PEERAGES
Last updated 30/05/2018 (20 Dec 2024)
Date	Rank	Order	Name	Born	Died	Age
COLVILL OF OCHILTREE
4 Jan 1651	B[S]	1	Sir Robert Colvill Created Lord Colvill of Ochiltree 4 Jan 1651		25 Aug 1662
25 Aug 1662		2	Robert Colvill		12 Feb 1671
12 Feb 1671 to     25 Mar 1728		3	Robert Colvill Peerage extinct on his death		25 Mar 1728
COLVILLE OF CULROSS
25 Apr 1604 20 Jan 1609	B[S] B[S]	1 1	Sir James Colvill Created Lord Colville of Culross 25 Apr 1604 and 20 Jan 1609	c 1551	Sep 1629
Sep 1629		2	James Colvill	1604	1654	50
1654		3	William Colvill		12 Apr 1656
12 Apr 1656		4	John Colvill		c 1680
c 1680		5	Alexander Colvill	1666	9 Aug 1717	51
9 Aug 1717		6	John Colvill	1690	20 Apr 1741	50
20 Apr 1741		7	Alexander Colvill	28 Feb 1717	21 May 1770	52
21 May 1770		8	John Colvill	24 Jan 1725	8 Mar 1811	86
8 Mar 1811		9	John Colville	15 Mar 1768	22 Oct 1849	81
22 Oct 1849 12 Jul 1902	V	10 1	Charles John Colville Created Baron Colville of Culross 31 Dec 1885 and Viscount Colville of Culross 12 Jul 1902 PC 1866; KT 1874	23 Nov 1818	1 Jul 1903	84
1 Jul 1903		2	Charles Robert William Colville	26 Apr 1854	25 Mar 1928	73
25 Mar 1928		3	Charles Alexander Colville	26 May 1888	14 Mar 1945	56
14 Mar 1945		4	John Mark Alexander Colville [Elected hereditary peer 1999‑2010]	19 Jul 1933	8 Apr 2010	76
8 Apr 2010		5	Charles Mark Townshend Colville [Elected hereditary peer 2011-]	5 Sep 1959
COLWYN
22 Jun 1917	B	1	Sir Frederick Henry Smith, 1st baronet Created Baron Colwyn 22 Jun 1917 PC 1924	24 Jan 1859	26 Jan 1946	87
26 Jan 1946		2	Frederick John Vivian Smith	26 Nov 1914	1 Jun 1966	51
1 Jun 1966		3	Ian Anthony Hamilton-Smith [Elected hereditary peer 1999‑2022]	1 Jan 1942	4 Aug 2024	82
4 Aug 2024		4	Craig Peter Hamilton-Smith	13 Oct 1968
COLYEAR
13 Apr 1703	B[S]	1	David Colyear, 1st Lord Portmore Created Lord Colyear, Viscount Milsington and Earl of Portmore 13 Apr 1703 See "Portmore"	c 1656	2 Jan 1730
COLYTON
19 Jan 1956	B	1	Henry Lennox D'Aubigne Hopkinson Created Baron Colyton 19 Jan 1956 MP for Taunton 1950‑1956; Minister of State for Colonial Affairs 1952‑1955; PC 1952	3 Jan 1902	6 Jan 1996	94
6 Jan 1996		2	Alisdair John Munro Hopkinson	7 May 1958
COMBERMERE
17 May 1814 8 Feb 1827	B V	1 1	Sir Stapleton Cotton, 6th baronet Created Baron Combermere 17 May 1814 and Viscount Combermere 8 Feb 1827 MP for Newark 1806‑1814; Lord Lieutenant Tower Hamlets 1852‑1865; Field Marshal 1855; PC [I] 1822; PC 1834	14 Nov 1773	21 Feb 1865	91
21 Feb 1865		2	Wellington Henry Stapleton‑Cotton MP for Carrickfergus 1847‑1857	24 Nov 1818	1 Dec 1891	73
1 Dec 1891		3	Robert Wellington Stapleton‑Cotton	18 Jun 1845	20 Feb 1898	52
20 Feb 1898		4	Francis Lynch Wellington Stapleton‑Cotton	29 Jun 1887	8 Feb 1969	81
8 Feb 1969		5	Michael Wellington Stapleton‑Cotton	8 Aug 1929	3 Nov 2000	71
3 Nov 2000		6	Thomas Robert Wellington Stapleton‑Cotton	30 Aug 1969
COMPTON
8 May 1572	B	1	Henry Compton Summoned to Parliament as Lord Compton 8 May 1572	16 Feb 1538	10 Dec 1589	51
10 Dec 1589		2	William Compton, later [1618] 1st Earl of Northampton	by 1572	24 Jun 1630
1626		3	Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Compton 1 Apr 1626	May 1601	19 Mar 1643	41
19 Mar 1643		4	James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton	19 Aug 1622	15 Dec 1681	59
15 Dec 1681		5	George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton	18 Oct 1664	15 Apr 1727	62
15 Apr 1727		6	James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Compton 28 Dec 1711	2 May 1687	3 Oct 1754	67
3 Oct 1754		7	Charlotte Townshend		14 Sep 1770
14 Sep 1770		8	George Townshend, later [1807] 2nd Marquess Townshend	18 Apr 1755	27 Jul 1811	56
27 Jul 1811 to     31 Dec 1855		9	George Ferrers Townshend, 3rd Marquess Townshend On his death the peerage fell into abeyance	13 Dec 1778	31 Dec 1855	77
7 Sep 1812	E	1	Charles Compton, 9th Earl of Northampton Created Baron Wilmington, Earl Compton and Marquess of Northampton 7 Sep 1812 See "Northampton"	24 Mar 1760	24 May 1828	68
CONDON
27 Jun 2001	B[L]		Sir Paul Leslie Condon Created Baron Condon for life 27 Jun 2001	10 Mar 1947
CONESFORD
12 May 1955 to     28 Aug 1974	B	1	Henry George Strauss Created Baron Conesford 12 May 1955 MP for Norwich 1935‑1945, Combined English Universities 1946‑1950 and Norwich South 1950‑1955 Peerage extinct on his death	24 Jun 1892	28 Aug 1974	82
CONGLETON
20 Aug 1841	B	1	Sir Henry Brooke Parnell, 4th baronet Created Baron Congleton 20 Aug 1841 MP [I] for Maryborough 1798‑1800; MP for Portarlington 1802, Queens County 1802 and 1806‑1832 and Dundee 1833‑1841; Secretary at War 1831‑1832; Paymaster General 1835‑1841; PC 1831 For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	3 Jul 1776	8 Jun 1842	65
8 Jun 1842		2	James Vesey Parnell	16 Jun 1805	23 Oct 1883	78
23 Oct 1883		3	Henry William Parnell	23 Mar 1809	10 Oct 1896	87
10 Oct 1896		4	Henry Parnell	10 Jul 1839	12 Nov 1906	67
12 Nov 1906		5	Henry Bligh Fortescue Parnell	6 Sep 1890	10 Nov 1914	24
10 Nov 1914		6	John Brooke Molesworth Parnell	16 May 1892	21 Dec 1932	40
21 Dec 1932		7	William Jared Parnell	18 Aug 1925	12 Oct 1967	42
12 Oct 1967		8	Christopher Patrick Parnell	11 Mar 1930	11 Dec 2015	85
11 Dec 2015		9	John Patrick Christian Parnell	17 Mar 1959
CONINGSBY
17 Apr 1692 18 Jun 1716 to     1 May 1729 30 Apr 1719	B[I] B     E	1 1     1	Thomas Coningsby Created Baron Coningsby [I] 17 Apr 1692, Baron Coningsby 18 Jun 1716 and Earl Coningsby 30 Apr 1719 The creation of 1716 contained a special remainder to the heirs male of his body by any wife he might thereafter marry. The creation of 1719 also contained a special remainder to his elder daughter Margaret, Viscountess Coningsby MP for Leominster 1679‑1710 and 1715‑1716; Lord Lieutenant Hereford 1714‑1721 and Radnor 1715‑1721; PC [I] 1692; PC 1693 On his death the Barony of 1716 became extinct, the Barony of 1692 passed to Richard Coningsby (see below) and the Earldom to Margaret Newton (see below)	1657	1 May 1729	71
1 May 1729 to     18 Dec 1729	B	2	Richard Coningsby On his death the Barony of 1692 became extinct		18 Dec 1729
26 Jan 1717 1 May 1729 to     13 Jun 1761	V E	1 2	Margaret Newton Created Baroness of Hampton Court and Viscountess Coningsby 26 Jan 1717 Peerages extinct on her death	c 1709	13 Jun 1761
CONNAUGHT
19 Nov 1764	E	1	HRH William Henry Created Earl of Connaught and Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh 19 Nov 1764 See "Gloucester"	14 Nov 1743	25 Aug 1805	61
CONNAUGHT AND STRATHEARN
24 May 1874	D	1	HRH Arthur William Patrick Albert Created Earl of Sussex and Duke of Connaught & Strathearn 24 May 1874 Third son of Queen Victoria; Governor General of Canada 1911‑1916; KG 1867; KP 1869; KT 1869; PC 1871; PC [I] 1900	1 May 1850	16 Jan 1942	91
16 Jan 1942 to     26 Apr 1943		2	Alastair Arthur Windsor Peerage extinct on his death	9 Aug 1914	26 Apr 1943	28
CONNEMARA
12 May 1887 to     3 Sep 1902	B	1	Robert Bourke Created Baron Connemara 12 May 1887 MP for Kings Lynn 1868‑1886; Governor of Madras 1886‑1890; PC 1880 Peerage extinct on his death	11 Jun 1827	3 Sep 1902	75
CONSTABLE
14 Nov 1620	B[S]	1	Sir Henry Constable Created Lord Constable and Viscount of Dunbar 14 Nov 1620 See "Dunbar"	c 1588	1645
CONSTANTINE
24 Mar 1969 to     1 Jul 1971	B[L]		Learie Nicholas Constantine Created Baron Constantine for life 24 Mar 1969 The first black peer Peerage extinct on his death	21 Sep 1901	1 Jul 1971	69
CONSTANTINE OF STANMORE
21 Jul 1981 to     13 Feb 2004	B[L]		Sir Theodore Constantine Created Baron Constantine of Stanmore for life 21 Jul 1981 Peerage extinct on his death	15 Mar 1910	13 Feb 2004	93
CONWAY
24 Mar 1624 26 Jun 1627	B V	1 1	Edward Conway Created Baron Conway of Ragley 24 Mar 1624, Viscount Killultagh 15 Mar 1627 and Viscount Conway of Conway Castle 26 Jun 1627 MP for Penryn 1610 and Evesham 1624; Secretary of State 1623; Lord President of the Council 1628; Lord Lieutenant Hampshire 1625		3 Feb 1631
3 Feb 1631		2	Edward Conway MP for Warwick 1624‑1625 and Yarmouth 1626‑1628	10 Aug 1594	16 Jun 1655	60
16 Jun 1655 23 Apr 1679 to     11 Aug 1683	E	3 1	Edward Conway Created Earl of Conway 23 Apr 1679 Secretary of State 1681‑1683; Lord Lieutenant Warwick 1682‑1683; PC [I] 1660; PC 1681 Peerages extinct on his death	c 1623	11 Aug 1683
17 Mar 1703 16 Oct 1712	B B[I]	1 1	Francis Seymour-Conway Created Baron Conway of Ragley 17 Mar 1703 and Baron Conway and Killultagh 16 Oct 1712 MP for Bramber 1701‑1703; PC [I] 1728	28 May 1679	3 Feb 1732	52
3 Feb 1732		2	Francis Seymour-Conway He was created Marquess of Hertford in 1793 when the peerages merged	5 Jul 1718	14 Jun 1794	75
CONWAY OF ALLINGTON
7 Dec 1931 to     19 Apr 1937	B	1	William Martin Conway Created Baron Conway of Allington 7 Dec 1931 MP for Combined English Universities 1918‑1931 Peerage extinct on his death	12 Apr 1856	19 Apr 1937	81
CONYERS
17 Oct 1509	B	1	Sir William Conyers Summoned to Parliament as Lord Conyers 17 Oct 1509		1525
1525		2	Christopher Conyers		14 Jun 1538
14 Jun 1538 to     Jun 1557		3	John Conyers On his death the peerage fell into abeyance		Jun 1557
11 Aug 1641	B	1 4	Conyers Darcy Created Baron Conyers 11 Aug 1641 Abeyance of 1509 creation terminated in his favour 13 Jul 1644	c 1570	3 Mar 1654
3 Mar 1654		5	Conyers Darcy, 1st Earl of Holdernesse	24 Jan 1599	14 Jun 1689	90
1 Nov 1680		6	Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holdernesse He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Conyers 1 Nov 1680	3 Mar 1622	13 Dec 1692	70
1692		7	Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holdernesse	24 Nov 1681	20 Jan 1722	40
20 Jan 1722		8	Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holdernesse On his death the Earldom of Holdernesse became extinct whilst the Barony passed to -	17 May 1718	16 May 1778	59
19 May 1778		9	Amelia Godolphin Osborne	12 Oct 1754	26 Jan 1784	29
26 Jan 1784		10	George William Frederick Osborne, later [1799] 6th Duke of Leeds	21 Jul 1775	10 Jul 1838	63
10 Jul 1838		11	Francis Godolphin D'Arcy D'Arcy‑Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds	21 May 1798	4 May 1859	60
4 May 1859 to     24 Aug 1888		12	Sackville George Lane‑Fox [also 15th Lord Darcy de Knayth] On his death the peerage again fell into abeyance	14 Sep 1827	24 Aug 1888	60
8 Jun 1892		13	Marcia Amelia Mary Anderson‑Pelham Abeyance terminated in her favour 8 Jun 1892	18 Oct 1863	17 Nov 1926	63
17 Nov 1926 to     7 Feb 1948		14	Sackville George Pelham, later [1936] 5th Earl of Yarborough On his death the peerage again fell into abeyance	17 Dec 1888	7 Feb 1948	59
17 May 2012 to     2 Mar 2013		15	Diana Mary Miller On the death of her younger sister and co-heir on 17 May 2012, the abeyance automatically terminated in her favour. On her death in March 2013 the peerage again fell into abeyance	5 Jul 1920	2 Mar 2013	82
CONYNGHAM
3 Oct 1753 20 Jul 1756 4 Jan 1781 to     3 Apr 1781	B[I] V[I] E[I]	1 1 1	Henry Conyngham Created Baron Conyngham 3 Oct 1753, Viscount Conyngham 20 Jul 1756, Baron and Earl Conyngham 4 Jan 1781 For details of the special remainder included in the creation of the Barony of 1781, see the note at the foot of this page MP [I] for Killybegs 1727‑1753; MP for Sandwich 1756‑1774; PC [I] 1748 On his death the Earldom, Viscountcy and Barony of 1753 became extinct, whilst the Barony of 1781 passed to -	1705	3 Apr 1781	75
3 Apr 1781		2	Francis Pierpoint Conyngham MP [I] for Killybegs 1753‑1761 and Clare County 1761‑1776	c 1725	22 May 1787
22 May 1787 22 Jan 1816	M[I]	3 1	Henry Conyngham Created Viscount Conyngham 6 Dec 1789, Viscount Mount Charles and Earl Conyngham 5 Nov 1797, and Viscount Slane, Earl of Mount Charles and Marquess Conyngham 22 Jan 1816 and Baron Minster 17 Jul 1821 KP 1801; PC 1821	26 Dec 1766	28 Dec 1832	66
28 Dec 1832		2	Francis Nathaniel Conyngham MP for Westbury 1818‑1820 and Donegal 1825‑1831; Postmaster General 1834 and 1835; Lord Lieutenant Meath 1869‑1876; KP 1833; PC 1835	11 Jun 1797	17 Jul 1876	79
17 Jul 1876		3	George Henry Conyngham	3 Feb 1825	2 Jun 1882	57
2 Jun 1882		4	Henry Francis Conyngham	1 Oct 1857	28 Aug 1897	39
28 Aug 1897		5	Victor George Henry Francis Conyngham	30 Jan 1883	9 Nov 1918	35
9 Nov 1918		6	Frederick William Burton Conyngham	24 Jun 1890	1 Apr 1974	83
1 Apr 1974		7	Frederick William Henry Francis Conyngham	13 Mar 1924	3 Mar 2009	84
3 Mar 2009		8	Henry Vivian Pierpoint Conyngham	23 May 1951
COOKE OF ISLANDREAGH
11 Aug 1992 to     13 Nov 2007	B[L]		Victor Alexander Cooke Created Baron Cooke of Islandreagh for life 11 Aug 1992 Peerage extinct on his death	18 Oct 1920	13 Nov 2007	87
COOKE OF THORNDON
3 Apr 1996 to     30 Aug 2006	B[L]		Robin Brunskill Cooke Created Baron Cooke of Thorndon for life 3 Apr 1996 PC 1977 Peerage extinct on his death	9 May 1926	30 Aug 2006	80
COOPER OF CULROSS
31 Jul 1954 to     15 Jul 1955	B	1	Thomas Mackay Cooper Created Baron Cooper of Culross 31 Jul 1954 MP for Edinburgh West 1935‑1941; Solicitor General for Scotland 1935; Lord Advocate 1935‑1941; Lord Justice Clerk 1941‑1946; Lord Justice General & President of the Court of Session 1947‑1954; PC 1935 Peerage extinct on his death	24 Sep 1892	15 Jul 1955	62
COOPER OF PAWLETT
23 Apr 1672	E	1	Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd baronet Created Baron Ashley 20 Apr 1661 and Baron Cooper of Pawlett and Earl of Shaftesbury 23 Apr 1672 See "Shaftesbury"	22 Jul 1621	21 Jan 1683	61
COOPER OF STOCKTON HEATH
11 Jul 1966 to     2 Sep 1988	B[L]		John Cooper Created Baron Cooper of Stockton Heath for life 11 Jul 1966 MP for Deptford 1950‑1951 Peerage extinct on his death	7 Jun 1908	2 Sep 1988	80
COOPER OF WINDRUSH
17 Sep 2014	B[L]		Andrew Timothy Cooper Created Baron Cooper of Windrush for life 17 Sep 2014	9 Jun 1963
COOTE OF CASTLE COOTE
6 Sep 1660	V[I]	1	Sir Charles Coote, 2nd baronet Created Baron Coote of Castle Cuffe, Viscount Coote of Castle Coote and Earl of Mountrath 6 Sep 1660 See "Mountrath"	c 1610	18 Dec 1661
COOTE OF CASTLE CUFFE
6 Sep 1660	B[I]	1	Sir Charles Coote, 2nd baronet Created Baron Coote of Castle Cuffe, Viscount Coote of Castle Coote and Earl of Mountrath 6 Sep 1660 See "Mountrath"	c 1610	18 Dec 1661
COOTE OF COLOONY
6 Sep 1660	B[I]	1	Richard Coote Created Baron Coote of Coloony 6 Sep 1660	1620	10 Jul 1683	63
10 Jul 1683		2	Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont	c 1655	5 Mar 1701
5 Mar 1701		3	Nanfan Coote, 2nd Earl of Bellomont	1681	14 Jun 1708	26
14 Jun 1708		4	Richard Coote, 3rd Earl of Bellomont	1682	10 Feb 1766
10 Feb 1766 to     20 Oct 1800		5	Charles Coote Created Earl of Bellamont 4 Sep 1767 MP [I] for Cavan County 1761‑1766 Peerage extinct on his death	6 Apr 1738	20 Oct 1800	62
COPE
11 Jul 1945 to     15 Jul 1946	B	1	Sir William Cope, 1st baronet Created Baron Cope 11 Jul 1945 MP for Llandaff & Barry 1918‑1929 Peerage extinct on his death	18 Aug 1870	15 Jul 1946	75
COPE OF BERKELEY
4 Oct 1997	B[L]		Sir John Ambrose Cope Created Baron Cope of Berkeley for life 4 Oct 1997 MP for Gloucestershire South 1974‑1983 and Northavon 1983‑1997; Minister of State, Employment 1987‑1989; Minister of State, Northern Ireland 1989‑1990; Paymaster General 1992‑1994; PC 1988	13 May 1937
CORBET
23 Jun 1295	B	1	Peter Corbet Summoned to Parliament as Lord Corbet 23 Jun 1295		1300
1300		2	Peter Corbet		1322
1322 to     1347		3	John Corbet Peerage extinct on his death	25 Mar 1298	1347	49
CORBET OF LINCHLADE
23 Oct 1679 to     5 Jun 1682	V[L]		Dame Sarah Corbet Created Viscountess Corbet for life 23 Oct 1679 Peerage extinct on her death	c 1624	5 Jun 1682
CORBETT OF CASTLE VALE
5 Jul 2001 to     19 Feb 2012	B[L]		Robin Corbett Created Baron Corbett of Castle Vale for life 5 Jul 2001 MP for Hemel Hempstead 1974‑1979 and Erdington 1983‑2001 Peerage extinct on his death	22 Dec 1933	19 Feb 2012	78
CORK
c 1396 to     25 Oct 1415	E[I]	1	Edward Plantagenet Created Earl of Cork c 1396 Succeeded as Duke of York 1402 Peerage extinct on his death	1373	25 Oct 1415	42
26 Oct 1620	E[I]	1	Richard Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle of Youghal Created Viscount Dungarvan and Earl of the County of Cork 26 Oct 1620	3 Oct 1566	15 Sep 1643	76
15 Sep 1643		2	Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Boyle of Kinalmeaky He was created Earl of Burlington in 1664 PC [I] 1660	20 Oct 1612	15 Jan 1698	85
15 Jan 1698		3	Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington PC [I] 1695	30 Oct 1660	9 Feb 1704	43
9 Feb 1704		4	Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington	25 Apr 1694	3 Dec 1753	59
3 Dec 1753		5	John Boyle He had previously [1731] succeeded as 5th Earl of Orrery with which title this peerage continues to be united	13 Jan 1707	23 Nov 1762	55
23 Nov 1762		6	Hamilton Boyle (also 6th Earl of Orrery) MP [I] for Charleville 1759‑1761; MP for Warwick 1761‑1762	3 Feb 1730	17 Jan 1764	33
17 Jan 1764		7	Edmund Boyle (also 7th Earl of Orrery) For information on his second wife, Mary Monckton, see the note at the foot of this page	21 Nov 1742	6 Oct 1798	55
6 Oct 1798		8	Edmund Boyle (also 8th Earl of Orrery) KP 1835	21 Oct 1767	29 Jun 1856	88
29 Jun 1856		9	Richard Edmund St. Lawrence Boyle (also 9th Earl of Orrery) MP for Frome 1850‑1856; Lord Lieutenant Somerset 1864‑1904; KP 1860; PC 1866	19 Apr 1829	22 Jun 1904	75
22 Jun 1904		10	Charles Spencer Canning Boyle (also 10th Earl of Orrery)	24 Nov 1861	25 Mar 1925	63
25 Mar 1925		11	Robert John Lascelles Boyle (also 11th Earl of Orrery)	8 Nov 1864	13 Oct 1934	69
13 Oct 1934		12	William Henry Dudley Boyle (also 12th Earl of Orrery) Admiral of the Fleet 1938	30 Nov 1873	19 Apr 1967	93
19 Apr 1967		13	Patrick Reginald Boyle (also 13th Earl of Orrery)	7 Feb 1910	8 Aug 1995	85
8 Aug 1995		14	John William Boyle (also 14th Earl of Orrery)	12 May 1916	14 Nov 2003	87
14 Nov 2003		15	John Richard Boyle (also 15th Earl of Orrery) [Elected hereditary peer 2016-]	3 Nov 1945
CORMACK
18 Dec 2010 to     25 Feb 2024	B[L]		Sir Patrick Thomas Cormack Created Baron Cormack for life 18 Dec 2010 MP for Cannock 1970‑1974, Staffordshire South West 1974‑1983 and Staffordshire South 1983‑2010 Peerage extinct on his death	18 May 1939	25 Feb 2024	84
CORNBURY
20 Apr 1661	V	1	Edward Hyde Created Baron Hyde of Hindon 3 Nov 1660, and Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon 20 Apr 1661 See "Clarendon"	18 Feb 1609	19 Dec 1674	65
CORNWALL
c 1068	E	1	Robert, Count of Mortein Considered to have become Earl of Cornwall c 1068	c 1031	c 1095
c 1095 to     1106		2	William Fitz-Robert He was attainted and the peerage forfeited 1106	by 1084	c 1140
1140 to     1141	E	1	Alain de Bretagne Created Earl of Cornwall 1140 He was deprived of the peerage 1141		30 Mar 1146
Apr 1141 to     Dec 1175	E	1	Reginald de Dunstanville Created Earl of Cornwall Apr 1141 Illegitimate son of Henry I On his death the peerage presumably reverted to the Crown		Dec 1175
c 1180 to     1188	E	1	Baldwin Created Earl of Cornwall c 1180 Peerage extinct on his death		1188
1189 to     1199	E	1	John Plantagenet Created Earl of Cornwall 1189 Sixth son of Henry II He succeeded to the throne as King John in 1199 when the peerage merged with the Crown		17 Oct 1216
7 Feb 1217 to     1220	E	1	Henry Fitz-Count (or Fitz-Earl) Created Earl of Cornwall 7 Feb 1217 He resigned the peerage to the crown 1220	by 1175	1222
13 Feb 1225	E	1	Richard Plantagenet Created Earl of Cornwall 13 Feb 1225	5 Jan 1209	2 Apr 1272	63
2 Apr 1272 to     1 Oct 1300		2	Edmund Plantagenet Peerage extinct on his death	Dec 1250	1 Oct 1300	49
6 Aug 1307 to     19 Jun 1312	E	1	Sir Piers de Gaveston Created Earl of Cornwall 6 Aug 1307 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1308‑1309 On his death the peerage presumably reverted to the Crown For information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	c 1284	19 Jun 1312
1 Dec 1330 to     Oct 1336	E	1	John Plantagenet Created Earl of Cornwall 1 Dec 1330 Second son of Edward II Peerage extinct on his death	25 Aug 1316	Oct 1336	20
			Since that time the Dukedom of Cornwall has been a title of the Prince of Wales
CORNWALLIS
20 Apr 1661	B	1	Sir Frederick Cornwallis, 1st baronet Created Baron Cornwallis 20 Apr 1661 MP for Eye 1640‑1642 and Ipswich 1660‑1661	14 Mar 1611	7 Jan 1662	50
7 Jan 1662		2	Charles Cornwallis MP for Eye 1660‑1662	19 Apr 1632	13 Apr 1673	40
13 Apr 1673		3	Charles Cornwallis Lord Lieutenant Suffolk 1689‑1698; First Lord of the Admiralty 1692‑1693; PC 1692 For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	28 Dec 1655	29 Apr 1698	42
29 Apr 1698		4	Charles Cornwallis MP for Eye 1695‑1698; Lord Lieutenant Suffolk 1698‑1703; Postmaster General 1715‑1721; PC 1721	c 1675	20 Jan 1722
20 Jan 1722 30 Jun 1753	E	5 1	Charles Cornwallis Created Viscount Brome and Earl Cornwallis 30 Jun 1753 Lord Lieutenant Tower Hamlets 1740; PC 1740	29 Mar 1700	23 Jun 1762	62
23 Jun 1762 8 Oct 1792	M	2 1	Charles Cornwallis Created Marquess Cornwallis 8 Oct 1792 MP for Eye 1760‑1762; Governor General of Bengal 1786‑1793 and 1805; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1798‑1801; PC 1770; KG 1786	31 Dec 1738	5 Oct 1805	66
5 Oct 1805 to     9 Aug 1823		3 2	Charles Cornwallis MP for Eye 1795 and Suffolk 1796‑1805 On his death the Marquessate became extinct whilst the Earldom passed to -	29 Oct 1774	9 Aug 1823	48
9 Aug 1823		4	James Cornwallis	25 Feb 1743	20 Jan 1824	80
20 Jan 1824 to     21 May 1852		5	James Mann MP for Eye 1799‑1806 and 1807 Peerage extinct on his death	20 Sep 1778	21 May 1852	73
31 Jan 1927	B	1	Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis Created Baron Cornwallis 31 Jan 1927 MP for Maidstone 1888‑1895 and 1898‑1900	27 May 1864	26 Sep 1935	71
26 Sep 1935		2	Wykeham Stanley Cornwallis Lord Lieutenant Kent 1944‑1972	14 Mar 1892	4 Jan 1982	89
4 Jan 1982		3	Fiennes Neil Wykeham Cornwallis	29 Jun 1921	6 Mar 2010	88
6 Mar 2010		4	Fiennes Wykeham Jeremy Cornwallis	25 May 1946
CORSTON
29 Jun 2005	B[L]		Jean Ann Corston Created Baroness Corston for life 29 Jun 2005 MP for Bristol East 1992‑2005; PC 2003	5 May 1942
CORVEDALE
8 Jun 1937	V	1	Stanley Baldwin Created Viscount Corvedale and Earl Baldwin of Bewdley 8 Jun 1937 See "Baldwin of Bewdley"	3 Aug 1867	14 Dec 1947	80
COTTENHAM
20 Jan 1836 11 Jun 1850	B E	1 1	Sir Charles Christopher Pepys Created Baron Cottenham 20 Jan 1836, and Viscount Crowhurst and Earl of Cottenham 11 Jun 1850 MP for Higham Ferrers 1831 and Malton 1831‑1836; Solicitor General 1834; Master of the Rolls 1834; Lord Chancellor 1836‑1841 and 1846‑1850; PC 1834	29 Apr 1781	29 Apr 1851	70
29 Apr 1851		2	Charles Edward Pepys	30 Apr 1824	18 Feb 1863	38
18 Feb 1863		3	William John Pepys	15 Aug 1825	20 Jan 1881	55
20 Jan 1881		4	Kenelm Charles Edward Pepys For information on the death of this peer's first wife, see the note at the foot of this page	18 May 1874	22 Apr 1919	44
22 Apr 1919		5	Kenelm Charles Francis Pepys	13 May 1901	29 Dec 1922	21
29 Dec 1922		6	Mark Everard Pepys	29 May 1903	19 Jul 1943	40
19 Jul 1943		7	John Digby Thomas Pepys	14 Jun 1907	12 May 1968	60
12 May 1968		8	Kenelm Charles Everard Digby Pepys	27 Nov 1948	20 Oct 2000	51
20 Oct 2000		9	Mark John Henry Pepys	11 Oct 1983
COTTER
30 May 2006 to     14 Nov 2023	B[L]		Brian Joseph Michael Cotter Created Baron Cotter for life 30 May 2006 MP for Weston-super-Mare 1997‑2005 Peerage extinct on his death	24 Aug 1936	14 Nov 2023	87
COTTESLOE
2 Mar 1874	B	1	Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st baronet Created Baron Cottesloe 2 Mar 1874 MP for Buckingham 1827‑1846; Secretary at War 1844‑1845; Chief Secretary for Ireland 1845‑1846; PC 1844; PC [I] 1845	11 Mar 1798	3 Dec 1890	92
3 Dec 1890		2	Thomas Francis Fremantle MP for Buckinghamshire 1876‑1885	30 Jan 1830	13 Apr 1918	88
13 Apr 1918		3	Thomas Francis Fremantle Lord Lieutenant Buckinghamshire 1923‑1954	5 Feb 1862	19 Jul 1956	94
19 Jul 1956		4	John Waldegrave Halford Fremantle	2 Mar 1900	22 Apr 1994	94
22 Apr 1994		5	John Tapling Fremantle Lord Lieutenant Buckinghamshire 1984‑1997	22 Jan 1927	21 May 2018	91
21 May 2018		6	Thomas Francis Henry Fremantle	17 Mar 1966
COTTINGTON
10 Jul 1631 to     19 Jun 1652	B	1	Sir Francis Cottington, 1st baronet Created Baron Cottington 10 Jul 1631 MP for Camelford 1624‑1625, Bossiney 1625 and Saltash 1628‑1629 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1579	19 Jun 1652
COUPAR
20 Dec 1607	B[S]	1	James Elphinstone Created Lord Coupar 20 Dec 1607	c 1590	Jan 1669
Jan 1669		2	John Elphinstone He had previously succeeded as 3rd Lord Balmerinoch in 1649. The peerages were merged until their forfeiture in 1746	18 Feb 1623	10 Jun 1704	81
COURTAULD-THOMSON
1 Feb 1944 to     1 Nov 1954	B	1	Sir Courtauld Greenwood Courtauld‑Thomson Created Baron Courtauld-Thomson 1 Feb 1944 Peerage extinct on his death	16 Aug 1865	1 Nov 1954	89
COURTENAY
6 Feb 1299	B	1	Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon Summoned to Parliament as Lord Courtenay 6 Feb 1299 See "Devon"	1274	1340	66
6 May 1762	V	1	Sir William Courtenay, 3rd baronet Created Viscount Courtenay 6 May 1762 MP for Honiton 1734‑1741	11 Feb 1710	16 May 1762	52
16 May 1762		2	William Courtenay	30 Oct 1742	14 Dec 1788	46
14 Dec 1788 to     26 May 1835		3	William Courtenay, later [1831] 9th Earl of Devon Peerage extinct on his death	30 Jul 1768	26 May 1835	67
COURTHOPE
3 Jul 1945 to     2 Sep 1955	B	1	Sir George Lloyd Courthope, 1st baronet Created Baron Courthope 3 Jul 1945 MP for Rye 1906‑1945; PC 1937 Peerage extinct on his death	12 Jun 1877	2 Sep 1955	78
COURTNEY OF PENWITH
14 Jul 1906 to     11 May 1918	B	1	Leonard Henry Courtney Created Baron Courtney of Penwith 14 Jul 1906 MP for Liskeard 1875‑1885 and Bodmin 1885‑1900; Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1882‑1884; PC 1889 Peerage extinct on his death	6 Jul 1832	11 May 1918	85
COURTOWN
19 Sep 1758 12 Apr 1762	B[I] E[I]	1 1	James Stopford Created Baron Courtown 19 Sep 1758, and Viscount Stopford and Earl of Courtown 12 Apr 1762 MP [I] for Wexford County 1721‑1727 and Fethard (Wexford) 1727‑1758	c 1700	12 Jan 1770
12 Jan 1770		2	James Stopford Created Baron Saltersford 7 Jun 1796 MP [I] for Taghmon 1761‑1768; MP for Great Bedwyn 1774 and Marlborough 1780‑1793; KP 1783; PC [I] 1775; PC 1784	28 May 1731	30 Mar 1810	78
30 Mar 1810		3	James George Stopford MP for Great Bedwyn 1790‑1796, Linlithgow Burghs 1796‑1802, Dumfries Burghs 1803‑1806, Great Bedwyn 1806‑1807 and Marlborough 1807‑1810; PC 1793; KP 1821	15 Aug 1765	15 Jun 1835	69
15 Jun 1835		4	James Thomas Stopford MP for co. Wexford 1820‑1830	27 Mar 1794	20 Nov 1858	64
20 Nov 1858		5	James George Henry Stopford	24 Apr 1823	28 Nov 1914	91
28 Nov 1914		6	James Walter Milles Stopford Lord Lieutenant Wexford	3 Mar 1853	18 Jul 1933	80
18 Jul 1933		7	James Richard Neville Stopford For information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	16 Sep 1877	25 Jan 1957	79
25 Jan 1957		8	James Montagu Burgoyne Stopford	24 Nov 1908	23 Jul 1975	66
23 Jul 1975		9	James Patrick Montagu Burgoyne Stopford [Elected hereditary peer 1999-]	19 Mar 1954
COUSSINS
23 Mar 2007	B[L]		Jean Elizabeth Coussins Created Baroness Coussins for life 23 Mar 2007	26 Oct 1950
COUTANCHE
11 Jul 1961 to     18 Dec 1973	B[L]		Sir Alexander Moncrieff Coutanche Created Baron Coutanche for life 11 Jul 1961 Peerage extinct on his death	9 May 1892	18 Dec 1973	81
COUTTIE
5 Sep 2016 to     12 Dec 2022	B[L]		Philippa Marion Roe Created Baroness Couttie for life 5 Sep 2016 Peerage extinct on her death	25 Sep 1962	12 Dec 2022	60
COVENTRY
18 May 1623	E	1	George Villiers, 1st Marquess of Buckingham Created Earl of Coventry and Duke of Buckingham 18 May 1623 See "Buckingham"	28 Aug 1592	23 Aug 1628	35
10 Apr 1629	B	1	Thomas Coventry Created Baron Coventry 10 Apr 1629 MP for Droitwich 1621‑1622; Attorney General 1620‑1625; Lord Keeper 1625‑1640	1578	14 Jan 1640	61
14 Jan 1640		2	Thomas Coventry MP for Droitwich 1625 and 1626	1606	27 Oct 1661	55
27 Oct 1661		3	George Coventry	1628	15 Dec 1680	52
15 Dec 1680		4	John Coventry	2 Sep 1654	25 Jul 1687	32
25 Jul 1687 26 Apr 1697	E	5 1	Thomas Coventry Created Viscount Deerhurst and Earl of Coventry 26 Apr 1697 MP for Droitwich 1660‑1661, Camelford 1661‑1679 and Warwick 1681‑1687	1637	15 Jul 1699	62
15 Jul 1699		6 2	Thomas Coventry	c 1662	Aug 1710
Aug 1710		7 3	Thomas Coventry	7 Apr 1702	28 Jan 1712	9
28 Jan 1712 to     27 Oct 1719		8 4	Gilbert Coventry On his death the Barony became extinct whilst the Earldom passed to -	c 1665	27 Oct 1719
27 Oct 1719		5	William Coventry MP for Bridport 1708‑1719; Lord Lieutenant Worcestershire 1719‑1751; PC 1720	c 1676	18 Mar 1751
18 Mar 1751		6	George William Coventry MP for Bridport 1744‑1747 and Worcestershire 1747‑1751; Lord Lieutenant Worcestershire 1751‑1808 For information on this peer's wife, see the note at the foot of this page	26 Apr 1722	3 Sep 1809	87
3 Sep 1809		7	George William Coventry Lord Lieutenant Worcestershire 1808‑1831	25 Apr 1758	26 Mar 1831	72
26 Mar 1831		8	George William Coventry MP for Worcester 1816‑1826	16 Oct 1784	15 May 1843	58
15 May 1843		9	George William Coventry Lord Lieutenant Worcestershire 1891‑1923; PC 1877 For information on this peer's son and heir, who predeceased him, see the note at the foot of this page	9 May 1838	13 Mar 1930	91
13 Mar 1930		10	George William Reginald Victor Coventry	10 Sep 1900	27 May 1940	39
27 May 1940		11	George William Coventry	25 Jan 1934	14 Jun 2002	68
14 Jun 2002		12	Francis Henry Coventry	27 Sep 1912	13 Mar 2004	91
13 Mar 2004		13	George William Coventry	5 Oct 1939
COWDRAY
16 Jul 1910 2 Jan 1917	B V	1 1	Sir Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st baronet Created Baron Cowdray 16 Jul 1910 and Viscount Cowdray 2 Jan 1917 MP for Colchester 1895‑1910; PC 1917	15 Jul 1856	1 May 1927	70
1 May 1927		2	Weetman Harold Miller Pearson MP for Eye 1906‑1918	18 Apr 1882	5 Oct 1933	51
5 Oct 1933		3	Weetman John Churchill Pearson	27 Feb 1910	19 Jan 1995	84
19 Jan 1995		4	Michael Orlando Weetman Pearson	17 Jun 1944
COWDREY OF TONBRIDGE
18 Jul 1997 to     4 Dec 2000	B[L]		Michael Colin Cowdrey Created Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge for life 18 Jul 1997 Peerage extinct on his death	24 Dec 1932	4 Dec 2000	67
COWLEY
21 Jan 1828	B	1	Sir Henry Wellesley Created Baron Cowley 21 Jan 1828 MP [I] for Trim 1795; MP for Eye 1807‑1809 and Athlone 1807; PC 1809	20 Jan 1773	27 Apr 1847	74
27 Apr 1847 11 Apr 1857	E	2 1	Henry Richard Charles Wellesley Created Viscount Dangan and Earl Cowley 11 Apr 1857 PC 1852; KG 1866	17 Jun 1804	15 Jul 1884	80
15 Jul 1884		2	William Henry Wellesley	25 Aug 1834	28 Feb 1895	60
28 Feb 1895		3	Henry Arthur Mornington Wellesley	14 Jan 1866	15 Jan 1919	53
15 Jan 1919		4	Christian Arthur Wellesley	25 Dec 1890	29 Aug 1962	71
29 Aug 1962		5	Denis Arthur Wellesley	25 Dec 1921	23 Mar 1968	46
23 Mar 1968		6	Richard Francis Wellesley For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	12 Jun 1946	13 Dec 1975	29
13 Dec 1975		7	Garret Graham Wellesley	30 Jul 1934	17 Jun 2016	81
17 Jun 2016		8	Garret Graham Wellesley	30 Mar 1965

	Henry Brooke Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton
	After a distinguished career in the House of Commons, Parnell was created Baron Congleton on 18 August 1841. Less than a year later, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his bedroom. The attached report of the inquest into his death is from The Morning Chronicle of 10 June 1842:-
	An inquest, which did not terminate until four o'clock yesterday afternoon, was held before Mr. Wakley, the Coroner, and a jury consisting chiefly of county magistrates, upon the remains of Henry Brooke Parnell, Baron Congleton, at his lordship's residence, No. 43, Cadogan-place, Chelsea.
	The Coroner, having taken evidence of the deceased nobleman being found suspended to the bed-post in his sleeping chamber, at half-past nine o'clock on Wednesday night, by his valet, Manning, and of prompt medical assistance having been called in, proceeded to examine the Honourable John Parnell, his lordship's eldest son, as to the state of the deceased nobleman's mind. The witness stated that in the early part of the month of April last, his father had a severe attack of fever, which brought on delirium, and from that period his lordship had been attended by Mr. Bolton, a surgeon, and occasionally by Dr. Chambers. Witness arrived from the country, and found that is was necessary that a watch should be kept over his father, and Mr. Bolton desired that every instrument with which he might injure himself should be removed from the room. This arrangement was entered into between Mr. Bolton and witness's brother before he reached town, and after a few days he found that his father had got much better and left his room. This was in accordance with his father's expressed wish; but Mr. Bolton, upon learning that he had done so, said he could not allow the deceased to be left unattended. Up to that period, witness did not know the exact circumstances of the case, but imagined that the reason his father was watched was in consequence of his having had a fit. Mr. Bolton gave directions that the deceased nobleman's razors should be removed, which was done. After that he appeared to have got quite over his attack, but not having recovered his sleep, the medical gentleman continued to attend him. His father had desired that the instruments of self destruction should be removed from his reach; but about a week or ten days after his attack, he inquired the reason he was being watched, and told his medical attendants that he had ceased to have those impulses to self destruction, and he wished to regain his former habits as soon as he could. The witness added, that his father was very unreserved to him in the statements of his bodily health and mental feelings; and he knew as a fact, that the deceased had been, out of the last 36 days, 19 days in a low and desponding state.
	By the Coroner: About a week since one of the bell ropes had fallen down, and his father seemed very desirous to know what it was lying there for, and of what use it could be, and begged that it might be taken away, and put into its place. On Tuesday last he appeared to be in a low state, and witness offered to sit with him in the room, but he declined the offer, and said that he would rather remain alone. The windows of his room were never fastened down, nor did he (witness) believe that the scissors even were removed - such articles it was not thought necessary to remove unless he himself suggested it, and expressed his alarm. About three weeks ago he gave witness a large packing-needle, and told him to remove it. Mr. Bolton did not suggest that a person who had had experience in the care of insane persons should be employed to attend upon Lord Congleton. Latterly, he used to find that his faculties were in some respects gone. He endeavoured to read the newspapers, the Edinburgh Review, and Blackwood's Magazine, but could not. He did not request that anybody should read to him, but preferred being alone. He usually occupied his time by taking walking exercise. He never recovered his sleep, and was constantly growing more debilitated and weak. He never complained to witness of any ailment of the head. On one occasion he was at Richmond, and he swooned away. He thought that was a fit, and described that the feeling came on at the heart and ran up to his head. He sometimes complained of giddiness in the head, and a rolling sensation from ear to ear. Latterly he had had the whole management of the house and servants, witness having some time since made up his accounts, and delivered everything up to his father.
	The Coroner asked the jury if he should adjourn the inquest for the attendance of Mr. Bolton, or if they would like to have the second son of the deceased nobleman examined; but as they made no reply, he briefly summed up, and observed that it was their duty to inquire, in all cases where a person was found hanging, whether it was the act of himself or not, and after some further observations, the jury returned a verdict of "Temporary insanity".
	The special remainder to the Barony of Conyngham created in 1781
	From the London Gazette of 19 December 1780 (issue 12146, page 2):-
	The King has been pleased to order Letters Patent to be passed under the Great Seal of the Kingdom of Ireland, containing His Majesty's Grant of the Dignities of Baron and Earl of the said Kingdom unto Henry Lord Viscount Conyngham, and his Heirs Male, by the Name, Stile and Title of Baron and Earl Conyngham, of Mount Charles, in the County of Donegall, with Remainder of the Barony to his Nephew Francis Pierpont Burton, Esq., and his Heirs Male.
	Mary Monckton (21 May 1746 - 30 May 1840), second wife of Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork and 7th Earl of Orrery
	Mary was the daughter of John Monckton, 1st Viscount Galway. On 17 June 1786 she married, as his second wife, Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork and 7th Earl of Orrery. From childhood, Mary took a keen interest in literature and in later life her house became a regular meeting place for some of the most important political and literary figures of the day. Among her frequent visitors were Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Horace Walpole, George Canning, Viscount Castlereagh, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, Sir Robert Peel, and Sydney Smith. Her closest female friend was the actress Sarah Siddons.
	However, Mary was also a rampant kleptomaniac. Many anecdotes exist of her passion for acquiring "souvenirs" wherever she went, until it reached the stage that whenever a visit from her was anticipated, her hosts would hide the best silver and replace it with cheap pewter, which she scooped up and concealed in her muff. When she went shopping, the shop keepers would never allow their goods to be taken outside to her carriage for approval, although this was the normal practice for valued customers. If she wandered around a shop, it was usual to appoint one of the shop keeper's staff to accompany her. When she returned from a visit to a friend or a shop, her servants would gather any items that they didn't recognise as belonging to her, and would return them to their rightful owners with a note of apology. On one occasion, when leaving a breakfast party, she coolly took a friend's carriage without permission, and kept it out the whole afternoon. On meeting the owner Lady Cork merely complained that the high steps of the carriag did not suit her short legs. She once made off with a live hedgehog in her handbag.
	Piers de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall (creation of 1307)
	Gaveston was the favourite of King Edward II, but his rise to a position of nearly absolute power excited the jealousy of the nobility, who eventually revenged themselves upon him. It has never been established whether Gaveston and King Edward were lovers - different authors have argued for and against the homosexuality of both men. Although it is obviously no guide one way or the other, Edward was married to Isabella of France and had four legitimate children - King Edward III, John of Eltham (created Earl of Cornwall in 1330), Eleanor of Woodstock (who married the Count of Guelders) and Joan (who married King David II of Scotland), and one illegitimate son, Adam FitzRoy.
	The following account of Gaveston is taken from the November 1971 issue of the Australian monthly magazine Parade:-
	Dusk was falling on June 19, 1312, as a grim little procession ascended the lonely, windswept slope of Blacklow Hill, not far from the great castle of the Earl of Warwick. In front rode Warwick himself followed by a troop of barons and their retainers. Amid them, lashed to his horse's saddle, was their prisoner - the most hated man in England. Once Piers Gaveston had jeeringly called the Earl of Warwick The Black Dog. And the Earl had sworn savagely in reply: "Ere long you shall feel The Black Dog's teeth!"
	Now the hour had come when the English barons would avenge the insults heaped upon them by the King's insolent swaggering foreign favourite. On the crest of the hill the cavalcade halted. A tree stump formed the block. One of Warwick's mail-clad soldiers was the executioner. The last rays of the sun glinted on the falling battle axe. Then the head of Piers Gaveston, with its scented locks and ruddy handsome face rolled down the slope into a thorn bush.
	The ill-starred story of Piers Gaveston and his infatuated royal master, Edward II, is one of the strangest in English medieval history. It began about the year 1300 when a penniless Gascon knight, Arnauld de Gaveston, arrived from France to seek his fortune at the court of King Edward I. With him came his son Piers, a robust and high-spirited youth whom the King decided would make an excellent companion for his own heir, the young Prince Edward.
	The king soon had cause to regret his decision, for Brother Perrot, as the prince called his comrade, quickly achieved a domination over Edward that nothing could shake. Frivolous, extravagant, devoted to peacock clothing, feasts and tournaments, the prince and his crony cared nothing for the wars in which the King was endlessly involved.
	The barons regarded the pair with brutal contempt. Gaveston replied by branding the proudest of them with nicknames that stung them to even greater fury. The surly Earl of Warwick was The Black Dog, the swarthy Earl of Pembroke was The Jew, the fat Earl of Lincoln was M'Sieu Burst Belly. Even the Earl of Lancaster, the King's nephew and richest and most powerful of the barons, did not escape. He was The Actor, The Fiddler or The Hog.
	Twice Prince Edward, terrified by the rages of his grim old father, had to agree to Gaveston being exiled. Then in 1307 he found himself free at last. In July, Edward I died during his final campaign against the Scots. Abandoning the war forthwith his son hurried back to London to be hailed as King Edward II. His first act as monarch was to recall his idolised Brother Perrot from his Flanders exile and defy the barons by loading him with titles, riches and honours. Gaveston was created Earl of Cornwall and became virtual
	Gaveston had been despised before. Now, with his spendthrift arrogance shielded by the King, he was "more hated unto death than any man within the English realms". During Edward's coronation procession in February 1308, some of the wilder barons had to be restrained from dragging Gaveston from Westminster Abbey and hacking him to pieces with their swords. Shortly afterwards, at his manor of Wallingford, the favourite staged one of the costliest and most magnificent tournaments ever seen in medieval England. But the most warlike barons and knights were bitterly disappointed in their hopes of humiliating Gaveston before the eyes of King Edward and the lords and ladies of the court. A superb rider and athlete, Brother Perrot unhorsed one rival after another with his lance, usually flinging some mocking insult after them as they bit the dust.
	For the next year the barons raged in vain as they watched Gaveston cement his hold over the doting king. Men whispered that his mother had been burned as a witch in France and that he used black magic to make King Edward the helpless prisoner of his spells. He was reputed to be hand-in-glove with the great Italian moneylenders of Lombard Street, to whom the King owed such vast amounts that the country was virtually bankrupt. He was accused of filling the court with his greedy Gascon friends, as well as effeminate "grooms, jugglers, jesters and singers" to divert Edward from affairs of state. The King's wife, Queen Isabella, lamented that she was "the most wretched of women" because of Edward's slavish devotion to his swaggering favourite.
	Eventually it was the king's desperate need for money that forced him to yield to the barons' demand and get rid of Gaveston by appointing him viceroy in Ireland. Tearfully Edward rode to Bristol to bid farewell to his favourite as he sailed for Dublin, but secretly the King was determined to end the exile as soon as possible. His first move was to spread dissension among the barons and separate his cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, from Warwick and the rest of Gaveston's more ruthless foes. Then, after making concessions to a meeting of Parliament at Stamford, Edward took the risk of recalling Gaveston from Ireland and openly restoring him to all his honours.
	The enforced sojourn in Dublin had taught Brother Perrot nothing. In July 1309 he returned to London more impudent, extravagant and bitter-tongued than ever. Ruled by Gaveston and his infatuated master the court became a sink of ceaseless junketings and scandals, while the exchequer, bled white by the royal debts, drifted rapidly towards disaster. Early in 1310, driven to desperation, the great nobles - led by Lancaster, Warwick, Lincoln, Pembroke and Arundel - met in council in the Painted Chamber of the Palace of Westminster.
	On Piers Gaveston they poured their pent-up rage. He had "estranged the king's heart from his people", wasted the royal revenues and filled the court with his own creatures. The barons concluded by appointing 21 Lords Ordainers, headed by Lancaster and the Archbishop of Canterbury, to supervise the King's finances and purge his frivolous and vicious retinue. Furiously swearing that he would accept no "bondage", Edward, taking Gaveston and his cronies with him, fled northward to York to set up his court remote from rebellious London.
	Both sides began gathering their forces. Then, with England on the brink of civil war, the despised and bankrupt monarch suddenly yielded. Leaving Gaveston for safety in Barnborough Castle, Edward gloomily retraced his steps to London to make the best bargain he could with the Lords Ordainers. It was a bitter pill he had to swallow. Parliament was to be summoned every year. The Ordainers were to fill every great State office and the King was reduced to a mere puppet of his kinsmen and nobility. Far more terrible to the weeping Edward was the edict condemning Piers Gaveston to perpetual banishment, with death as an outlaw if he ever trod English soil again.
	It was October 1311 before the King's resistance finally appeared to crumble. On All Saints' Day Gaveston took ship at Dover and sailed ostensibly for Flanders. Then, only two months later, the barons were staggered to learn that Edward had appeared during the Christmas revels at Windsor Castle with the jewel bedecked favourite once more on his arm. How he had returned to England no one knew, although it was rumoured that he had slipped ashore in Cornwall or Devon and ridden secretly straight back to Windsor.
	In any case war was now inevitable between the King and his barons, and the prize at stake was the perfumed head of Piers Gaveston. On January 7, 1312, Edward, Queen Isabella, Gaveston and a handful of loyal followers left Windsor and made for the north of England where the King hoped to muster his strength. A few weeks later Lancaster swooped over the Pennine Hills and almost trapped the King's little force before it could take to boats on the River Tyne. Abandoning Queen Isabella and the treasure chests, Edward and Gaveston sailed down the coast to Scarborough, where the towering cliff was crowned by one of England's mightiest fortresses.
	Scarborough was impregnable to attack and, since Gaveston was ill with fever, Edward decided to leave him there while he made a final effort to raise a royalist army. Everywhere he met only hostility and contempt. At last, exhausted and hopeless, Edward went to York to make a pitiful appeal to his cousin, the Earl of Lancaster. If the barons would solemnly swear to leave Gaveston unharmed the King would order him into exile forever. Glad to avoid a bloody civil war, Lancaster promptly agreed.
	On May 19, haunted by dread of his inveterate enemies, Gaveston yielded up Scarborough Castle and surrendered to the Earl of Pembroke, who was to escort him to London. By mid-June they had only advanced as far as Deddington in Oxfordshire, where Pembroke left his captive under guard in the village while he visited a nearby castle. And there nemesis, in the shape of the harsh and vengeful Black Dog, the Earl of Warwick, caught up with the ruined Piers Gaveston.
	One day Warwick and his retainers swept into Deddington, snatched Gaveston from his guards and carried him off to the earl's castle 30 miles away. After a grim mockery of a trial the man who had once ruled England was beheaded by a common soldier in the sunset on Blacklow Hill. The news plunged King Edward into such a frenzy of grief, for a time it seemed that his reason was threatened. However, he survived to continue a miserable reign dogged by scandals and disasters until his own macabre murder between the walls of Berkeley Castle 15 years later.
	Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis
	Lord Cornwallis was tried before some of his fellow peers in 1678 [although the Complete Peerage says 1676] for the murder of a
	The Trial of Charles Lord Cornwallis, for Murder, before the Lord High Steward, and a certain Number of Peers commissioned to try him, in Westminster-Hall, 1678. 30 Car II.
	An Indictment was found by the Grand Jury of Middlesex, setting forth, That Charles Lord Cornwallis (together with Charles Gerrard and Edward Bourne) on the 18th of May [1678], then last past, did feloniously, and of his Malice afore-thought, make an Assault on the Person of Robert Clerk, in his Majesty's Palace of Whitehall, within the said County; and that the said Gerrard took up the said Clerk in his Arms, flung him down and broke his Neck, of which the said Clerk instantly died: And that the said Lord Cornwallis was present, aiding and abetting the said Charles Gerrard to commit the said Murder, and so was a Principal in it.
	A Soldier, who stood Centinel at the Bottom of the Stairs that led from the Gallery in Whitehall into the Park, that Night the Fact was committed, deposed, That on the 18th of May, between one and two in the Morning, the Lord Cornwallis and Mr. Gerrard, with three Footmen behind them, came from the said Gallery down the stairs into the Park, and demanding of him the Hour, he told them: but they being disordered in Drink, with many Oaths replied, he lyed, went by him into the Park, and swore they would kill somebody before they went away: That about an Hour after they returned to the Stairs, and he (the Centinel) demanding, Who comes there? They answered him in a very obscene rude Language, threatning to kill him, but he kept them off: Then one of them gave away his Sword, and swore he would kiss him, which he (the Centinel) refusing, they threatned him again, and seemed to contend which of them should run him through: At length, going up the Stairs, there came two young Lads to the Centinel, and one of them desired him (the Deponent) to call him early the next Morning, which my Lord Cornwallis and Gerrard hearing as they stood on the Top of the Stairs, they bid the Deponent shoot the Boy, and they would bear him out; and, on his refusing, one of them swore he would kick the Boy's Arse to Hell: To which the Boy made some Reply, wherein the word Arse was repeated: Whereupon one of the Gentlemen in a Rage run down the Stairs; and the Boy who spoke the Words getting away, the Gentleman took the other Boy up in his Arms, he crying out all the while, O my Lord it was not I! Indeed my Lord it was not I! and either by throwing him down on the Ground, or by a Blow, killed the Boy out-right.
	The Boy who spoke the Words, confirmed the Centinel's Evidence; but deposed, That he only said, Why kick my Arse to Hell? However the Gentlemen mistook his words.
	Two of Lord Cornwallis's Footmen, who had been indicted for the same Murder and acquitted by the Court of King's-Bench, were admitted to give Evidence in this Case, and deposed, That it was Mr. Gerrard that committed the Fact; and that my Lord Cornwallis remained at the Top of the Stairs, and ran away as soon as the Fact was done, for Fear of being knocked on the Head by the Soldiers.
	Mr. Solicitor General observed upon the Evidence, That it appeared, both my Lord and Mr. Gerrard had a murderous Intention, both of them swearing they would kill the Centinel: And as to the Murder that was actually committed, his Lordship was present at it, and had not given any Evidence that he disapproved of it, or endeavoured to prevent it; all which amounted to as much in Law, as if he had struck the Blow.
	Mr. Serjeant Maynard also observed, That his Lordship's being at some Distance would not excuse him, if he was engaged with Gerrard in an unlawful Design; and cited the Lord  Dacre's Case, who went into a Park with other Company to steal Deer; and though my Lord and some of them fled on the Keeper's Coming, yet the Keeper being killed afterwards, when his Lordship was without the Pales, and a Mile distant from the Place, yet he was adjudged guilty of Murder.
	The Lord Cornwallis said in his Defence, that he was indeed in Company with Mr. Gerrard that Night the Fact was committed, but that he had no ill Intention; and observed, that there was but one Witness who deposed, that both of them said they would kill the Centinel: That he was not conscious that he had any Hand in this Murder, and therefore he had not withdrawn himself; but trusting to his Innocence, surrendered to the Coroner the next Day, and now submitted to the Judgment of his Peers.
	The Prisoner being taken from the Bar, and the Lords withdrawn to consider of their Evidence, the Lords, about two Hours after, returned to their Seats, and desired to propose a Point of Law to the Judges: To which the Lord Steward answered, That the later and better opinion was, That such Questions ought to be put in the Presence of the Prisoner, that he might know whether the Case was justly stated: Whereupon the Prisoner was brought to the Bar again, and the following Question proposed to the Judges, (viz.) Whether those who were present, and contributed to any Disorders, whereupon a Manslaughter ensues, are as guilty of Manslaughter as he who is actually the Manslayer; as it is in Murder; where all, who are guilty of the Trespass which occasions it, are deemed equally guilty with him who commits the Fact?
	The Judges answered, The Case was the same in Manslaughter, as in Murder.
	The Lords withdrawing again, and returning into the Court after a short Recess, and the Lord High Steward demanding of them, in their Order, beginning with the youngest Baron, Whether the Lord Cornwallis was Guilty? Six of them declared him guilty of manslaughter; but a great Majority acquitted him; whereupon his Lordship was discharged: And the Lord High Steward breaking his Staff, the Court was dissolved.
	[The author then comments …] 'The Lords, no doubt, gave their Verdict according to their Judgment: They believed, I presume, that the Deceased was killed by Accident; but had this Noble Peer been tried by a Jury of Commoners, possibly he had not come off so well: For here were two Gentlemen declaring they would kill the Centinel, or some Body, and actually attacked the Soldier, who deposed, that it was with Difficulty he kept them off: Then, without any Provocation, one of them takes up an innocent Boy in his Arms, and throws him down with that Force that he killed him upon the Spot. What Denomination must we give this Fact? And whether it was my Lord or Gerrard that did it, only appears by the Evidence of his Lordship's Footmen, who were indicted as Accessories to the same Murder: and their Evidence was so well received, that it seems to have turned the Scale.
	Upon the whole, as the Case stands, a Commoner must be mad who does not avoid all Occasions of contending with a Noble Peer, since the least ill Language is held a sufficient Provocation to take away his Life.
	The Countess of Cottenham, wife of the 4th Earl of Cottenham (7 Dec 1866 - 2 May 1913)
	The Countess was killed in a gun accident on 2 May 1913. She had been born Lady Rose Nevill, daughter of the 1st Marquess of Abergavenny and had married, as her second husband, the 4th Earl of Cottenham in 1899. The Earl, who was more than 7 years younger than his wife, was her first cousin, once removed. The following account of her death and the subsequent inquest appeared in The Scotsman on 5 May 1913:-
	Lady Rose, daughter of the first Marquis of Abergavenny, and wife of Lord Cottenham, died under particularly tragic circumstances at Elvendon, South Oxfordshire, on Friday. The sad story of her death was not known outside the family until Saturday morning, and was narrated at the inquest held in the afternoon by Mr. Cooper, the Coroner for the district.
	On Friday afternoon the dead body of the Countess was found by her husband, the Earl of Cottenham, in a wood above Elvendon Priory, the family seat, near Goring‑on‑Thames. The chest had been pierced by a bullet, and a double-barrelled sporting gun lay a few feet away from the body.
	The scene of the tragedy is a pretty corner of South Oxfordshire, sprinkled with low-lying and well-wooded hills. Elvendon Priory, the charming country mansion, lies in a peaceful, sheltered spot, on either side of which rise the woods. Here, in this secluded countryside, and a few hundred yards from her charmingly picturesque home, the Countess met her death.
	On Friday morning the Countess's three boys were with their mother, but the school vacation had drawn to an end, and they left the Priory for Reigate School. After lunch on Friday Lord Cottenham saw his boys off, and accompanied them as far as Reading. It was at this time, and about two o'clock in the afternoon, that the Countess, so far as can be ascertained, took her sporting gun, and proceeded to the woods above the house, apparently with the intention of spending the time before her husband's return in shooting. She was a good shot with the gun and the rifle, and frequently found such recreation in the preserves of the Priory.
	What happened subsequently remains unknown. In the course of the afternoon, when Lord Cottenham returned, he was surprised to find his wife absent. In the meantime, accompanied by his gardener, his Lordship proceeded towards the woods for the purpose of inspecting a new path. It was while making his way there that Lord Cottenham made the terrible discovery, finding the dead body of his wife lying in a clearing of the woods against the stump of a tree. Her gun lay a few feet off. There was no indication of a struggle, and not the faintest clue to suggest how the Countess came by her fatal injuries. The ground at this part is rough and hilly, and a spot where care in walking is necessary.
	Lady Cottenham, who was 46 years of age, was married when 21 to Mr. John Blundell Leigh. She was divorced in 1899, but in the same year married the fourth Earl of Cottenham. Of this marriage there were three sons. The Countess and her husband took up residence at Elverdon Priory some five years ago, but they lived in retirement more or less during that time, seldom taking part in any of the social functions in the county. [This is probably a polite way of saying that, after the scandal of Lady Cottenham's divorce from her first husband, she was ostracized by Society.]
	The Coroner for the district was only apprised of the sad occurrence on Saturday morning, but at one o'clock in the afternoon the jury had been called and the inquest opened in the old-fashioned but artistic dining-room of the Priory.
	The Earl of Cottenham was the first witness called into the dining-room, already closely crowded with the jurymen, a number of pressmen, and county police.
	His Lordship said he had identified the body as that of his wife, whom he had last seen at 1.25 p.m. on Friday. "At that time," he said, "I went as far as Reading to see my boys off to school at Reigate. I returned here at 3.15. I did not see Lady Cottenham about, and went to look for her. Afterwards I went to the wood to look at a path which the workmen had been improving, and before I got fifty yards I found the body lying on the left side. There was a gun pointing away, and lying five or six yards away from her."
	The Coroner - Before you went out, was Lady Cottenham in her usual spirits, and quite cheerful? - Yes.
	What was she doing in the morning before lunch? - Oh, running about with the boys, as it was their last day at home. She was doing some gardening. We laughed a great deal at luncheon, wishing to make it as cheerful as possible for the boys on their last day.
	The Coroner then read a number of letters which had been written by deceased on Friday. He read them over, and said they only contained what would be written in the ordinary personal and friendly manner. They dealt for the most part with future engagements. "I give you these details," he said, "to show that yesterday at this time Lady Cottenham was in her normal state of health".
	Lord Cottenham,proceeding, said - "The first thing I did on finding the body was to send for the police and a doctor". Lady Cottenham, he added, had been accustomed to shooting for thirteen years.
	William Tappin, the gardener in the employ of Lord Cottenham, who was the next witness, said he was with Lady Cottenham in the garden in the morning prior to the tragedy. He last saw her ladyship at 12.15 p.m. She gave him instructions in the ordinary way, and there was nothing unusual in either her appearance or her manner. Witness went out with Lord Cottenham in the afternoon after his master had returned from Reading. They went into the woods together to see what the workmen had done. On entering the wood his Lordship was the first to see the Countess. They at once proceeded to where she was lying. Her body was out straight and was on its left side. The gun was about six feet from her, and the muzzle was turned towards the top of the hill.
	To a juror witness replied, "I could see the Countess was dead when I went to her".
	Sergeant H.T. Couling, stationed at Goring, said he received information of the tragedy at five o'clock on Friday. Witness proceeded to the wood, where he found the last witness standing beside the body. He examined the gun, and found that the right barrel was empty, while the left barrel contained a live cartridge. Their were two other cartridges in her Ladyship's pocket. The gun was a 20‑bore ejector. After Dr. Evans had examined the body it was brought down to the house.
	Dr. Herbert Evans, of Goring, said he examined the body and observed that the charge had entered under the left breast and emerged in the left back. It was apparent that the gun was discharged at close quarters. The wound alone caused death, although the bullet did not quite touch the heart. So far as witness could make out, the body must have lain for over an hour before the discovery was made. The left fifth rib had been pierced.
	The Coroner pointed out to the witness that the jury had viewed the spot, and he suggested from their observations that the deceased was able to move a little away from the spot at which she was shot and propped herself against a tree. To this suggestion witness agreed.
	In reply to a juror, Dr. Evans said the wound was so small that the gun must have been quite close to the body.
	Lord Henry Nevill, a brother of the deceased, who was then called, said he had come down to Elvendon on being told of the tragedy. He was at Elvendon a week ago, and on that occasion he found Lady Cottenham in a cheerful state. She was looking forward to visiting witness at his home at Eridge Castle, Suffolk, and was also anticipating a visit to her father's place at Abergavenny. Lady Cottenham was very fond of shooting, added witness, and was a good shot with both the gun and the rifle. She was in the habit of going into the wood to shoot. Lord Henry observed that ladies did not generally carry or handle a gun in the same way a man would.
	Sergeant Couling, recalled, said Lady Cottenham wore a gold watch set with stones when her body was found. She carried a purse, but it did not contain any money. There was not the slightest appearance of anything having been stolen from her Ladyship.
	The Coroner then proceeded to sum up, and addressing the jury said the evidence was very simple indeed. It was quite obvious that in the morning Lady Cottenham wrote ordinary friendly and business letters. "There is not the faintest evidence in the world," he said, "that she was in anything but a perfectly happy state at the time". It was clear from the evidence that what must have happened was that her Ladyship slipped, and was carrying her gun in an insecure position. The gun must have fired accidentally and shot her in the left breast. "She had just enough strength to move a little and go to the tree", added the Coroner, "and I do not suppose that she lived more than a few minutes afterwards. I think you will all agree with me that there is no evidence to suggest anything in the world except death by the unfortunate accident of the gun going off."
	The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of "Death by misadventure, caused through the firing of the gun which Lady Cottenham carried".
	James Richard Neville Stopford, 7th Earl of Courtown
	The 7th Earl died following a fall from a train, as reported in The Irish Times of 26 January 1957:-
	The 79-year-old seventh Earl of Courtown died in hospital yesterday after falling from a train on Thursday night near Great Missenden Station, Buckinghamshire. The Earl, who lived at Redberry House, Bierton, Aylesbury, was travelling home, and just after the train left Great Missenden the fireman noticed a compartment door open. The train was stopped and the door closed. At Aylesbury the compartment searched and Lord Courtown's umbrella and briefcase were found. A search of the track was made and Lord Courtown was found by the stationmaster and two platelayers.
	James Richard Neville Stopford succeeded his father, who once owned over 23,000 acres in Ireland, in 1933. He had held a number of company directorships. He was decorated as a soldier in the South African War, and later reached the rank of major. Before retiring from the army in 1948, at 70, he was said to be the oldest serving army officer.
	Maria Gunning, Countess of Coventry, wife of the 6th Earl of Coventry
	The following biography of Maria Gunning appeared in the August 1969 issue of the Australian monthly magazine Parade:-
	King George II once gallantly asked the celebrated Irish beauty Maria Gunning, Countess of Coventry, whether she was satisfied with all the sights she had seen since coming to London. "I like them very well, sir," said Maria with a simper. "But they have so far lacked what I should enjoy most exceedingly - a coronation." The attendant courtiers held their breaths. His Majesty's pale blue eyes bulged apoplectically. Then he stamped one gouty foot and burst into a roar of laughter that nearly choked him. Like the rest of her admirers King George found it quite impossible to be angry with the bewitching Maria, even in her most outrageously tactless moments. Hailed by contemporaries as "beyond compare the loveliest woman in England", the Countess of Coventry certainly had strong claims to be also the vainest and most scatter-brained beauty of her day.
	Both the Gunning sisters, daughters of a disreputable and impoverished Irish squire, blazed like meteors across the fashionable London world of the 1750s. Elizabeth wed two dukes in succession. Maria had to be content with snaring a solitary earl, though in her brief, glittering heyday she counted her lovers by the score. Then at 27, Maria, Countess of Coventry, was dead - leaving a legend in which romance, pathos and the darkening shadows of scandal were strangely mixed. Officially it was consumption that killed her. But incorrigible vanity hastened her end, the vanity that plastered her face with poisons in fruitless efforts to preserve her withering beauty.
	Maria Gunning was born in 1733 and her sister, Elizabeth, one year later in the small manor house of Hemingford Grey, near Huntingdon. Their father, John Gunning of Castle Coote in County Roscommon, was an amiable, drunken spendthrift who had been forced to pledge his Irish estates to his creditors and seek refuge in England. However, the sisters were taken back to Dublin as children and reared by their mother in genteel poverty, assisted by some of their wealthier relatives. Mrs. Gunning had one aim - to marry the dowerless girls off as quickly and advantageously as possible. And as they grew up, nature proved a powerful ally. In their early teens Maria and Elizabeth were already the talk of Dublin society as a pair of precocious beauties around whom admirers swarmed "like bees around the earliest flowers of spring". Unfortunately, few of the amorous bees buzzed with honourable intentions, and on one occasion the assault on the sisters' virtue ended in a sensational riot outside the Dublin theatre. Maria and Elizabeth had indiscreetly accepted a supper invitation from some stage-door rakes who drugged their wine, then bundled them into a coach to drive to a retreat in the suburbs. The girls were rescued in the street by a party of actors from the play-house, but the incident gravely increased Mrs. Gunning's doubts about ever seeing them suitably wed.
	Meanwhile, the 16-year-old Maria decided to exploit her budding charms on the stage, especially when the famous Irish actress Peg Woffington arrived from London for a season at the Dublin theatre. The plan came to nothing, though the star's friendship proved of practical value when, in October 1749, Mrs. Gunning determined that her daughters must appear at the viceroy's annual ball to celebrate the birthday of King George. Too poor to buy new dresses fit for the grand ballroom in Dublin Castle, the girls appealed to the sympathetic Peg Woffington to help them from her enormous wardrobe. The result was stunning. Guests clambered on chairs and gamblers deserted the card tables to see the beautiful Misses Gunning make their entrance decked in costumes of "unexampled richness". Only a few cynical theatregoers remarked that Maria bore a strong resemblance to Lady Macbeth and Elizabeth an equally striking likeness to Juliet in the current playhouse repertoire.
	Her confidence restored, Mrs. Gunning now decided to quit provincial Dublin and launch her daughters on the English matrimonial market, where the prizes in riches and titles were incomparably greater. By the middle of 1750, Squire Gunning's tattered fortunes having taken a slight turn for the better, the family was installed in London and the campaign had begun. Its success exceeded even Mrs. Gunning's wildest hopes. Never before had London society lost its head so completely as over the two "Irish beauties". Everywhere the sisters went - to the opera, St. James Park, the pleasure gardens of Vauxhall and Ranelagh - they were followed by swarms of gallants vying for a single glance. Newspapers printed rapturous poems about them. Shops sold thousands of ballads and engravings. Cheering mobs trooped behind their coach in the streets.
	In December 1750 the sisters were presented to King George II at St. James's Palace, and a few months later an invitation to the Duchess of Bedford's ball in Bloomsbury Square set the seal on their social triumph. Connoisseurs generally regarded Maria as the lovelier of the pair and she was certainly more celebrated for her vanity and shameless coquettishness than her slightly more sedate sister.
	Around Maria gathered some of the most notorious libertines of the day, led by the "universal rake" Tom Medlicott, who was reputed to have a mistress in every London parish "and a few for his friends besides". Medlicott wagered his coffee house cronies that he would take only a month to add Maria Gunning to his list of conquests. But he was disappointed. Maria had her eye on more important game. Among her most ardent pursuers were Viscount Bolingbroke and the youthful Earl of Coventry, either of whom had much more to offer. However, though both Bolingbroke and Coventry were eager to acquire the luscious Miss Gunning as a mistress, neither was anxious to acquire the penniless young woman as a wife. For months the comedy went on, Maria brazenly encouraging one aristocratic lover after another and stubbornly repulsing every proposal short of matrimony.
	Ironically, her more demure sister, Elizabeth, was the first to reach the goal, with a brilliant and romantic capture exceeding even the girls' dreams. At a masked ball at the Opera House in January 1752 Elizabeth found herself haunted by a haggard, dissipated-looking young man to whom everyone seemed to pay great deference. He was, it transpired, the Duke of Hamilton, the proudest and wealthiest peer in Scotland, who had recently been jilted by the notorious wanton Elizabeth Chudleigh. The duke, who for months had been trying to forget his humiliation in a frantic round of drink and debauchery, saw Elizabeth Gunning and was instantly infatuated. One month later London society was staggered to learn that the pair had secretly slipped away from a ball at Chesterfield House and been married at midnight by an obliging Mayfair parson.
	With her sister a duchess, Maria could afford to take an even haughtier tone with her suitors and it took Lord Coventry only three weeks to surrender to her terms. On March 3, 1752, Maria Gunning became Countess of Coventry, little knowing how short-lived her triumph was to prove. For the moment, however, she was mistress of the magnificent estate of Croome Park in Worcestershire, a great London mansion, and a husband who, after a few jealous outbursts, resignedly let her seek her amorous pleasures where she would. Safely married, she could now be kinder to the gallants who escorted her around the London scene. How many lovers she had nobody could discover, though gossip linked her with some of the most famous noblemen of the court of King George.
	At the same time stories of her incredible vanity, frivolity and tactlessness were a source of endless entertainment in salons and coffee houses. The countess was reputed to spend £2500 a year on cosmetics, including powders, paints, perfumes and strange plasters compounded of white lead, arsenic and other unsavoury ingredients. Her vanity reached its grotesque peak after an incident when she was walking with her escort one summer's evening in St. James's Park. As usual, a gaping mob was trailing along behind her when someone suddenly shouted, "Kitty Fisher!" the name of a notorious and expensive prostitute of the day [and whose name is immortalised in the nursery rhyme Lucy Locket - "Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it #&8230;"]. A scuffle broke out in the crowd. Maria's escorts drew their swords and plunged into the fray and for a moment bloodshed threatened until the mob dispersed and fled. When King George heard of the event he growled, half angry and half amused: "I cannot have my prettiest subject insulted thus. Next time she walks in the park let her have a guard of soldiers." Taking the order with intense seriousness Maria insisted on being provided with her retinue of redcoats before she took another evening airing in the park a week later. To the cheers and derision of the crowd she and her party appeared with two sergeants marching in front of them and a dozen sheepish soldiers armed with muskets bringing up the rear.
	Meanwhile, aided by her own indiscreet tongue, darker scandals gathered round the head of the Countess of Coventry until her reputation was described as "somewhat tainted". Her sister, Elizabeth, widowed by the premature death of the Duke of Hamilton, had hoped to wed the Duke of Bridgewater, but the match was broken off because Bridgewater objected to the illname of his future sister-in-law. However, Elizabeth was not cheated of a second duke, for she shortly afterwards married the less fussy Lord Lorne, who was eventually to succeed to the dukedom of Argyll.
	Before that happened, Maria was in her grave, struck down by consumption whose first dread signs appeared in 1759 when she had barely reached her 26th birthday. In the next year she grew steadily worse, pathetically trying to conceal her ravaged face behind layers of plaster laced with arsenic and other poisons. In June 1760 she retired to Croome Park, lying in a permanently darkened room so that the gaunt mockery of her once dazzling beauty was concealed. Sometimes she peered sadly for hours at her dimly visible reflection in a hand mirror. She was holding the mirror in one bony hand when she died on 30 September 1760.
	George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst, son of the 9th Earl of Coventry (15 Nov 1865 - 8 Aug 1927)
	Note that Burke's Peerage states that Viscount Deerhurst died on 8 August 1928 - this is incorrect - he died 8 August 1927.
	As a young man, Deerhurst was appointed aide-de-camp to the Governor of Victoria (Sir Henry Loch, later 1st Baron Loch). During his time in that post he found himself in court as a result of an altercation with a bookmaker to whom he allegedly owed money. The following report is taken from The South Australian Advertiser of 11 March 1887:-
	There was a very numerous assemblage in the [Melbourne] District Court to-day, when the charge of assault, preferred by Robert Sutton, the bookmaker, against Lord Deerhurst, aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Loch, and a counter-charge by Lord Deerhurst against Mr. Sutton, came on for hearing. Both were represented by leading counsel. From the statements made it appeared that the parties met at the Hurlingham pigeon shooting ground, and the result of the betting was that Lord Deerhurst owed Mr. Sutton £281 at the end of the day. Some time elapsed, and the money not being forthcoming, negotiations were entered into for an arrangement, but there was a disagreement. Mr. Sutton brought the matter under the notice of the Victorian Club, informing Viscount Deerhurst of the fact, upon which the latter wrote to the former that he could "post him and be damned". As to this Mr. Sutton wrote that he would wait upon Lord Deerhurst personally, and then the money was paid into the club and handed over to Mr. Sutton. Subsequently the pair met in the National Hotel, Bourke-street, where an altercation took place about the letter, Sutton telling Lord Deerhurst he would "not be damned by anybody", and that he must apologise or leave the hotel. The lord replied that he would do neither, and that as a captain in her Majesty's police force he would arrest Mr. Sutton, at the same time taking hold of the latter by the shoulder. Mr. Sutton then drew his hand across Lord Deerhurst's mouth. The matter then came before the Victorian Club, when Mr. Sutton was expelled. While in the box the bookmaker admitted his real name was Robert Stanley Sevior, acknowledged that he had been divorced from his wife for adultery and cruelty, but denied that he seduced and took away a Tasmanian young lady. At the conclusion of the evidence the court dismissed the case against Deerhurst, but convicted Mr. Sutton of assault, and being of opinion that a fine would be no punishment ordered him to be imprisoned for 14 days. Upon Sutton being called upon he failed to appear, and an appeal has been entered against the decision.
	Richard Francis Wellesley, 6th Earl Cowley
	The 6th Earl died in December 1975 while playing a game of squash. At the time of his death, his widow was expecting their second child. Since their first child was a daughter, who could not inherit the title, the peerage technically became dormant during the period between the death of the 6th Earl and the birth of the second child. If this second child had been a male, he would have inherited the title from birth, in the same manner as the 9th Earl of Chichester. In the event, however, a girl was born, and the peerage passed to the 6th Earl's uncle.

	Copyright © 2003-2018 Leigh Rayment
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