title in 1399
21 Apr 1410

5 Jul 1411
to    
30 Dec 1426
E 1 Thomas Beaufort
Created Earl of Dorset 5 Jul 1411 and Duke of Exeter for life 18 Nov 1416
Peerages extinct on his death
c 1377 30 Dec 1426

Aug 1441
24 Jun 1442
E
M
1
1
Edmund Beaufort
Created Earl of Dorset Aug 1441, Marquess of Dorset 24 Jun 1442 and Duke of Somerset 31 Mar 1448
KG 1436
c 1406 23 May 1455
23 May 1455
to    
3 Apr 1464
2 Henry Beaufort
He was attainted and the peerages forfeited
Apr 1436 3 Apr 1464 27

18 Apr 1475 M 1 Thomas Grey, 1st Earl of Huntingdon
Created Marquess of Dorset 18 Apr 1475
KG 1476
1451 26 Apr 1501 49
26 Apr 1501 2 Thomas Grey, 8th Lord Harington
KG 1501
22 Jun 1477 10 Oct 1530 53
10 Oct 1530
to    
23 Feb 1554
3 Henry Grey
Lord Lieutenant Leicester and Rutland 1549; KG 1547
He was created Duke of Suffolk in 1551 but was attainted and executed and the peerages forfeited
by 1520 23 Feb 1554

13 Mar 1604 E 1 Thomas Sackville, 1st Baron Buckhurst
Created Earl of Dorset 13 Mar 1604
MP for East Grinstead 1557‑1563 and Ailesbury 1563‑1567; Lord High Treasurer 1599‑1608; KG 1589
1527 19 Apr 1608 80
19 Apr 1608 2 Robert Sackville
MP for Lewes 1588 and Sussex 1592‑1608; Lord Lieutenant Sussex 1608
1561 27 Feb 1609 47
27 Feb 1609 3 Richard Sackville
Lord Lieutenant Sussex 1612
28 Mar 1589 28 Mar 1624 35
28 Mar 1624 4 Edward Sackville
MP for Sussex 1614 and 1621‑1622; Lord Lieutenant Middlesex 1620‑1622 and 1628‑1642 and Sussex 1624‑1642; KG 1625
1590 17 Jul 1652 62
17 Jul 1652 5 Richard Sackville
MP for East Grinstead 1640‑1646; Lord Lieutenant Middlesex 1660‑1662 and Sussex 1670‑1677
16 Sep 1622 27 Aug 1677 54
27 Aug 1677 6 Charles Sackville
MP for East Grinstead 1661‑1675; Lord Lieutenant Sussex 1670‑1688 and 1689‑1706 and Somerset 1690‑1691; PC 1689; KG 1692
He was created Earl of Middlesex in 1675
24 Jan 1638 29 Jan 1706 68
29 Jan 1706
17 Jun 1720
 
D
7
1
Lionel Cranfield Sackville
Created Duke of Dorset 17 Jun 1720
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1708‑1712 and 1714‑1717; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1730‑1737 and 1751‑1755; Lord President of the Council 1741‑1751; Lord Lieutenant Kent 1746‑1765; PC 1714; KG 1714
18 Jan 1688 10 Oct 1765 77
10 Oct 1765 2 Charles Sackville
MP for East Grinstead 1734‑1742 and 1761‑1765, Sussex 1742‑1747 and Old Sarum 1747‑1754; Lord Lieutenant Kent 1765‑1769; PC 1766
6 Feb 1711 6 Jan 1769 57
5 Jan 1769 3 John Frederick Sackville
MP for Kent 1768‑1769; Lord Lieutenant Kent 1769‑1797; PC 1782; KG 1788
25 Mar 1745 19 Jul 1799 54
19 Jul 1799 4 George John Frederick Sackville
For information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
15 Nov 1793 14 Feb 1815 21
14 Feb 1815
to    
29 Jul 1843
5 Charles Sackville-Germain, 2nd Viscount Sackville
PC 1821; KG 1826
Peerages extinct on his death
27 Aug 1767 29 Jul 1843 75
DOUGLAS
26 Jan 1358 E[S] 1 Sir William Douglas
Created Earl of Douglas 26 Jan 1358
c 1327 May 1384
May 1384 2 James Douglas c 1358 19 Aug 1388
19 Aug 1388 3 Archibald Douglas c 1325 24 Dec 1400
24 Dec 1400 4 Archibald Douglas c 1370 17 Aug 1424
17 Aug 1424 5 Archibald Douglas c 1390 26 Jun 1439
26 Jun 1439 6 William Douglas
For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
c 1424 24 Nov 1440
24 Nov 1440 7 James Douglas
He had previously been created Earl of Avandale in 1437
1371 24 Mar 1443 71
24 Mar 1443 8 William Douglas, 2nd Earl of Avandale
For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
c 1425 22 Feb 1452
22 Feb 1452 9 James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Avandale
KG 1463
He was attainted and the peerage forfeited
1426 1488 62

14 Jun 1633 M[S] 1 William Douglas, 11th Earl of Angus
Created Lord Abernerthy and Jedburgh Forest, Earl of Angus and Marquess of Douglas 14 Jun 1633
1590 19 Feb 1660 69
19 Feb 1660 2 James Douglas 1646 25 Feb 1700 53
25 Feb 1700
10 Apr 1703
 
D[S]
3
1
Archibald Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Bonkill, Prestoun and Robertoun, Viscount of Jedburgh Forest, Marquess of Angus and Abernethy and Duke of Douglas 10 Apr 1703
All of the above peerages extinct on his death
For information on the Douglas Inheritance Case which followed the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
15 Oct 1694 21 Jul 1761 66
21 Jul 1761 4 James George Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton
He had previously succeeded to the Dukedom of Hamilton with which title this peerage then merged
18 Feb 1755 7 Jul 1769 14
DOUGLAS OF AMESBURY
21 Aug 1786
to    
23 Dec 1810
B 1 William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry
Created Baron Douglas of Amesbury 21 Aug 1786
Peerage extinct on his death
16 Dec 1735 23 Dec 1810 85
DOUGLAS OF BAADS
6 Jul 1911 B 1 Aretas Akers-Douglas
Created Baron Douglas of Baads and Viscount Chilston 6 Jul 1911
See "Chilston"
21 Oct 1851 15 Jan 1926 74
DOUGLAS OF BARLOCH
11 Apr 1950
to    
30 Mar 1980
B 1 Sir Francis Campbell Ross Douglas
Created Baron Douglas of Barloch 11 Apr 1950
MP for Battersea North 1940‑1946; Governor of Malta 1946‑1949
Peerage extinct on his death
21 Oct 1889 30 Mar 1980 90
DOUGLAS OF BONKILL
10 Apr 1703 B[S] 1 Archibald Douglas, 3rd Marquess of Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Bonkill, Prestoun and Robertoun, Viscount of Jedburgh Forest, Marquess of Angus and Abernethy and Duke of Douglas 10 Apr 1703
See "Queensberry"
15 Oct 1694 21 Jul 1761 66
DOUGLAS OF DOUGLAS
8 Jul 1790 B 1 Archibald James Edward Douglas
Created Baron Douglas of Douglas 8 Jul 1790
MP for Forfarshire 1782‑1790; Lord Lieutenant Angus (Forfar) 1794‑1827
For further information on this peer, see the note on the Douglas Inheritance Case at the foot of this page
10 Jul 1748 26 Dec 1827 79
26 Dec 1827 2 Archibald Douglas 25 Mar 1773 27 Jan 1844 70
27 Jan 1844 3 Charles Douglas
MP for Lanarkshire 1830‑1832
26 Oct 1775 10 Sep 1848 72
10 Sep 1848
to    
6 Apr 1857
4 James Douglas
Peerage extinct on his death
9 Jul 1787 6 Apr 1857 69

11 Jun 1875 B 1 Cospatrick Alexander Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home
Created Baron Douglas of Douglas 11 Jun 1875
See "Home"
27 Oct 1799 4 Jul 1881 81
DOUGLAS OF ETTRICK
9 Mar 1675 B[S] 1 Lord George Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Ettrick and Earl of Dunbarton 9 Mar 1675
See "Dunbarton"
c 1635 20 Mar 1692
DOUGLAS OF HAWICK
1 Apr 1628
13 Jun 1633
B[S]
B[S]
1
1
William Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Hawick and Viscount of Drumlanrig 1 Apr 1628, and Lord Douglas of Hawick, Viscount of Drumlanrig and Earl of Queensberry 13 Jun 1633
See "Queensberry"
8 Mar 1640
DOUGLAS OF KINMONT
11 Feb 1682
3 Nov 1684
B[S]
B[S]
1
1
William Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Kinmont, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald & Ross, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar and Marquess of Queensberry 11 Feb 1682, and Lord Douglas of Kinmont, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald & Ross, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar, Marquess of Dumfriesshire and Duke of Queensberry 3 Nov 1684
See "Queensberry"
1637 28 Mar 1695 57
DOUGLAS OF KIRTLESIDE
7 Feb 1948
to    
29 Oct 1969
B 1 Sir William Sholto Douglas
Created Baron Douglas of Kirtleside 7 Feb 1948
Marshal of the RAF 1946
Peerage extinct on his death
23 Dec 1893 29 Oct 1969 75
DOUGLAS OF LOCHLEVEN
11 Aug 1791
to    
17 Jul 1827
B[S] 1 George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton
Created Baron Douglas of Lochleven 11 Aug 1791
Peerage extinct on his death
3 Apr 1761 17 Jul 1827 66
DOUGLAS OF NEIDPATH
20 Apr 1697 B[S] 1 Lord William Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Neidpath, Viscount of Peebles and Earl of March 20 Apr 1697
See "March"
c 1665 2 Sep 1705
DOUGLASS OF CLEVELAND
22 Sep 1967
to    
5 Apr 1978
B[L] Sir Harry Douglass
Created Baron Douglass of Cleveland for life 22 Sep 1967
Peerage extinct on his death
1 Jan 1902 5 Apr 1978 76
DOUNE
24 Nov 1581 B[S] 1 Sir James Stewart
Created Lord Doune 24 Nov 1581
20 Jul 1590
20 Jul 1590 2 James Stewart
He had previously assumed the title of Earl of Moray in the right of his wife in 1580 with which title this peerage then merged and so remains
7 Feb 1592
DOURO
4 Sep 1809
11 May 1814
B
M
1
1
Arthur Wellesley
Created Baron Douro and Viscount Wellington 4 Sep 1809, Earl of Wellington 28 Feb 1812, Marquess of Wellington 3 Oct 1812 and Marquess of Douro and Duke of Wellington 11 May 1814
See "Wellington"
1 May 1769 14 Sep 1852 83
DOVER
8 Mar 1628 E 1 Henry Carey, 4th Baron Hunsdon
Created Viscount Rochford 6 Jul 1621 and Earl of Dover 8 Mar 1628
c 1580 13 Apr 1666
13 Apr 1666
to    
26 May 1677
2 John Carey
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Hunsdon 27 Nov 1640
Peerage extinct on his death
1608 26 May 1677 68

13 May 1685
to    
6 Apr 1708
B 1 Henry Jermyn, later [1703] 3rd Baron Jermyn
Created Baron Dover 13 May 1685
Lord Lieutenant Cambridge 1686‑1689; PC 1686
Peerage extinct on his death
c 1636 6 Apr 1708

26 May 1708 D 1 James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry
Created Baron of Rippon, Marquess of Beverley and Duke of Dover 26 May 1708
These creations contained a special remainder to his second surviving son Charles and his younger sons successively in tail male. The wisdom of the action of excluding his eldest son James can be seen by reading the note regarding James Douglas, 3rd Marquess of Queensberry
18 Dec 1672 6 Jul 1711 38
6 Jul 1711
to    
22 Oct 1778
2 Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry
Peerage extinct on his death
24 Nov 1698 22 Oct 1778 79

18 Sep 1788
to    
2 Dec 1792
B 1 Sir Joseph Yorke
Created Baron Dover 18 Sep 1788
MP for East Grinstead 1751‑1761, Dover 1761‑1774 and Grampound 1774‑1780; Field Marshal; PC 1768
Peerage extinct on his death
24 Jun 1724 2 Dec 1792 68

20 Jun 1831 B 1 George James Welbore Agar‑Ellis
Created Baron Dover 20 Jun 1831
MP for Heytesbury 1818‑1820, Seaford 1820‑1826, Ludgershall 1826‑1830 and Okehampton 1830‑1831; PC 1830
17 Jan 1797 10 Jul 1833 36
10 Jul 1833 2 Henry Agar-Ellis, later [1836] 3rd Viscount Clifden 25 Feb 1825 20 Feb 1866 40
20 Feb 1866 4 Henry George Agar-Ellis, 4th Viscount Clifden 3 Sep 1863 28 Mar 1895 31
28 Mar 1895
to    
10 Sep 1899
5 Leopold George Frederick Agar‑Ellis, 5th Viscount Clifden
Peerage extinct on his death
13 May 1829 10 Sep 1899 70
DOVERCOURT
18 Jan 1954
to    
22 Apr 1961
B 1 Sir Joseph Stanley Holmes
Created Baron Dovercourt 18 Jan 1954
MP for Derbyshire North East 1918‑1922 and Harwich 1935‑1954
Peerage extinct on his death
31 Oct 1878 22 Apr 1961 82
DOVERDALE
6 Jan 1917 B 1 Sir Edward Partington
Created Baron Doverdale 6 Jan 1917
1836 5 Jan 1925 88
5 Jan 1925 2 Oswald Partington
MP for High Peak 1900‑1910 and Shipley 1915‑1918
4 May 1872 23 Mar 1935 62
23 Mar 1935
to    
18 Jan 1949
3 Edward Alexander Partington
Peerage extinct on his death
25 Feb 1904 18 Jan 1949 44
DOWDING
5 Jul 1943 B 1 Sir Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding
Created Baron Dowding 5 Jul 1943
24 Apr 1882 15 Feb 1970 87
15 Feb 1970 2 Derek Hugh Tremenheere Dowding 9 Jan 1919 22 Nov 1992 73
22 Nov 1992 3 Piers Hugh Tremenheere Dowding 18 Feb 1948
DOWNE
16 Oct 1628 E[I] 1 Sir William Pope, 1st baronet
Created Baron Pope and Earl of Downe 16 Oct 1628
15 Oct 1573 2 Jun 1631 57
2 Jun 1631 2 Thomas Pope 16 Dec 1622 28 Dec 1660 38
28 Dec 1660 3 Thomas Pope 1598 11 Jan 1668 69
11 Jan 1668
to    
18 May 1668
4 Thomas Pope
Peerages extinct on his death
29 Sep 1640 18 May 1668 27

19 Jul 1675
to    
9 Sep 1679
V[I] 1 Sir William Ducie, 3rd baronet
Created Baron of Cloney and Viscount Downe 19 Jul 1675
Peerage extinct on his death
c 1612 9 Sep 1679

19 Feb 1681 V[I] 1 Sir John Dawnay
Created Viscount Downe 19 Feb 1681
MP for Yorkshire 1660 and Pontefract 1661‑1690
25 Jan 1625 1 Oct 1695 70
1 Oct 1695 2 Henry Dawnay
MP for Pontefract 1690‑1695 and Yorkshire 1698‑1700 and 1707‑1727
7 Jun 1664 21 May 1741 76
May 1741 3 Henry Pleydell Dawnay
MP for Yorkshire 1750‑1760
8 Apr 1727 9 Dec 1760 33
9 Dec 1760 4 John Dawnay
MP for Cirencester 1754‑1768 and Malton 1768‑1774
9 Apr 1728 21 Dec 1780 52
21 Dec 1780 5 John Christopher Burton Dawnay
MP for Petersfield 1787‑1790 and Wootton Bassett 1790‑1796
15 Nov 1764 18 Feb 1832 67
18 Feb 1832 6 William Henry Dawnay 20 Aug 1772 23 May 1846 73
23 May 1846 7 William Henry Dawnay
MP for Rutland 1841‑1846
15 May 1812 26 Jan 1857 44
26 Jan 1857 8 Hugh Richard Dawnay
Created Baron Dawnay 24 Jul 1897
20 Jul 1844 21 Jan 1924 79
21 Jan 1924 9 John Dawnay 23 May 1872 1 Dec 1931 59
1 Dec 1931 10 Richard Dawnay 16 May 1903 8 Dec 1965 62
8 Dec 1965 11 John Christian George Dawnay 18 Jan 1935 15 Mar 2002 67
15 Mar 2002 12 Richard Henry Dawnay 9 Apr 1967
DOWNES OF AGHANVILLE
10 Dec 1822 B[I] 1 William Downes
Created Baron Downes of Aghanville 10 Dec 1822
This creation contained a special remainder, failing the heirs male of his body, to his cousin, Lieut. Col. Sir Ulysses Burgh
PC [I] 1803
1751 3 Mar 1826 74
3 Mar 1826
to    
26 Jul 1863
2 Ulysses Burgh [de Burgh from 1848]
MP for co. Carlow 1818‑1826 and Queenborough 1826‑1830
Peerage extinct on his death
15 Aug 1788 26 Jul 1863 74
DOWNHAM
16 Nov 1918
to    
2 Jul 1920
B 1 (William) Hayes Fisher
Created Baron Downham 16 Nov 1918
MP for Fulham 1885‑1906 and 1910‑1918; Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1902‑1903; President of the Local Government Board 1917‑1918; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1918‑1919; PC 1911
Peerage extinct on his death
18 Mar 1853 2 Jul 1920 67
DOWNPATRICK
12 Oct 1934 B 1 HRH George Edward Alexander Edmund
Created Baron Downpatrick, Earl of St. Andrews and Duke of Kent 12 Oct 1934
See "Kent"
20 Dec 1902 25 Aug 1942 39
DOWNSHIRE
20 Aug 1789 M[I] 1 Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough
Created Marquess of Downshire 20 Aug 1789
MP for Warwick 1741‑1756; Lord Lieutenant Down 1742; President of the Board of Trade 1763‑1765, 1766 and 1768‑1772; Postmaster General 1766‑1768; Secretary of State for Colonies 1768‑1772; Secretary of State, Northern Department 1779‑1782; PC [I] 1746; PC 1754
30 May 1718 7 Oct 1793 75
7 Oct 1793 2 Arthur Hill
MP [I] for Down County 1776‑1793; MP for Lostwithiel 1774‑1780 and Malmesbury 1780‑1784; Lord Lieutenant Down 1793‑1800; PC [I] 1793
3 Mar 1753 7 Sep 1801 48
7 Sep 1801 3 Arthur Blundell Sandys Trumbull Hill
Lord Lieutenant Down 1831‑1845; KP 1831
8 Oct 1788 12 Sep 1845 56
12 Sep 1845 4 Arthur Wills Blundell Sandys Trumbull Windsor Hill
MP for Down 1836‑1845; KP 1859
6 Aug 1812 6 Aug 1868 56
6 Aug 1868 5 Arthur Wills Blundell Trumbull Sandys Roden Hill 24 Dec 1844 31 Mar 1874 29
31 Mar 1874 6 Arthur Wills John Wellington Blundell Trumbull Hill 2 Jul 1871 29 May 1918 46
29 May 1918 7 Arthur Wills Percy Wellington Blundell Trumbull Sandys Hill 7 Apr 1894 28 Mar 1989 94
28 Mar 1989 8 Arthur Robin Ian Hill 10 May 1929 18 Dec 2003 74
18 Dec 2003 9 Arthur Francis Nicholas Wills Hill
He succeeded to the Barony of Sandys 11 Feb 2013
4 Feb 1959
DRAKE
20 Jun 2010 B[L] Jean Leslie Patricia Drake
Created Baroness Drake for life 20 Jun 2010
16 Jan 1948
DRAYSON
1 Jun 2004 B[L] Paul Rudd Drayson
Created Baron Drayson for life 1 Jun 2004
PC 2008
5 Mar 1960
DROGHEDA
7 Feb 1622 V[I] 1 Sir Gerald Moore
Created Baron Moore of Mellefont and Viscount Moore of Drogheda 7 Feb 1622
9 Nov 1627
9 Nov 1627 2 Charles Moore 1603 7 Aug 1643 40
7 Aug 1643  
E[I]
3
1
Henry Moore
Created Earl of Drogheda 14 Jun 1661
11 Jan 1675
11 Jan 1675 2 Charles Moore 18 Jun 1679
18 Jun 1679 3 Henry Hamilton-Moore
PC [I] 1685
7 Jun 1714
7 Jun 1714 4 Henry Moore
MP for Camelford 1722‑1727
7 Oct 1700 28 May 1727 26
28 May 1727 5 Edward Moore
MP [I] for Dunleer 1725‑1727; PC [I] 1748
1701 28 Oct 1758 57
28 Oct 1758
5 Jul 1791
 
M[I]
6
1
Charles Moore
Created Marquess of Drogheda 5 Jul 1791 and Baron Moore of Moore Place 17 Jan 1801
MP [I] for St. Canice 1757‑1759; MP for Horsham 1776‑1780; PC [I] 1760; KP 1783
29 Jun 1730 22 Dec 1822 92
22 Dec 1822 7
2
Charles Moore 23 Aug 1770 6 Feb 1837 66
6 Feb 1837
to    
29 Jun 1892
8
3
Henry Francis Seymour Moore
Lord Lieutenant Kildare 1875‑1892; PC [I] 1858; KP 1868
On his death the Marquessate became extinct whilst the Earldom passed to -
14 Aug 1825 29 Jun 1892 66
29 Jun 1892 9 Ponsonby William Moore 29 Apr 1846 28 Oct 1908 62
28 Oct 1908 10 Henry Charles Ponsonby Moore
Lord Lieutenant Kildare 1918‑1921; PC 1951
Created Baron Moore [UK] 30 Jan 1954
21 Apr 1884 22 Nov 1957 73
22 Nov 1957 11 Charles Garrett Ponsonby Moore
KG 1972
23 Apr 1910 24 Dec 1989 79
24 Dec 1989 12 Henry Dermot Ponsonby Moore 14 Jan 1937
DROMANA
27 Jan 1569
to    
28 Dec 1572
B[I] 1 Sir Maurice Fitzgerald
Created Baron of Dromana 27 Jan 1569 and Viscount Decies 31 Jan 1569
Peerage extinct on his death
28 Dec 1572
DROMORE
1 Jul 1628 B[I] 1 Sir John Scudamore
Created Baron Dromore and Viscount Scudamore 1 Jul 1628
See "Scudamore"
22 Mar 1601 19 May 1671 70
DRUMALBYN
9 Nov 1963
to    
11 Oct 1987
B 1 Niall Malcolm Stewart Macpherson
Created Baron Drumalbyn 9 Nov 1963
MP for Dumfriesshire 1945‑1963; Minister of Pensions & National Insurance 1962‑1963; Minister of State, Board of Trade 1963‑1964; Minister without Portfolio 1970‑1974; PC 1962
Peerage extinct on his death
3 Aug 1908 11 Oct 1987 79
DRUMLANRIG
1 Apr 1628
13 Jun 1633
V[S]
V[S]
1
1
William Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Hawick and Viscount of Drumlanrig 1 Apr 1628, and Lord Douglas of Hawick, Viscount of Drumlanrig and Earl of Queensberry 13 Jun 1633
See "Queensberry"
8 Mar 1640

11 Feb 1682
3 Nov 1684
E[S]
E[S]
1
1
William Douglas
Created Lord Douglas of Kinmont, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald & Ross, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar and Marquess of Queensberry 11 Feb 1682, and Lord Douglas of Kinmont, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald & Ross, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar, Marquess of Dumfriesshire and Duke of Queensberry 3 Nov 1684
See "Queensberry"
1637 28 Mar 1695 57
DRUMMOND
29 Jan 1488 B[S] 1 Sir John Drummond
Created Lord Drummond 29 Jan 1488
1438 1519 81
1519 2 David Drummond c 1515 1571
1571 3 Patrick Drummond 1550 1600 50
1600 4 James Drummond
He was created Earl of Perth in 1605 with which title this peerage then merged
c 1580 18 Dec 1611
DRUMMOND OF CROMLIX
16 Aug 1686 B[S] 1 William Drummond
Created Lord Drummond of Cromlix and Viscount Strathallan 16 Aug 1686
See "Strathallan"
c 1617 23 Mar 1688
DRUMMOND OF GILSTOUN
14 Apr 1685 B[S] 1 John Drummond
Created Lord Drummond of Gilstoun and Viscount of Melfort 14 Apr 1685, and Lord Drummond of Riccartoun, Viscount of Forth and Earl of Melfort 12 Aug 1686
See "Melfort"
c 1650 25 Jan 1715
DRUMMOND OF RICCARTOUN
12 Aug 1686 B[S] 1 John Drummond, 1st Viscount Melfort
Created Lord Drummond of Riccartoun, Viscount of Forth and Earl of Melfort 12 Aug 1686
See "Melfort"
c 1650 25 Jan 1715
DRUMMOND OF STOBHALL
26 Oct 1797
to    
2 Jul 1800
B 1 James Drummond
Created Lord Perth and Baron Drummond of Stobhall 26 Oct 1797
Peerage extinct on his death
12 Feb 1744 2 Jul 1800 56
D'SOUZA
1 Jul 2004 B[L] Frances Gertrude Claire D'Souza
Created Baroness D'Souza for life 1 Jul 2004
PC 2009
18 Apr 1944
DUBLIN
1 Dec 1385
to    
1386
M[L] Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford
Created Marquess of Dublin for life 1 Dec 1385
He surrendered the title in 1386
16 Jan 1362 22 Nov 1392 30

22 Oct 1766
to    
18 Sep 1790
E[I] 1 Henry Frederick
Created Earl of Dublin and Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn 22 Oct 1766
PC 1766; KG 1767
Peerages extinct on his death
27 Oct 1745 18 Sep 1790 44

24 Apr 1799
to    
23 Jan 1820
E 1 H.R.H. Edward
Created Earl of Dublin and Duke of Kent and Strathearn 24 Apr 1799
See "Kent"
2 Nov 1767 23 Jan 1820 52

17 Jan 1850
to    
22 Jan 1901
E 1 H.R.H. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
Created Earl of Dublin 17 Jan 1850
He succeeded as King Edward VII in 1901 when his peerages merged in the Crown
9 Nov 1841 6 May 1910 68
DUBS
27 Sep 1994 B[L] Alfred Dubs
Created Baron Dubs for life 27 Sep 1994
MP for Battersea South 1979‑1983 and Battersea 1983‑1987
5 Dec 1932
DUCIE
9 Jun 1720 B 1 Matthew Ducie Moreton
Created Baron Ducie 9 Jun 1720
MP for Gloucestershire 1708‑1713 and 1715‑1720; PC [I] 1717
17 Mar 1663 2 May 1735 71
2 May 1735
to    
25 Dec 1770
27 Apr 1763
 
 
 
B
2
 
 
1
Matthew Ducie Moreton
Created Baron Ducie 27 Apr 1763
For details of the special remainder included in this creation, see the note at the foot of this page
MP for Cricklade 1721‑1722, Calne 1723‑1727, Gloucester 1727, Tregony 1729‑1734 and Lostwithiel 1735; Lord Lieutenant Gloucester 1755‑1758
On his death the creation of 1720 became extinct whilst the creation of 1763 passed to -
by 1700 25 Dec 1770
25 Dec 1770 2 Thomas Reynolds-Moreton 26 Oct 1733 11 Sep 1785 51
11 Sep 1785 3 Francis Reynolds-Moreton
MP for Lancaster 1784‑1785
28 Mar 1739 19 Aug 1808 69
19 Aug 1808  
E
4
1
Thomas Reynolds-Moreton
Created Baron Moreton and Earl of Ducie 28 Jan 1837
31 Aug 1776 22 Jun 1840 63
22 Jun 1840 2 Henry George Francis Reynolds‑Moreton
MP for Gloucestershire 1831‑1832 and Gloucestershire East 1832‑1835
8 May 1802 2 Jun 1853 51
2 Jun 1853 3 Henry John Reynolds‑Moreton
MP for Stroud 1852‑1853; Lord Lieutenant Gloucester 1857‑1911; PC 1859
25 Jun 1827 28 Oct 1921 94
28 Oct 1921 4 Berkeley Basil Moreton
For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
18 Jul 1834 7 Aug 1924 90
7 Aug 1924 5 Capel Henry Berkeley Reynolds Moreton 16 May 1875 17 Jun 1952 77
17 Jun 1952 6 Basil Howard Moreton 15 Nov 1917 12 Nov 1991 73
12 Nov 1991 7 David Leslie Moreton 20 Sep 1951
DUDHOPE
1641 V[S] 1 Sir John Scrimgeour
Created Lord Scrimgeour and Viscount of Dudhope 1641
7 Mar 1643
7 Mar 1643 2 James Scrimgeour 28 Jul 1644
28 Jul 1644
1661
to    
23 Jun 1668
 
V[S]
3
1
John Scrimgeour
Created Lord Scrimgeour, Viscount of Dudhope and Earl of Dundee 1661
On his death the peerage became dormant until July 1952 when a claim for it was allowed
For further details, see the note under the Earldom of Dundee
23 Jun 1668
DUDLEY
25 Feb 1342 B 1 John Sutton
Summoned to Parliament as Lord Dudley 25 Feb 1342
c 1310 23 Nov 1359
23 Nov 1359 2 John Sutton c 1370
c 1370 3 John Sutton 6 Dec 1361 10 Mar 1396 34
10 Mar 1396 4 John Sutton 1380 29 Aug 1406 26
29 Aug 1406 5 John Sutton
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1428‑1430; KG 1459
25 Dec 1400 30 Sep 1487 86
30 Sep 1487 6 Edward Sutton
KG 1509
1459 31 Jan 1532 72
31 Jan 1532 7 John Sutton c 1495 18 Sep 1553
18 Sep 1553 8 Edward Sutton 12 Aug 1586
12 Aug 1586 9 Edward Sutton 17 Sep 1567 23 Jun 1643 75
23 Jun 1643 10 Frances Ward 23 Jul 1611 11 Aug 1697 86
11 Aug 1697 11 Edward Ward, 2nd Baron Ward 1631 3 Aug 1701 70
3 Aug 1701 12 Edward Ward 20 Dec 1683 28 Mar 1704 20
28 Mar 1704 13 Edward Ward 16 Jun 1704 6 Sep 1731 27
6 Sep 1731 14 William Ward 16 Oct 168- 20 May 1740
20 May 1740
to    
21 Oct 1757
15 Ferdinando Dudley Lea
On his death the peerage fell into abeyance
14 Sep 1710 21 Oct 1757 47
9 May 1916 16 Ferdinando Dudley William Lea Smith
Abeyance terminated in his favour 1916
4 Apr 1872 5 Dec 1936 64
5 Dec 1936 17 Ferdinando Dudley Henry Lea Smith 18 Jun 1910 19 Apr 1972 61
19 Apr 1972 18 Barbara Amy Felicity Hamilton 23 Apr 1907 27 May 2002 95
27 May 2002 19 Jim Anthony Hill Wallace 9 Nov 1930
DUDLEY
23 May 1644
to    
22 Jan 1669
D[L] Alice Dudley
Created Duchess Dudley for life 23 May 1644
Peerage extinct on her death
1578 22 Jan 1669 90

17 Feb 1860 E 1 William Ward, 11th Baron Ward
Created Viscount Ednam and Earl of Dudley 17 Feb 1860
For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
27 Mar 1817 7 May 1885 68
7 May 1885 2 William Humble Ward
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1902‑1905; Governor General of Australia 1908‑1911; PC 1902
25 May 1867 29 Jun 1932 65
29 Jun 1932 3 William Humble Eric Ward
MP for Hornsey 1921‑1924 and Wednesbury 1931‑1932
For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
30 Jan 1894 26 Dec 1969 75
26 Dec 1969 4 William Humble David Ward 5 Jan 1920 16 Nov 2013 93
16 Nov 2013 5 William Humble David Jeremy Ward 27 Mar 1947
DUDLEY OF DUDLEY CASTLE
5 Oct 1827
to    
6 Mar 1833
E 1 John William Ward, 4th Viscount Dudley & Ward of Dudley
Created Viscount Ednam and Earl of Dudley of Dudley Castle 5 Oct 1827
MP for Downton 1802‑1803, Worcestershire 1803‑1806, Petersfield 1806‑1807, Wareham 1807‑1812, Ilchester 1812‑1818 and Bossiney 1819‑1823; Foreign Secretary 1827‑1828; PC 1827
Peerage extinct on his death
For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
9 Aug 1781 6 Mar 1833 51
DUDLEY AND WARD OF DUDLEY
21 Apr 1763 V 1 John Ward, 6th Baron Ward
Created Viscount Dudley & Ward of Dudley 21 Apr 1763
MP for Newcastle under Lyme 1727‑1734
6 Mar 1704 6 May 1774 70
6 May 1774 2 John Ward
MP for Marlborough 1754‑1761 and Worcestershire 1761‑1774
22 Feb 1725 10 Oct 1788 63
10 Oct 1788 3 William Ward
MP for Worcester 1780‑1788
21 Jan 1750 25 Apr 1823 73
25 Apr 1823
to    
6 Mar 1833
4 John William Ward
He was created Earl Dudley of Dudley Castle 1827
Peerage extinct on his death
9 Aug 1781 6 Mar 1833 51
DUFFERIN AND AVA
13 Nov 1871
17 Nov 1888
E
M
1
1
Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 5th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye
Created Baron Clandboye 22 Jan 1850, Viscount Clandboye and Earl of Dufferin 13 Nov 1871 and Earl of Ava and Marquess of Dufferin and Ava 17 Nov 1888
Lord Lieutenant Down 1864‑1902; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1868‑1872; Governor General of Canada 1872‑1876; Viceroy of India 1884‑1888; Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1891‑1895; KP 1864; PC 1868; PC [I] 1897
For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
21 Jun 1826 12 Feb 1902 75
12 Feb 1902 2 Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood 16 Mar 1866 7 Feb 1918 51
7 Feb 1918 3 Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood
PC [I] 1921
For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
26 Feb 1875 21 Jul 1930 55
21 Jul 1930 4 Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood 6 Apr 1909 25 Mar 1945 35
25 Mar 1945
to    
29 May 1988
5 Sheridan Frederick Terence Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood
Peerage extinct on his death
9 Jul 1938 29 May 1988 49
DUFFERIN AND CLANEBOYE
31 Jul 1800 B[I] 1 Dame Dorcas Blackwood
Created Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye 31 Jul 1800
1726 8 Feb 1807 80
8 Feb 1807 2 Sir James Stevenson Blackwood, 3rd baronet
MP [I] for Killyleagh 1788‑1800; MP for Helston 1807‑1812 and Aldeburgh 1812‑1818
8 Jul 1755 8 Aug 1836 81
8 Aug 1836 3 Hans Blackwood
MP [I] for Killyleagh 1799‑1800
Oct 1758 18 Nov 1839 81
18 Nov 1839 4 Price Blackwood
For information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
6 May 1794 21 Jul 1841 47
21 Jul 1841 5 Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin & Ava 21 Jun 1826 12 Feb 1902 76
12 Feb 1902 6 Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 2nd Marquess of Dufferin & Ava 16 Mar 1866 7 Feb 1918 51
7 Feb 1918 7 Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 3rd Marquess of Dufferin & Ava
PC [I] 1921
26 Feb 1875 21 Jul 1930 55
21 Jul 1930 8 Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin & Ava 6 Apr 1909 25 Mar 1945 35
25 Mar 1945 9 Sheridan Frederick Terence Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 5th Marquess of Dufferin & Ava 9 Jul 1938 29 May 1988 49
29 May 1988 10 Francis George Blackwood, 7th baronet 20 May 1916 13 Nov 1991 75
13 Nov 1991 11 John Francis Blackwood 18 Oct 1944
DUFFUS
8 Dec 1650 B[S] 1 Alexander Sutherland
Created Lord Duffus 8 Dec 1650
31 Aug 1674
31 Aug 1674 2 James Sutherland 24 Dec 1705
24 Dec 1705
to    
1734
3 Kenneth Sutherland
He was attainted and the peerage forfeited
1734
[1734] [4] [Eric Sutherland] 29 Aug 1710 28 Aug 1768 57
[28 Aug 1768]
25 May 1826
5 James Sutherland
He was restored to the peerage in 1826
8 Jun 1747 30 Jan 1827 79
30 Jan 1827 6 Sir Benjamin Dunbar, 3rd baronet 28 Apr 1761 27 Jan 1843 81
27 Jan 1843
to    
28 Aug 1875
7 George Sutherland Dunbar
Peerage extinct on his death
6 Jun 1799 28 Aug 1875 76
 

George John Frederick Sackville, 4th Duke of Dorset
The Duke, who was aged only 21, died following a hunting accident in February 1815. The following report is taken from The Morning Post of 20 February 1815:-
The Duke of Dorset had been since Monday on a visit to Lord Powerscourt, and yesterday joined a hunting party in the vicinity of Killiney. His Grace was an adventurous horseman, and interested warmly in the spirit of the chase towards its close; and when his horse was a good deal fatigued by the ardour with which he had been urged forward, his Grace leaped a small stone wall, at the opposite side of which loose stones had been collected. The horse effected the leap, but fell among the stones, on which he necessarily lighted, and his rider was consequently thrown off.
His Grace, it seems, came to the ground on his breast, with so great a shock, as proved fatal in a short period after. He was unconscious, it seems, of having been materially injured, for in reply to a question from Lord Powerscourt, who was near at the time of the accident, "If he was much hurt?" His Grace said, "he believed not". He was immediately taken to the house of Mr. Oxley, from which a messenger was instantly dispatched to town for Surgeons Crampton and Macklin. Before their arrival, however, though they travelled with every possible expedition, his Grace had expired. He lived little better than an hour after the fatal event took place. The Hon. Mr. Wingfield, Lord Powerscourt's brother, and Mr. Oxley, were with him when he died. The sad catastrophe was not accompanied with any apparent symptoms of very acute suffering - he raised himself up by their assistance, as a last effort of life, and said, almost inarticulately, "I am off," and expired.
William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas and William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas and 2nd Earl of Avandale
The following article appeared in the September 1961 edition of the monthly Australian magazine Parade. While its purpose is to outline the life of King James II of Scotland, a large portion of it relates to the 6th and 8th Earls of Douglas.
On February 22, 1452, there was high revelry within the grim old walls of Stirling Castle. Young King James II of Scotland was feasting his most powerful subject, "Black Willie", Earl of Douglas, chief of the turbulent and rebellious family that had kept Scotland on the brink of civil war for years. As the night wore on, high words rose between them. Suddenly the King snatched a dagger from his belt and plunged it into Douglas' breast. His courtiers hacked the wounded earl to death, then tossed his body out of a window into the castle garden. "Now I am really king in my own land!" James cried exultantly.
"James of the Fiery Face" his people called their young monarch. And their name referred as much to his furious outbursts of rage as to the blood-red birthmark that stained his cheek. James came to the throne as a child, a mere puppet in the hands of the great feudal barons who kept Scotland in an anarchy of massacres and private wars. He spent the whole of his brief manhood in breaking the power of his mighty subjects. The barbaric murder of Douglas sealed their downfall and James left to his Stuart successors a tradition of absolute monarchy that lasted nearly 200 years.
James Stuart was born at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, on October 16, 1430. He was the son of King James I, who had spent many years of exile in London as a captive of the English king. In 1437, James I was assassinated by a group of Scottish nobles. His infant son was proclaimed as James II. Chief contenders for control over the boy were the chancellor, Sir William Crichton, and the governor of Stirling Castle, Sir Alexander Livingstone. Taken by his mother, Queen Joan, for safety to Stirling, the child‑king was soon kidnapped by Crichton and carried off to Edinburgh as a virtual prisoner.
The Highlands were ablaze with clan warfare. In the west, the Macdonald "Lord of the Isles" ruled almost as an independent monarch, plundering and burning from Syke to Inverness. Central and Southern Scotland was divided among a dozen great feudal houses, of which the Douglases far overtopped the others in pride, violence and power. By about 1400, nearly two‑thirds of the Scottish Lowlands was Douglas land. The earl rode with a retinue of 1000 horsemen. He had 40 castles and could call an army of 30,000 men to his banner.
James [sic - William], the sixth earl, was a reckless youth of 17 when the infant King James was crowned. Douglas hated both Crichton and Livingstone, calling them the "two tyrants". In 1440 the rival guardians of the king combined to get rid of him. The earl was lured to Edinburgh with honeyed words. When his followers had been dispersed in lodgings about the town, Douglas [and his brother, David] was seized at the royal banquet table and beheaded in the castle courtyard. The blow temporarily crushed the Douglas clan, The new earl [James Douglas, great‑uncle of the sixth earl], a fat and lethargic character known as the "Tun of Tallow", hastily submitted and Scotland knew a few brief years of quiet.
By 1449, however, the picture had changed. King James was 19, burly, headstrong, determined to shake himself free of tutelage and establish his personal rule. On July 3 he wed the beautiful Mary of Guelders, who arrived from Flanders with a dowry of 60,000 gold crowns and an escort of 13 warships and 200 Flemish knights. The wedding feast was a spectacular scene. The chief dish was a painted boar's head decorated with miniature banners of the king and his nobles, surmounted by a crown of blazing flax. In the great tournament that followed, three Scottish nobles fought three champions from Burgundy. James noted the significant fact that the Scots included two of the Douglas Clan.
In fact, the Douglas power was swiftly reviving. Old "Tun of Tallow" had been succeeded by Earl Willie, another youth as daring and ambitious as his beheaded cousin.
The "auld alliance" between Scotland and France meant continuous border war between the Scots and English - a series of bloody forays that reduced both sides of the Tweed to a desert. As Lord of the Lowlands, Douglas was the chief Scottish figure in the wars. Men hurled back the English invasions to the cry of "A Douglas! A Douglas!" rather than in the name of King James.
Haunted by memories of his miserable childhood as the barons' puppet, James determined to assert his personal rule. But, though he chafed bitterly, he knew that he must proceed cautiously at first. Douglas was a national hero. His vast estates had been further swollen by marriage to the heiress Fair Maid of Galloway [his cousin, Margaret Douglas, daughter of the 5th earl]. Even James was fascinated by his handsome presence and reckless bravery.
The removal of Crichton and Livingstone brought the shrewd James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrew's [c 1408‑1465], to the post of chief royal adviser. Under his influence James made the many administrative reforms for which distracted Scotland had cause to bless him. Parliaments were summoned to Edinburgh. Small lairds were protected against the great barons. Royal officials scoured the land to enforce the "King's Peace" and redress grievances.
By 1450, King James was ready to move against his mighty rival. The Earl of Douglas was appointed to lead a mission to the Pope, and set out for Rome with all the pageantry of an independent prince. As he travelled in state through Europe with his 200 knights and retainers, James swooped like a wolf on the Douglas domains. Castle after castle was stormed and burned. Douglas armies were shattered, the whole countryside laid waste and his allies in other noble families bribed or threatened into making peace.
The news reached the earl during his slow progress back from Rome. Hastening ahead of his retinue, he was in Scotland early in 1451, foaming with fury against the "stark traitor villain Jamie". Nevertheless, when the King summoned him to parliament in Edinburgh, he dared not refuse. In June, 1451, nursing hatred in his heart, "Black Willie" bowed his knee in submission to King James. If the king imagined that Douglas was humbled for good, he was soon undeceived. Back in his own ravaged domains, the earl began plotting treason on a grand scale.
England was on the verge of the Wars of the Roses, with the Yorkists working to overthrow the feeble Lancastrian King Henry VI. Because of his family relationship King James supported the Lancastrians. Douglas intrigued with the Yorkists, promising to rule Scotland as an English vassal in exchange for help against James. The main conspiracy was in Scotland itself. Its leaders were Douglas, his two brothers (the Earls of Moray and Ormond), the Earl of Crawford and John Macdonald of the Isles. Crawford, known as the "Tiger Earl", was a savage ruffian who wanted to be Lord of the Central Highlands. Macdonald's grievance was the King's refusal to recognise his title as Earl of Ross.
Douglas' ferocity quickly brought matters to a crisis. A royal official was hanged in a Douglas castle. One of his tenants who refused to join the conspiracy was beheaded forthwith. King James made a last effort to keep the peace. Under letter of safe-conduct, he invited the earl to Stirling Castle. Whether he already intended cold‑blooded murder has never been established. Blindly confident of his power, Douglas arrived at Stirling on the snowy winter's morning of February 22, 1452. James greeted him with lavish cordiality and that night prepared a feast in his honour. As they sat at table, the king declared that he knew all about the treason plot and urged Douglas to abandon it. "I willna brak my band!" the earl answered with sullen defiance. Scarlet with wrath, James snatched a dagger from his belt. "Then this shall break it!" he cried, and plunged the blade into Douglas' breast. As if at a signal, the courtiers surrounded the dying man. James Patrick struck at his throat with a pike. Alexander Boyd and Stewart of Darnley completed the bloody deed with their swords. The mutilated corpse was then flung through a window into the snow‑covered garden. Later it was shovelled into an unmarked grave in the castle ditch.
The murder stunned the Douglas clan and, despite the desperate efforts of the new earl, the grand conspiracy fell to pieces. When the king had left Stirling, a raiding party of 300 Douglases burned and sacked the town in reprisal, dragging a copy of the royal safe‑conduct letter through the streets on a horse's tail. But the power of the greatest feudal house in Scotland had been broken forever. Never again would the dreaded cry of "A Douglas!" rouse the Lowlands to rebellion against the king's rule.
The earl's own kinsman, the "Red Douglas" Earl of Angus, led the royal army that stamped out the last embers of resistance at the battle of Arkinholm three years later [1 May 1455]. The new Earl of Douglas fled to the Yorkists in England. His titles were forfeited, his vast estates dismembered and parcelled out among the lesser nobility.
James had triumphed. He had brought peace and security to Scotland and laid the basis of the personal rule of the Stuarts that was to last till Cromwell dethroned his descendant two centuries later. James' own rule, however, was short‑lived. Along the English border war flared up again. The outbreak of the Wars of the Roses gave the Scots a chance to avenge the bloody outrages of the English forays. Soon only Roxburgh Castle and the town of Berwick‑on‑Tweed remained in English hands. In July, 1460, the king arrived to take command of the besieging army before the walls of Roxburgh.
James had always been keenly interested in the new weapon of artillery - the guns that wiped out the old feudal battle array by laying low armoured knight and leather‑jerkined peasant alike. His father had brought the first cannon to Scotland, a brass monster from Flanders that filled the court with awe. James had a siege train of six guns in the army that camped around Roxburgh.
On August 3, 1460, the king stood by the battery watching the gunners at work. The guns were hot, and the barrels, wedged into their cumbersome wooden carriages, had swollen dangerously. Suddenly a cannon burst. One of the wedges struck the king and shattered his thigh. By the time he was carried to his tent he was dead. King James was still under 30 and had ruled for only a dozen years. But in that short time he had made a real kingdom out of the ruins of turbulent feudal Scotland.
The Douglas Inheritance Case of 1767‑1769
The following account of the claim is taken from an anonymously written book titled Celebrated Claimants Ancient and Modern published by Chatto and Windus, London, 1873. This account was subsequently included in Lillian de la Torre's Villainy Detected: being a collection of the most sensational true crimes that blotted the name of Britain in the years 1660-1800 (Appleton-Century, New York, 1947). She also later wrote a full length book on this subject, The Heir of Douglas: Being a New Solution to the Old Mystery of the Douglas Cause (Michael Joseph, London, 1953).
Before proceeding any further, it must be emphasised that many writers, including the extract shown below, have assumed that the case was in relation to a claim to the Douglas peerages. This is not so - it was a claim made to the Douglas estates. The claimant had no foundation for any claim to the peerages, since his descent was through a female line, whereas the patent which created the Dukedom specified that the remainder was to heirs male of his body. All peerage reference works are unanimous in agreeing that the Douglas peerages created in 1703 became extinct in 1761, and that the earlier Marquessate was inherited by the Duke of Hamilton.
The account referred to above reads as follows:-
Rather more than a hundred years ago the whole kingdom was disturbed by the judicial proceedings which were taken with reference to the succession to the ancient honours of the great Scotch house of Douglas. Boswell, who was but little indisposed to exaggeration, and who is reported by Sir Walter Scott to have been such an ardent partisan that he headed a mob which smashed the windows of the judges of the Court of Session, says that "the Douglas cause shook the security of birthright in Scotland to its foundation, and was a cause which, had it happened before the Union, when there was no appeal to a British House of Lords, would have left the fortress of honours and of property in ruins". His zeal even led him to oppose his idol Dr. Johnson, who took the opposite side, and to tell him that he knew nothing of the cause, which, he adds, he does most seriously believe was the case. But however this may be, the popular interest and excitement were extreme; the decision of the Court of Session in 1767 led to serious disturbances, and the reversal of its judgment two years later was received with the most extravagant demonstrations of joy.
In the beginning of the eighteenth century, Archibald, Duke of Douglas, wore the honours of Sholto, "the Douglas". His father, James, the second Marquis of Douglas, had been twice married, and had issue by his first wife in the person of James, Earl of Angus, who was killed at the battle of Steinkirk [in 1692]; and by his second of a son and daughter. The son was the Archibald just mentioned, who became his heir and successor, and the daughter was named Lady Jane. Her ladyship, like most of the women of the Douglas family, was celebrated for her beauty; but unhappily became afterwards as famous for her evil fortune. In her first womanhood she entered into a nuptial agreement with the Earl of Dalkeith, who subsequently became Duke of Buccleuch, but the marriage was unexpectedly broken off, and for very many years she persistently refused all the offers which were made for her hand. At length, in 1746, when she was forty‑eight years old, she was secretly married to a Mr. Stewart, of Grantully. This gentleman was a penniless scion of a good family, and the sole resources of the newly‑wedded couple consisted of an allowance of £300 per annum, which had been granted by the duke to his sister, with whom he was on no friendly terms. Even this paltry means of support was precarious, and it was resolved to keep the marriage secret. The more effectually to conceal it, Mr. Stewart and his nobly‑born wife repaired to France, and remained on the Continent for three years. At the end of that time they returned to England, bringing with them two children, of whom they alleged the Lady Jane had been delivered in Paris, at a twin‑birth, in July 1748. Six months previously to their arrival in London their marriage had been made public, and the duke had stopped the allowance which he had previously granted. They were, therefore, in the direst distress; and, to add to their other misfortunes, Mr. Stewart being deeply involved in debt, his creditors threw him into prison.
Lady Jane bore up against her accumulated sorrows with more than womanly heroism, and when she found all her efforts to excite the sympathy of her brother unavailing, addressed the following letter to Mr. Pelham, then Secretary of State:--
   "SIR,--If I meant to importune you I should ill deserve the generous compassion which I was informed some months ago you expressed upon being acquainted with my distress. I take this as the least troublesome way of thanking you, and desiring you to lay my application before the king in such a light as your own humanity will suggest. I cannot tell my story without seeming to complain of one of whom I never will complain. I am persuaded my brother wishes me well, but, from a mistaken resentment, upon a creditor of mine demanding from him a trifling sum, he has stopped the annuity which he had always paid me - my father having left me, his only younger child, in a manner unprovided for. Till the Duke of Douglas is set right - which I am confident he will be - I am destitute. Presumptive heiress of a great estate and family, with two children, I want bread. Your own nobleness of mind will make you feel how much it costs me to beg, though from the king. My birth, and the attachment of my family, I flatter myself his Majesty is not unacquainted with. Should he think me an object of his royal bounty, my heart won't suffer any bounds to be set to my gratitude; and, give me leave to say, my spirit won't suffer me to be burdensome to his Majesty longer than my cruel necessity compels me.
   "I little thought of ever being reduced to petition in this way; your goodness will therefore excuse me if I have mistaken the manner, or said anything improper. Though personally unknown to you, I rely upon your intercession. The consciousness of your own mind in having done so good and charitable a deed will be a better return than the thanks of
JANE DOUGLAS STEWART."
The result was that the king granted the distressed lady a pension of £300 a‑year; but Lady Jane seems to have been little relieved thereby. The Douglas' notions of economy were perhaps eccentric, but, at all events, not only did Mr. Stewart still remain in prison, but his wife was frequently compelled to sell the contents of her wardrobe to supply him with suitable food during his prolonged residence in the custody of the officers of the Court of King's Bench. During the course of his incarceration Lady Jane resided in Chelsea, and the letters which passed between the severed pair, letters which were afterwards produced in court - proved that their children were rarely absent from their thoughts, and that on all occasions they treated them with the warmest parental affection.
In 1752, Lady Jane visited Scotland, accompanied by her children, for the purpose, if possible, of effecting a reconciliation with her brother; but the duke flatly refused even to accord her an interview. She therefore returned to London, leaving the children in the care of a nurse at Edinburgh. This woman, who had originally accompanied herself and her husband to the continent, treated them in the kindest possible manner; but, notwithstanding her care, Sholto Thomas Stewart, the younger of the twins, sickened and died on the 11th of May 1753. The disconsolate mother at once hurried back to the Scottish capital, and again endeavoured to move her brother to have compassion upon her in her distress. Her efforts were fruitless, and, worn out by starvation, hardship, and fatigue, she, too, sank and died in the following November, disowned by her friends, and, as she said to Pelham, "wanting bread".
Better days soon dawned upon Archibald, the surviving twin. Lady Shaw, deeply stirred by the misfortunes and lamentable end of his mother, took him under her own charge, and educated and supported him as befitted his condition. When she died a nobleman took him up; and his father, having unexpectedly succeeded to the baronetcy and estates of Grantully, on acquiring his inheritance, immediately executed a bond of provision in his favour for upwards of £2500, and therein acknowledged him as his son by Lady Jane Douglas.
The rancour of the duke, however, had not died away, and he stubbornly refused to recognise the child as his nephew. And, more than this, after having spent the greater portion of his life in seclusion, he unexpectedly entered into a marriage, in 1758, with the eldest daughter of Mr. James Douglas, of Mains. This lady, far from sharing in the opinions of her noble lord, espoused the cause of the lad whom he so firmly repudiated, and became a partisan so earnest that a quarrel resulted, which gave rise to a separation. But peace was easily restored, and quietness once more reigned in the ducal household.
In the middle of 1761, the Duke of Douglas was unexpectedly taken ill, and his physicians pronounced his malady to be mortal. Nature, in her strange and unexplained way, told the ill‑tempered peer the same tale, and, when death was actually before his eyes, he repented of his conduct towards his unfortunate sister. To herself he was unable to make any reparation, but her boy remained; and, on the 11th of July 1761, he executed an entail of his entire estates in favour of the heirs of his father, James, Marquis of Douglas, with remainder to Lord Douglas Hamilton, the brother of the Duke of Hamilton, and supplemented it by another deed which set forth that, as in the event of his death without heirs of his body, Archibald Douglas, alias Stewart, a minor, and son of the deceased Lady Jane Douglas, his sister, would succeed him. He appointed the Duchess of Douglas, the Duke of Queensberry, and certain other persons whom he named, to be the lad's tutors and guardians. Thus, from being a rejected waif, the boy became the acknowledged heir to a peerage [sic], and a long rent-roll.
There were still, however, many difficulties to be surmounted. The guardians of the young Hamilton had no intention of losing the splendid prize which was almost within their grasp, and repudiated the boy's pretensions. On the other hand, the guardians of the youthful Stewart‑Douglas were determined to procure the official recognition of his claims. Accordingly, immediately after the duke's decease, they hastened to put him in possession of the Douglas estate, and set on foot legal proceedings to justify their conduct. The Hamilton faction thereupon despatched one of their number to Paris, and on his return their emissary rejoiced their hearts and elevated their hopes by informing them that he was convinced, on safe grounds, that Lady Jane Douglas had never given birth to the twins as suggested, and that the whole story was a fabrication. They, therefore, asserted before the courts that the claimant to the Douglas honours was not a Douglas at all.
They denied that Lady Jane Douglas was delivered on July 10, 1748, in the house of a Madame La Brune, as stated; and brought forward various circumstances to show that Madame La Brune herself never existed. They asserted that it was impossible that the birth could have taken place at that time, because on the specified date, and for several days precedent and subsequent to the 10th of July, Lady Jane Douglas with her husband and a Mrs. Hewit were staying at the Hotel de Chalons - an inn kept by a Mons. Godefroi, who, with his wife, was ready to prove their residence there. And they not only maintained that dark work had been carried on in Paris by the parties concerned in the affair, but alleged that Sir John Stewart, Lady Jane Douglas, and Mrs. Hewit, had stolen from French parents the children which they afterwards foisted upon the public as real Douglases.
The claimant, and those representing him, on their part, brought forward the depositions of several witnesses that Lady Jane Douglas appeared to them to be with child while at Aix‑la‑Chapelle and other places, and put in evidence the sworn testimony of Mrs. Hewit, who accompanied the newly‑wedded pair to the continent, as to the actual delivery of her ladyship at Paris upon the 10th of July 1748. They also submitted the depositions of independent witnesses as to the recognition of the claimant by Sir John (then Mr.) Stewart and his wife, and produced a variety of letters which had passed between Sir John Stewart, Lady Jane Douglas, Mrs. Hewit, and others as to the birth. They also added to their case four letters, which purported to emanate from Pierre la Marre, whom they represented to have been the accoucheur at the delivery of Lady Jane.
Sir John Stewart, Lady Jane's husband, and the reputed father of the claimant, died in June 1764; but, before his decease, his depositions were taken in the presence of two ministers and of a justice of the peace. He asserted, 'as one slipping into eternity, that the defendant (Archibald Stewart) and his deceased twin-brother were both born of the body of Lady Jane Douglas, his lawful spouse, in the year 1748."
The case came before the Court of Session on the 17th of July 1767, when no fewer than fifteen judges took their seats to decide it. During its continuance Mrs. Hewit, who was charged with abetting the fraud, died; but before her death she also, like Sir John Stewart, formally and firmly asserted, with her dying breath, that her evidence in the matter was unprejudiced and true. After a patient hearing seven of the judges voted to "sustain the reasons of reduction", and the other seven to "assoilzie the defender". In other words, the bench was divided in opinion, and the Lord President, who has no vote except as an umpire in such a dilemma, voted for the Hamilton or illegitimacy side, and thus deprived Archibald Douglas, or Stewart, of both the title and the estates.
But a matter of such importance could not, naturally, be allowed to remain in such an unsatisfactory condition. An appeal was made to the House of Lords, and the judgment of the Scottish Court of Session was reversed in 1769. Archibald Douglas was, therefore, declared to be the son of Lady Jane, and the heir to the dukedom of Douglas [sic].
Although Archibald was not eligible to succeed to the Douglas peerages, he was later created a peer in his own right in 1790 as Baron Douglas of Douglas.
The special remainder to the barony of Ducie created in 1763
From the London Gazette of 19 April 1763 (issue 10306, page 2):-
The King has been pleased to grant unto the Right Honourable Mathew Baron Ducie, of Morton in the County of Stafford, and his Heirs Male; and in Default of such Issue, then to Thomas Reynolds, Esq; Nephew of the said Mathew Baron Ducie of Morton, and to his Heirs Male; and in Default of such Issue, then to Francis Reynolds, Esq; Brother to the said Thomas Reynolds, and also Nephew of the said Mathew Baron Ducie of Morton, and his Heirs Male, the Dignity of a Baron of the Kingdom of Great Britain, by the Name, Stile and Title of Lord Ducie, Baron Ducie of Tortworth, in the County of Gloucester.
Berkeley Basil Moreton, 4th Earl of Ducie
The 4th Earl was the 4th son of the 2nd Earl of Ducie. After being educated at Rugby and Oxford, he went to Australia in 1855, at the age of 21. Here he spent the next 67 years of his life until he returned to England in 1922 for a short period after succeeding his elder brother in the title.
On his death The Times of 8 August 1924 contained the following (edited) obituary:-
Though by no means the first instance of a peer who came home on succession after long residence abroad … Lord Ducie's return created much interest, partly because of his advanced age, and partly because he was believed to be the only peer who inherited his title after holding Cabinet office in an overseas State of the Empire … At the age of 21 he left Plymouth for Australia in the Waterloo, a sailing ship. After spending several weeks on a visit to the then Governor of New South Wales (Sir William Denison), Mr. Berkeley Moreton (as he then was) settled down on a sheep farm in Queensland, and there he remained for some 67 years. In 1870 he entered the Legislative Assembly as member for Burnet[t], sitting later for Maryborough, and then for Burnet[t] again. In 1885 he became Postmaster-General in Sir Samuel Griffiths' Ministry, but was soon transferred to the office of Secretary for Public Instruction, which he held till 1888, combining with it for most of the time the portfolio of Colonial Secretary.
The Manchester Guardian, in its obituary on 8 August 1924, stated that
He had gone to Australia at the age of 21, in the gold-digging days. On his arrival he made a long journey on horseback in the company of the Governor of New South Wales (Sir William Denison) to Bathurst [200km west of Sydney]. After spending three years on one of the Macleay stations at Wagga Wagga, where he learned reef management, he went to Melbourne, and then went to Queensland, where he took up a station in the Wide bay district, and became a successful sheep farmer.
His long residence in Queensland was distinguished by may years of useful public life. As representative of the Burnett and Maryborough constituencies, he was Colonial Secretary, and Minister for Public Instruction, and Postmaster-General successively, being appointed afterwards to the Legislative Council.
All his family were born in Australia, and his return to England meant a great wrench for a man of over eighty years. He found the changes which had taken place in England bewildering, and was exceptionally worried by the modern traffic. It was with relief he returned to Australia for a visit last year.
Recently, when asked had he yet travelled on the London Tube, he inquired, "What tube? I don't know anything about tubes. I don't know whether they lead to Heaven or the other place."
For another peer who lived in Australia for many years before succeeding to his title, see the note regarding the 10th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh.
John William Ward, 4th Viscount Dudley and Ward of Dudley and 1st Earl of Dudley of Dudley Castle
The following is extracted from The Emperor of the United States of America and Other Magnificent British Eccentrics by Catherine Caufield (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1981)
Ward, an only child and heir to one of the largest fortunes in England, had an upbringing which was designed to set him above his peers in education and accomplishment. It was more successful, however, in setting him apart emotionally. When he was still a child, a house was set up for him in London, away from family and friends and there he lived with only his tutors for company. The result was an elegant, introverted boy who was destined to live alone. He was not a recluse, however, and after Oxford he stood for Parliament and made something of a name for himself as a dandy and wit. Byron called him 'studious, brilliant, elegant and sometimes piquant'. He served briefly as Foreign Secretary under Canning. During his tenure he exhibited beautifully that absent-mindedness for which he was famous. Shortly before the Battle of Navarino in 1827, Ward thoughtlessly put a letter to the French ambassador into an envelope addressed to the Russian ambassador, Prince Lieven. When he received the letter, Prince Lieven, who was a consummate political schemer, saw at once that Ward had perpetrated an ingenious, sinister plot to try and confuse the Russians with false information. He returned the letter - unread he said - congratulating himself on his narrow escape and praising Ward's clever ruse all over London.
Many of the stories about Ward centre on his habit of talking to himself. At a dinner party, for example, he would rehearse his bon mots, as he thought, under his breath, but his mutterings were clearly audible to those near him, who therefore heard all his witticisms twice. The two voices - one shrill and one gruff - that he used in conducting conversations with himself, were said to sound like Lord Dudley conversing with Lord Ward. He seemed entirely unaware that his thoughts were being overheard. Presumably he did not even have the satisfaction of realising that all London was delighted by his muttered reaction to a much-disliked man who offered to walk Ward from the Commons to the Travellers Club: 'I don't suppose it will bore me very much to let him walk with me that distance.'
As he grew older, his absent-mindedness increased and he often seemed to forget where he was. Dining at the house of a woman who prided herself in serving the best food in London, he apologised to the other guests for the poor quality of the meal, but explained 'my cook isn't feeling well'. Another time, Ward paid a call and after sitting for more than the required length of time and failing to respond to his hostess's repeated hints that he should leave, he muttered 'a very pretty woman, but she stays a devilish long time. I wish she'd go.'
Eventually Ward's loneliness became too much of a strain for him and, possibly after a rejection by the Earl of Beverley's daughter, he invented a wife for himself, speaking of her with great affection. In 1832 he behaved so strangely at one of his own dinner parties that a doctor who was present had him confined. He later suffered a paralytic stroke and died in 1833.
William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley
The story goes that the Earl went throughout life firmly convinced that the lower part of his body was made of glass, and as a result of this belief, he insisted upon extraordinary precautions being made every time that he had to sit down. For obvious reasons, he also had a terror of bumping into people or objects. He had a number of other strange idiosyncrasies, especially relating to the state of his health, which, to his mind, "rendered it advisable that he be able to speedily purchase the most elaborate layettes". As a layette is a collection of clothing for a new‑born child, I can only assume that the Earl thought he was about to give birth.
The delusion that one is made of glass appears in prominent people several times throughout history. Charles VI, King of France 1380‑1422, believed that he was made of glass, and reportedly had iron rods sewn into his clothes, so that he would not shatter if he bumped into another person. Princess Alexandra Amelie of Bavaria [1826‑1875], daughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and aunt of the mad Ludwig II of Bavaria, went one better. She was convinced that, as a child, she had swallowed a grand piano made of glass, which remained inside her. This led her to walk sideways through any door so as to avoid becoming stuck.
William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley
The 3rd Earl of Dudley suffered two tragedies during his lifetime. After marrying in 1919 Lady Rosemary Millicent Leveson‑Gower, daughter of the 4th Duke of Sutherland, their second son, John Jeremy Ward, was killed at the age of 7 in December 1929 when he was riding a bicycle on Chelsea Embankment when he was hit by a motor lorry.
Seven months later, the Earl's wife died in a plane crash in Kent. Also killed in this crash was the 3rd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, Sir Edward Ward, 2nd baronet, and a number of others. For more details on this accident, see the note below under the 3rd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.
Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin & Ava
Dufferin is the central figure of one of Great Britain's most famous ghost stories.
The story goes that one night, while visiting a friend's country house in Ireland, Dufferin was unusually restless and totally unable to get to sleep. He experienced an inexplicable feeling of dread and, in order to calm his attack of nerves, he got out of bed and walked across his room to the window. A full moon illuminated the garden below his window so that it was almost as bright as day. Suddenly, Dufferin noticed a movement below and a man appeared, carrying a long box on his back. The silent figure walked slowly across the garden below and, when he was level with Dufferin, he stopped and looked directly into Dufferin's eyes.
Dufferin recoiled, for the face of the man carrying the long box was so ugly that Dufferin could not even describe it later. For a moment their eyes met, and then the man moved off into the shadows. The box on his back was clearly seen by Dufferin to be a coffin.
The next morning, Dufferin asked his host and the other guests about the man in the garden, but no one knew anything about him.
Years later, between 1891 and 1896, Dufferin was the British Ambassador to France. One day he was about to walk into an elevator on his way to a meeting. For some reason, he glanced at the lift operator and, with a violent start, he recognized the operator as the man he had seen years before carrying the coffin across the garden. Involuntarily, Dufferin stepped back from the elevator door and stood there as the door closed and the elevator began its ascent.
Suddenly Dufferin was startled by a terrific crash - the elevator's cable had snapped, and the elevator had plunged to the basement. Several passengers, including the lift operator, were killed in the fall. Subsequent investigations revealed that the operator had been hired for just that day. No one ever found out who he was or where he came from.
********************
A nice story, but there is a problem with it - it appears to be totally untrue, being more in the nature of an urban myth. An interesting study of the history of the supposed dream can be found in Investigating the Unexplained by Melvin Harris [Prometheus Books, Buffalo NY, 1986]. Harris traces the history of the story, pointing out that Lady Dufferin, in answer to a query made by the Society of Psychical Research, replied that the story did not relate to the Lord Dufferin in question, but was simply a new version of an old story that her grandfather used to tell about someone else outside the Dufferin family. In its original version, the story had taken place at Glamis Castle, where an unnamed man had seen a hearse driven by the ugly man. Harris also shows that the story had been doing the rounds for quite a few years before it came to be associated with Lord Dufferin. It is also significant that no newspaper report can be traced of such an accident in Parisian newspapers, and that the first written account of Dufferin's involvement appeared in 1920, around 25 years after its supposed occurrence.
Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 3rd Marquess of Dufferin & Ava
The Marquess, together with Viscountess Ednam, wife of Viscount Ednam, (the son of the 2nd Earl of Dudley and later the 3rd Earl), Sir Edward Ward, 2nd baronet, and a number of others, was killed in a plane crash in Kent on 21 July 1930.
The crash was reported in The Times of 22 July 1930, as follows:-
Four passengers, the pilot, and the assistant pilot, forming the full complement of an aeroplane, were killed today when the machine crashed near the village green of Meopham, about five miles south of Gravesend. The names of the dead are:-
The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
Viscountess Ednam
Sir Edward Ward
Mrs. Henrik Loeffler
Lieutenant Colonel G.L.P. Henderson (pilot)
Mr. Charles D'Urban Shearing (assistant pilot)
The aeroplane belonged to Colonel Henderson, who had lent it to the Walcot Air Line, and was flying from Le Touquet to Croydon. The cause of the accident is at present unexplained, for the machine seems to have come to pieces in the air. The engine fell into the drive of a private house, and the occupants of the aeroplane, except the pilot, were thrown out into an adjoining orchard and instantly killed. The main part of the aeroplane, spinning helplessly in the air, crashed to the ground, narrowly missing a bungalow, while the tail was found in a field farther on, and one of the wings, shorn off like a piece of paper, floated away for another mile. A suitcase damaged the roof of a house, and personal belongings were scattered in all directions.
Mr. W.J. Baker, who lives near, states that at about 3 o'clock he heard the engine "cut out". Going out of the house he saw what he describes as half of the aeroplane spin out of the clouds with one wing and the tail falling separately. The wing came to earth about a mile away, and the tail in a field some 300 yards away from the fuselage. Hurrying to the place where the main portion of the aeroplane had fallen, with its remaining wing inclined at an angle of 45 deg., he found the pilot still living beneath the wreckage. He was lifted out and carried into the bungalow, but died shortly afterwards. The engine fell into the drive of Leylands Court, an unoccupied home about a quarter of a mile away, and narrowly missed a gardener at work there. Part of the propeller was broken off and was lying a few yards away.
Mr. A.E. Parsons, a gardener, said that the steel frame of the engine cut through the other side of the hedge on which he was working, missing him by only a few inches, and buried itself a foot deep in the drive.
Mr Gray, who occupies Cottage Meads bungalow, outside which the wreckage fell, said he heard a loud report in the air, and the machine pitched down with the pilot pinned upside down in the cockpit. The pilot was lifted into the hall of the bungalow, and Dr. Golding‑Bird, who lives near, was summoned. Other people speak of a "rumbling" or "screaming" sound in the air before the crash occurred. One man described the noise as like a thunderclap, and at one time the theory was examined that there had been a collision in the clouds with another machine. There is no doubt that shortly before the accident there was another aeroplane flying in the neighbourhood, but the police were able to satisfy themselves that no other machine had been involved.
Brigadier-General F.G. Cannot came down with a party of relatives and identified the bodies. Colonel Henderson's father and a sister also arrived. Mrs. Henderson had flown over with her husband from Le Touquet earlier in the same machine, and he had then gone back to fetch the other party. She was motoring near Croydon this afternoon, and called at the aerodrome soon after news had been received there of the accident. She was at once brought to Meopham by car, and went to see the wreckage of the machine in which she had been a passenger a few hours before. She said that when she and her husband parted at Croydon this morning he told her he would soon be back, as he wanted to take her to the West of England. They had been married only a few months.
Tonight Air Ministry officials and police were searching for a possible explanation of the accident. Some of the eye-witnesses say that there was an explosion in the air, and that the wing parted from the fuselage before the engine came apart, but there is no trace of fire having broken out. The main part of the aeroplane fell upside down.
Despite an investigation carried out by the Air Ministry, no definite cause of the accident was ever forthcoming.
Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye
Lord Dufferin died after accidently taking an overdose of morphine. The following report appeared in The Bury and Norwich Post on 4 August 1841:-
Lord Dufferin died on the 21st ult., on board the Reindeer steamer, on his way from Liverpool to Belfast. His Lordship complained of indisposition on leaving Liverpool on the night of the 20th ult., and directed the steward of the steamer to bring him a dose of morphine, which he swallowed on going to bed. At seven o'clock on Wednesday morning he was observed to be asleep, but at nine he was found dead in his sleeping berth! His sister, the Hon. Mrs. Ward, was on board. An inquest was held on the body, and after an adjournment, the jury returned a verdict of "Died by taking an overdose of morphine".