PEERAGES
Last updated 23/06/2018 (20 Aug 2024)
Date	Rank	Order	Name	Born	Died	Age
PERCY
5 Feb 1299	B	1	Henry de Percy Summoned to Parliament as Lord Percy 5 Feb 1299		Oct 1315
Oct 1315		2	Henry de Percy	c 1302	26 Feb 1352
26 Feb 1352		3	Henry de Percy	1322	16 Jun 1368	45
16 Jun 1368 to     1406		4	Henry de Percy, later [1377] 1st Earl of Northumberland He was attainted and the peerages forfeited	1342	19 Feb 1408	65
1414		5	Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland Restored to the peerages 1414	3 Feb 1393	23 May 1455	62
23 May 1455 to     29 Mar 1461		6	Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland He was attainted and the peerages forfeited	25 Jul 1421	29 Mar 1461	39
1473		7	Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland Restored to the peerages 1473	c 1449	27 Apr 1489
27 Apr 1489		8	Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland	13 Jan 1478	19 May 1527	49
19 May 1527 to     30 Jun 1537		9	Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland On his death the heir was under attainder and the peerage was therefore forfeited	c 1502	30 Jun 1537
30 Apr 1557		10	Thomas Percy Created Baron Percy 30 Apr 1557 and Earl of Northumberland 1 May 1557 The Barony remained merged with the Earldom of Northumberland until its extinction in 1670	10 Jun 1528	22 Aug 1572	44
28 Mar 1626			Algernon Percy He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Percy 28 Mar 1626 He succeeded as Earl of Northumberland in 1632	13 Oct 1602	13 Oct 1668	66
23 Nov 1722	B	1	Algernon Seymour Summoned to Parliament as Lord Percy 23 Nov 1722 He succeeded as 7th Duke of Somerset in 1748 and was later created Earl of Egremont in 1749 For further information on this peerage, which was created in error, see the note at the foot of this page	11 Nov 1684	7 Feb 1750	65
7 Feb 1750		2	Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland	26 Nov 1716	5 Dec 1776	60
5 Dec 1776		3	Hugh Percy, later [1786] 2nd Duke of Northumberland	14 Aug 1742	10 Jul 1817	74
10 Jul 1817		4	Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Percy 12 Mar 1812	20 Apr 1785	11 Feb 1847	61
11 Feb 1847		5	Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland	19 Dec 1792	12 Feb 1865	72
12 Feb 1865		6	John James Hugh Henry Stewart‑Murray, 7th Duke of Atholl	4 Aug 1840	10 Jul 1917	76
10 Jul 1917		7	John George Stewart‑Murray, 8th Duke of Atholl	15 Dec 1871	16 Mar 1942	70
16 Mar 1942		8	James Thomas Murray, 9th Duke of Atholl	18 Aug 1879	8 May 1957	77
8 May 1957		9	Hugh Algernon Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland The peerage then merged with the Dukedom of Northumberland	6 Apr 1914	11 Oct 1988	74
22 Oct 1766	E	1	Hugh Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland Created Earl Percy and Duke of Northumberland 22 Oct 1766 See "Northumberland"	c 1714	6 Jun 1786
PERCY OF ALNWICK
28 Jun 1643 to     Apr 1659	B	1	Henry Percy Created Baron Percy of Alnwick 28 Jun 1643 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1604	Apr 1659
PERCY OF NEWCASTLE
12 Feb 1953 to     3 Apr 1958	B	1	Lord Eustace Sutherland Campbell Percy Created Baron Percy of Newcastle 12 Feb 1953 MP for Hastings 1921‑1937; President of the Board of Education 1924‑1929; Minister without Portfolio 1935‑1936; PC 1924 Peerage extinct on his death	21 Mar 1887	3 Apr 1958	71
PERRY
28 Jan 1938 to     17 Jun 1956	B	1	Sir Percival Lea Dewhurst Perry Created Baron Perry 28 Jan 1938 Peerage extinct on his death	18 Mar 1878	17 Jun 1956	78
PERRY OF SOUTHWARK
16 Jul 1991	B[L]		Pauline Perry Created Baroness Perry of Southwark for life 16 Jul 1991	15 Oct 1931
PERRY OF WALTON
9 Feb 1979 to     18 Jul 2003	B[L]		Sir Walter Laing Macdonald Perry Created Baron Perry of Walton for life 9 Feb 1979 Peerage extinct on his death	16 Jun 1921	18 Jul 2003	82
PERTH
4 Mar 1605	E[S]	1	James Drummond, 4th Lord Drummond Created Earl of Perth 4 Mar 1605	c 1580	18 Dec 1611
18 Dec 1611		2	John Drummond	c 1598	11 Jun 1662
11 Jun 1662		3	James Drummond	c 1615	2 Jun 1675
2 Jun 1675 to     11 May 1716		4	James Drummond High Chancellor [S] 1684‑1688; PC 1685; KT 1687 On his death the next heir was under attainder and the peerage was therefore forfeited	7 Jul 1648	11 May 1716	67
[11 May 1716]			[James Drummond] He was attainted 17 Feb 1716	1675	17 Apr 1720	44
[17 Apr 1720]			[James Drummond]	11 May 1713	13 May 1746	33
[13 May 1746]			[John Drummond]	c 1716	28 Sep 1747
[28 Sep 1747]			[John Drummond]	c 1680	27 Oct 1757
[27 Oct 1757]			[James Drummond]	c 1690	7 Feb 1760
[7 Feb 1760]			[James Drummond]	6 Nov 1707	18 Jul 1781	73
[18 Jul 1781] 26 Oct 1797	B[S]	1	[James Drummond] Created Lord Perth and Baron Drummond of Stobhall 26 Oct 1797 On his death the Barony became extinct whilst the Earldom (but for the attainder) passed to -	12 Feb 1744	2 Jul 1800	56
[2 Jul 1800]			[James Lewis Drummond]	c 1750	Sep 1800
[Sep 1800]			[Charles Edward Drummond]	1 Jan 1752	9 Apr 1840	88
[9 Apr 1840] 28 Jun 1853		5	George Drummond He obtained a reversal of the attainder in 1853 For information on his son, styled Viscount Forth, and his grandson, styled Lord Drummond, see the note at the foot of this page	6 May 1807	28 Feb 1902	94
28 Feb 1902		6	William Huntley Drummond	5 Aug 1871	20 Aug 1937	66
20 Aug 1937		7	James Eric Drummond PC 1933	17 Aug 1876	15 Dec 1951	75
19 Dec 1951		8	John David Drummond Minister of State for Colonial Affairs 1957‑1962; PC 1957	13 May 1907	25 Nov 2002	95
25 Nov 2002		9	John Eric Drummond	7 Jul 1935	27 Mar 2023	87
27 Mar 2023		10	James David Drummond	24 Oct 1965
PERY
30 Mar 1785 to     24 Feb 1806	V[I]	1	Edmond Sexton Pery Created Viscount Pery 30 Mar 1785 MP [I] for Wicklow Borough 1751‑1761 and Limerick City 1761‑1785; Speaker of the House of Commons [I] 1771‑1785; PC [I] 1771 Peerage extinct on his death	8 Apr 1719	24 Feb 1806	86
PESTON
24 Mar 1987 to     23 Apr 2016	B[L]		Maurice Harry Peston Created Baron Peston for life 24 Mar 1987 Peerage extinct on his death	19 Mar 1931	23 Apr 2016	85
PETERBOROUGH
9 Mar 1628	E	1	John Mordaunt, 5th Baron Mordaunt Created Earl of Peterborough 9 Mar 1628 Lord Lieutenant Northamptonshire 1640	18 Jan 1599	18 Jun 1644	45
18 Jun 1643		2	Henry Mordaunt Lord Lieutenant Northamptonshire 1666‑1689 and Rutland 1688‑1690; PC 1683; KG 1685	15 Nov 1621	19 Jun 1697	75
19 Jun 1697		3	Charles Mordaunt Created Earl of Monmouth 9 Apr 1689 First Lord of the Treasury 1689‑1691; Lord Lieutenant Northamptonshire 1689‑1715; PC 1689; KG 1713 For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	1658	25 Oct 1735	77
25 Oct 1735		4	Charles Mordaunt	c 1710	1 Aug 1779
1 Aug 1779 to     14 Jun 1814		5	Charles Henry Mordaunt Peerages extinct on his death	10 May 1758	14 Jun 1814	56
PETERSFIELD
19 Aug 1673 to     14 Nov 1734	B[L]		Louise Renee de Penancort de Keroualle Created Baroness Petersfield, Countess of Fareham and Duchess of Portsmouth for life 19 Aug 1673 Mistress of Charles II Peerages extinct on her death	c 1647	14 Nov 1734
PETERSHAM
25 Jun 1674 to     24 Aug 1682	B	1	John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale Created Baron Petersham and Earl of Guilford 25 Jun 1674 Peerages extinct on his death	24 May 1616	24 Aug 1682	66
9 Feb 1742	V	1	William Stanhope, 1st Baron Harrington Created Viscount Petersham and Earl of Harrington 9 Feb 1742 See "Harrington"	c 1683	8 Dec 1756
PETHICK-LAWRENCE
16 Aug 1945 to     10 Sep 1961	B	1	Frederick William Pethick‑Lawrence Created Baron Pethick-Lawrence 16 Aug 1945 MP for Leicester West 1923‑1931 and Edinburgh East 1935‑1945; Secretary of State for India and Burma 1945‑1947; PC 1937 Peerage extinct on his death	28 Dec 1871	10 Sep 1961	89
PETITGAS
7 Mar 2024	B[L]		Franck Robert Marie Petitgas Created Baron Petitgas for life 7 Mar 2024	Feb 1961
PETRE
21 Jul 1603	B	1	John Petre Created Baron Petre 21 Jul 1603 Lord Lieutenant Essex	20 Dec 1549	11 Oct 1613	63
11 Oct 1613		2	William Petre	24 Jun 1575	5 May 1637	61
5 May 1637		3	Robert Petre	22 Jan 1599	28 Oct 1638	39
28 Oct 1638		4	William Petre	1626	5 Jan 1684	57
5 Jan 1684		5	John Petre	24 Jun 1629	22 Jan 1684	54
22 Jan 1684		6	Thomas Petre Lord Lieutenant Essex 1688	5 Dec 1633	4 Jan 1706	72
4 Jan 1706		7	Robert Petre	17 Mar 1689	22 Mar 1713	24
3 Jun 1713		8	Robert James Petre	3 Jun 1713	2 Jul 1742	29
2 Jul 1742		9	Robert Edward Petre	Feb 1742	2 Jul 1801	59
2 Jul 1801		10	Robert Edward Petre	2 Sep 1763	28 Mar 1809	45
28 Mar 1809		11	William Henry Francis Petre	22 Jan 1793	3 Jul 1850	57
3 Jul 1850		12	William Bernard Petre	20 Dec 1817	4 Jul 1884	66
4 Jul 1884		13	William Joseph Petre	25 Feb 1847	8 May 1893	46
8 May 1893		14	Bernard Henry Philip Petre	31 May 1858	16 Jun 1908	50
16 Jun 1908		15	Philip Benedict Joseph Petre For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	21 Aug 1864	6 Dec 1908	44
6 Dec 1908		16	Lionel George Carroll Petre	3 Nov 1890	30 Sep 1915	24
30 Sep 1915		17	Joseph William Lionel Petre	5 Jun 1914	1 Jan 1989	74
1 Jan 1989		18	John Patrick Lionel Petre Lord Lieutenant Essex 2002‑2017	4 Aug 1942
PEVENSEY
14 May 1730 to     2 Jul 1743	V	1	Spencer Compton, 1st Baron Wilmington Created Viscount Pevensey and Earl of Wilmington 14 May 1730 See "Wilmington" - extinct 1743	c 1674	2 Jul 1743
22 Jan 1816	V[I]	1	John Baker-Holroyd Created Baron Sheffield [I] 9 Jan 1781 and 20 Sep 1783, Baron Sheffield [UK] 29 Jul 1802 and Viscount Pevensey and Earl of Sheffield [I] 22 Jan 1816 See "Sheffield"	21 Dec 1735	30 May 1821	85
PEYTON OF YEOVIL
5 Oct 1983 to     22 Nov 2006	B[L]		John Wynne William Peyton Created Baron Peyton of Yeovil for life 5 Oct 1983 MP for Yeovil 1951‑1983; Minister of Transport 1970; Minister for Transport Industries 1970‑1974; PC 1970 Peerage extinct on his death	13 Feb 1919	22 Nov 2006	87
PEYVRE
6 Feb 1299 to     1316	B	1	John Peyvre Summoned to Parliament as Lord Peyvre 6 Feb 1299 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1262	1316
PHILLIMORE
2 Jul 1918	B	1	Sir Walter George Frank Phillimore, 2nd baronet Created Baron Phillimore 2 Jul 1918 Lord Justice of Appeal 1913‑1916; PC 1913	21 Nov 1845	13 Mar 1929	83
13 Mar 1929		2	Godfrey Walter Phillimore	29 Dec 1879	28 Nov 1947	67
28 Nov 1947		3	Robert Godfrey Phillimore	24 Sep 1939	26 Feb 1990	50
26 Feb 1990		4	Claud Stephen Phillimore	15 Jan 1911	29 Mar 1994	83
29 Mar 1994		5	Francis Stephen Phillimore	25 Nov 1944
PHILLIPS
21 Dec 1964 to	B[L]		Norah Mary Phillips Created Baroness Phillips for life 21 Dec 1964 Lord Lieutenant Greater London 1978‑1986 Peerage extinct on her death	12 Aug 1910	14 Aug 1992	82
PHILLIPS OF ELLESMERE
14 Jul 1994 to     23 Feb 1999	B[L]		David Chilton Phillips Created Baron Phillips of Ellesmere for life 14 Jul 1994 Peerage extinct on his death	7 Mar 1924	23 Feb 1999	74
PHILLIPS OF SUDBURY
25 Jul 1998 to     9 Apr 2023	B[L]		Andrew Wyndham Phillips Created Baron Phillips of Sudbury for life 25 Jul 1998 Peerage extinct on his death	15 Mar 1939	9 Apr 2023	84
PHILLIPS OF WORTH MATRAVERS
12 Jan 1999	B[L]		Sir Nicholas Addison Phillips Created Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers for life 12 Jan 1999 Lord Justice of Appeal 1995‑1998; Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 1999‑2000; Master of the Rolls 2000‑2005; Lord Chief Justice 2005‑2008; Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 2008‑2009; President of the Supreme Court 2009‑2012; PC 1995; KG 2011	21 Jan 1938
PHILLIPSTOWN
22 Dec 1631	B[I]	1	Terence O'Dempsey Created Baron of Phillipstown and Viscount Clanmalier 22 Dec 1631 See "Clanmalier"		c 1638
PICKLES
18 Jun 2018	B[L]		Sir Eric Jack Pickles Created Baron Pickles for life 18 Jun 2018 MP for Brentwood & Ongar 1992‑2017; Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government 2010‑2015; PC 2010	20 Apr 1952
PIDDING
8 Oct 2015	B[L]		Emma Samantha Pidding Created Baroness Pidding for life 8 Oct 2015	13 Jan 1966
PIDGEON
12 Aug 2024	B[L]		Caroline Valerie Pidgeon Created Baroness Pidgeon for life 12 Aug 2024	29 Sep 1972
PIERCY
14 Nov 1945	B	1	William Piercy Created Baron Piercy 14 Nov 1945	7 Feb 1886	7 Jul 1966	80
7 Jul 1966		2	Nicholas Pelham Piercy	23 Jun 1918	22 Mar 1981	62
22 Mar 1981		3	James William Piercy	19 Jan 1946
PIERREPONT
29 Jun 1627	B	1	Robert Pierrepont Created Baron Pierrepont 29 Jun 1627, and Viscount Newark and Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull 25 Jul 1628 See "Kingston-upon-Hull" - extinct 1773	6 Aug 1584	30 Jul 1643	58
1641			Henry Pierrepont He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Pierrepont 11 Jan 1641 He succeeded as Earl of Kingston upon Hull in 1643 and was subsequently created Marquess of Dorchester in 1645	Mar 1607	1 Dec 1680	73
29 Mar 1702 19 Oct 1714 to     22 May 1715	B[I] B	1 1	Gervase Pierrepont Created Baron Pierrepont [I] 29 Mar 1702 and Baron Pierrepont [GB] 19 Oct 1714 MP for Appleby 1698‑1705 Peerages extinct on his death	1649	22 May 1715	65
23 Jul 1796	B	1	Charles Pierrepont Created Baron Pierrepont and Viscount Newark 23 Jul 1796, and Earl Manvers 9 Apr 1806 See "Manvers"	14 Nov 1737	17 Jun 1816	78
PIGOT
19 Jan 1766 to     11 May 177	B[I]	1	Sir George Pigot, 1st baronet Created Baron Pigot 19 Jan 1766 MP for Wallingford 1765‑1768 and Bridgnorth 1768‑1777 Peerage extinct on his death	4 Mar 1719	11 May 1777	58
PIKE
15 May 1974 to     11 Jan 2004	B[L]		Irene Mervyn Parnicott Pike Created Baroness Pike for life 15 May 1974 MP for Melton 1956‑1974 Peerage extinct on her death	16 Sep 1918	11 Jan 2004	85
PILKINGTON
18 Jan 1968 to     22 Dec 1983	B[L]		Sir William Henry Pilkington Created Baron Pilkington for life 18 Jan 1968 Peerage extinct on his death	19 Apr 1905	22 Dec 1983	78
PILKINGTON OF OXENFORD
12 Jan 1996 to     14 Feb 2011	B[L]		Peter Pilkington Created Baron Pilkington of Oxenford for life 12 Jan 1996 Peerage extinct on his death	5 Sep 1933	14 Feb 2011	77
PINKENEY
6 Feb 1299 to     1301	B	1	Henry de Pinkeney Summoned to Parliament as Lord Pinkeney 6 Feb 1299 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1265	1301
PINNOCK
23 Sep 2014	B[L]		Kathryn Mary Pinnock Created Baroness Pinnock for life 23 Sep 2014	25 Sep 1946
PIPARD
6 Feb 1299 to     20 Jun 1303	B	1	Ralph Pipard Summoned to Parliament as Lord Pipard 6 Feb 1299 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1244	20 Jun 1303
PIRBRIGHT
15 Nov 1895 to     9 Jan 1903	B	1	Henry de Worms Created Baron Pirbright 15 Nov 1895 MP for Greenwich 1880‑1885 and East Toxteth 1885‑1895; PC 1889 Peerage extinct on his death	20 Oct 1840	9 Jan 1903	62
PIRRIE
17 Jul 1906 9 Jul 1921 to     6 Jun 1924	B V	1 1	William James Pirrie Created Baron Pirrie 17 Jul 1906 and Viscount Pirrie 9 Jul 1921 Lord Lieutenant Belfast 1911‑1924; PC [I] 1897; KP 1908; PC 1918 Peerages extinct on his death	31 May 1847	6 Jun 1924	77
PITKEATHLEY
6 Oct 1997	B[L]		Jill Elizabeth Pitkeathley Created Baroness Pitkeathley for life 6 Oct 1997	4 Jan 1940
PITT
4 Aug 1766	V	1	William Pitt Created Viscount Pitt and Earl of Chatham 4 Aug 1766 See "Chatham" - extinct 1835	15 Nov 1708	11 May 1778	69
PITT OF HAMPSTEAD
3 Feb 1975 to     18 Dec 1994	B[L]		David Thomas Pitt Created Baron Pitt of Hampstead for life 3 Feb 1975 Peerage extinct on his death	3 Oct 1913	18 Dec 1994	81
PITTENWEEM
26 Jan 1609 to     16 Dec 1625	B[S]	1	Frederick Stewart Created Lord Pittenweem 26 Jan 1609 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1590	16 Dec 1625
PLANT
9 May 1978 to     9 Aug 1986	B[L]		Cyril Thomas Howe Plant Created Baron Plant for life 9 May 1978 Peerage extinct on his death	27 Aug 1910	9 Aug 1986	75
PLANT OF HIGHFIELD
24 Jul 1992	B[L]		Raymond Plant Created Baron Plant of Highfield for life 24 Jul 1992	19 Mar 1945
PLATT
16 Jan 1967 to     30 Jun 1978	B[L]		Robert Platt Created Baron Platt for life 16 Jan 1967 Peerage extinct on his death	16 Apr 1900	30 Jun 1978	78
PLATT OF WRITTLE
28 May 1981 to     1 Feb 2015	B[L]		Beryl Catherine Platt Created Baroness Platt of Writtle for life 28 May 1981 Peerage extinct on her death	18 Apr 1923	1 Feb 2015	91
PLAYFAIR
3 Sep 1892	B	1	Sir Lyon Playfair Created Baron Playfair 3 Sep 1892 MP for Edinburgh & St. Andrews Universities 1868‑1885 and Leeds South 1885‑1892; Postmaster General 1873‑1874; PC 1873	21 May 1818	29 May 1898	80
29 May 1898 to     25 Dec 1939		2	George James Playfair Peerage extinct on his death	31 Mar 1849	25 Dec 1939	90
PLAYZ
20 Nov 1317	B	1	Richard de Playz Summoned to Parliament as Lord Playz 20 Nov 1317	1 Aug 1296	Aug 1327	31
Aug 1327		2	Giles de Playz	1320	16 Jul 1334	14
16 Jul 1334		3	Richard Playz	21 Sep 1323	Oct 1359	36
Oct 1359		4	John de Playz	1341	2 Jun 1389	47
2 Jun 1389		5	Margaret Howard	1367	Aug 1391	24
Aug 1391		6	John Howard		1409
1409		7	Elizabeth de Vere	11 Jun 1410	c 1470
c 1470		8	John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford	1443	10 Mar 1513	69
Mar 1513 to     14 Jul 1526		9	John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford On his death the peerage fell into abeyance	14 Aug 1499	15 Jul 1526	26
PLENDER
20 Jan 1931 to     19 Jan 1946	B	1	Sir William Plender, 1st baronet Created Baron Plender 20 Jan 1931 Peerage extinct on his death	20 Aug 1861	19 Jan 1946	84
PLESSETS
6 Feb 1299 to     1301	B	1	Hugh de Plessets Summoned to Parliament as Lord Plessets 6 Feb 1299 Peerage extinct on his death	c 1267	1301
PLEYDELL-BOUVERIE
31 Oct 1765	B	1	William Bouverie, 2nd Viscount Folkestone Created Baron Pleydell‑Bouverie and Earl of the County of Radnor 31 Oct 1765 See "Radnor"	26 Feb 1725	28 Jan 1776	50
PLOWDEN
17 Feb 1959 to     15 Feb 2001	B[L]		Sir Edwin Noel Plowden Created Baron Plowden for life 17 Feb 1959 Peerage extinct on his death	6 Jan 1907	15 Feb 2001	94
PLUGENET
24 Jun 1295	B	1	Alan de Plugenet Summoned to Parliament as Lord Plugenet 24 Jun 1295		1299
1299 to     by 1326		2	Alan Plugenet Peerage extinct on his death	1277	by 1326
PLUMB
6 Apr 1987 to     15 Apr 2022	B[L]		Sir Charles Henry Plumb Created Baron Plumb for life 6 Apr 1987 MEP for The Cotswolds 1979‑1999 Peerage extinct on his death	27 Mar 1925	15 Apr 2022	97
PLUMER
4 Oct 1919 24 Jun 1929	B V	1 1	Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer Created Baron Plumer 4 Oct 1919 and Viscount Plumer 24 Jun 1929 Field Marshal 1919; Governor of Malta 1919‑1924; High Commissioner of Palestine 1925‑1928	13 Mar 1857	16 Jul 1932	75
16 Jul 1932 to     24 Feb 1944		2	Thomas Hall Rokeby Plumer Peerages extinct on his death	17 May 1890	24 Feb 1944	53
PLUMMER
10 May 1965 to     13 Jun 1972	B[L]		Beatrice Plummer Created Baroness Plummer for life 10 May 1965 Peerage extinct on her death	14 Apr 1903	13 Jun 1972	69
PLUMMER OF ST. MARYLEBONE
29 May 1981 to     2 Oct 2009	B[L]		Sir (Arthur) Herne Desmond Plummer Created Baron Plummer of St. Marylebone for life 29 May 1981 Peerage extinct on her death	25 May 1914	2 Oct 2009	95
PLUNKET
1 May 1827	B	1	William Conyngham Plunket Created Baron Plunket 1 May 1827 MP [I] for Charlemont 1798‑1800; MP for Midhurst 1807 and Dublin University 1812‑1827; Solicitor General [I] 1803‑1805; Attorney General [I] 1805‑1807 and 1822‑1827; Lord Chancellor [I] 1830‑1834 and 1835‑1841; PC [I] 1805; PC 1827	1 Jul 1764	5 Jan 1854	88
5 Jan 1854		2	Thomas Span Plunket Bishop of Tuam 1839‑1866; PC [I] 1846	27 Jun 1792	19 Aug 1866	74
19 Aug 1866		3	John Span Plunket	10 Jul 1793	16 Apr 1871	77
16 Apr 1871		4	William Conyngham Plunket Bishop of Meath 1876‑1885; Archbishop of Dublin 1885‑1897	26 Aug 1828	1 Apr 1897	68
1 Apr 1897		5	William Lee Plunket Governor of New Zealand 1904‑1910	19 Dec 1864	24 Jan 1920	55
24 Jan 1920		6	Terence Conyngham Plunket For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page	12 Jul 1899	24 Feb 1938	38
24 Feb 1938		7	Patrick Terence William Span Plunket	8 Sep 1923	28 May 1975	51
28 May 1975		8	Robin Rathmore Plunket	3 Dec 1925	16 Nov 2013	87
16 Nov 2013		9	Tyrone Shaun Terence Plunket	5 Feb 1966
PLURENDEN
28 Jan 1975 to     5 Jan 1978	B[L]		Sir Rudy Sternberg Created Baron Plurenden for life 28 Jan 1975 Peerage extinct on his death	17 Apr 1917	5 Jan 1978	60
PLYMOUTH
28 Jul 1675 to     17 Oct 1680	E	1	Charles FitzCharles Created Baron of Dartmouth, Viscount Totness and Earl of Plymouth 28 Jul 1675 Illegitimate son of Charles II Peerage extinct on his death	1657	17 Oct 1680	23
6 Dec 1682	E	1	Thomas Windsor Hickman‑Windsor, 7th Lord Windsor Created Earl of Plymouth 6 Dec 1682 Lord Lieutenant Worcester 1660‑1662 and 1663‑1687; Governor of Jamaica 1661‑1663; PC 1685	c 1627	3 Nov 1687
3 Nov 1687		2	Other Windsor Lord Lieutenant Cheshire, Anglesey, Denbigh and Flint 1713‑1714	27 Aug 1679	26 Dec 1725	46
26 Dec 1725		3	Other Windsor	30 Jun 1707	23 Nov 1732	25
23 Nov 1732		4	Other Lewis Windsor Lord Lieutenant Glamorgan 1754‑1771	12 May 1731	21 Apr 1771	39
21 Apr 1771		5	Other Hickman Windsor	30 May 1751	12 Jun 1799	48
12 Jun 1799		6	Other Archer Windsor	2 Jul 1789	20 Jul 1833	44
20 Jul 1833		7	Andrews Windsor	12 May 1754	19 Jan 1837	82
19 Jan 1837 to     8 Dec 1843		8	Henry Windsor Peerage extinct on his death	1 Feb 1768	8 Dec 1843	75
18 Dec 1905	E	1	Robert George Windsor‑Clive, 14th Lord Windsor Created Viscount Windsor and Earl of Plymouth 18 Dec 1905 Paymaster General 1891‑1892; First Commissioner of Works 1902‑1905; Lord Lieutenant Glamorgan 1890‑1923. PC 1891	27 Aug 1857	6 Mar 1923	65
6 Mar 1923		2	Ivor Miles Windsor‑Clive MP for Ludlow 1922‑1923; Lord Lieutenant Glamorgan 1923‑1943; PC 1929	4 Feb 1889	1 Oct 1943	54
1 Oct 1943		3	Other Robert Ivor Windsor‑Clive	9 Oct 1923	7 Mar 2018	94
7 Mar 2018		4	Ivor Edward Other Windsor‑Clive	19 Nov 1951
POER or LA POER
16 Nov 1767 or     19 Dec 1767	B[I]	1	Catherine Beresford, Dowager Countess of Tyrone Created Baroness [La] Poer 16 Nov 1767 or 19 Dec 1767 For further information on this creation, see the note at the foot of this page		27 Jul 1769
27 Jul 1769		2	George de la Poer Beresford He had previously [1763] succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Tyrone and was subsequently [1789] created 1st Marquess of Waterford with which title this peerage remains merged	8 Jan 1735	3 Dec 1800	65
POLAK
2 Oct 2015	B[L]		Stuart Polak Created Baron Polak for life 2 Oct 2015	28 Mar 1961
POLLINGTON
8 Nov 1753 11 Feb 1766	B[I] V[I]	1 1	John Savile Created Baron Pollington 8 Nov 1753, and Viscount Pollington and Earl of Mexborough 11 Feb 1766 See "Mexborough"	Dec 1719	17 Feb 1778	58
POLTIMORE
10 Sep 1831	B	1	Sir George Warwick Bampfylde, 6th baronet Created Baron Poltimore 10 Sep 1831	23 Mar 1786	19 Dec 1858	72
19 Dec 1858		2	Augustus Frederick George Warwick Bampfylde PC 1872	12 Apr 1837	3 May 1908	71
3 May 1908		3	Coplestone Richard George Warwick Bampfylde	29 Nov 1859	2 Nov 1918	58
2 Nov 1918		4	George Wentworth Warwick Bampfylde	23 Sep 1882	13 Jul 1965	82
13 Jul 1965		5	Arthur Blackett Warwick Bampfylde	29 Nov 1883	10 Jun 1967	83
10 Jun 1967		6	Hugh de Burgh Warwick Bampfylde	25 Mar 1888	27 Mar 1978	90
27 Mar 1978		7	Mark Coplestone Bampfylde	8 Jun 1957

	The barony of Percy created in 1722
	This peerage is one of several created in error. For similar cases see the notes relating to the peerages of Strange and Clifford, both of which were created in error in 1628.
	The original barony of Percy was created in February 1299 when Henry de Percy was summoned by writ to attend Parliament. The barony thereafter descended through the Percy family until the death of Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, in 1537. On his death, the barony of Percy would normally have descended to his nephew and heir, Thomas Percy, but according to the law of that time, he could not inherit the title, since he was the son of Sir Thomas Percy, who had been attainted. The peerage was therefore considered to have become forfeited. The law relating to such instances was subsequently amended in 1764 as a result of the claim made by John Murray to the dukedom of Atholl where it was held that, if the attainted person died during the lifetime of the person who held a dignity, the issue of such an attainted person could succeed to the title in question.
	In any event, the nephew and heir of the 6th Earl of Northumberland, Thomas Percy, who is referred to above, was created Baron Percy on 30 April 1557, and Earl of Northumberland on the following day. Both peerages were created with a special remainder which provided that, failing heirs male of his body, the peerages would pass to his brother, Henry Percy. In 1572, the Earl was himself attainted and executed. In normal circumstances his hereditary dignities would have again been forfeited, but the special remainders of the creations of 1557 meant that they were immune from the attainder.
	Accordingly, the barony of Percy continued to be united with the Earldom of Northumberland until the death of the 5th Earl (creation of 1557) in 1670, when both the earldom and the barony created in 1557 became extinct.
	The 5th Earl of Northumberland's daughter, Elizabeth Percy, married Algernon Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. She died 23 November 1722. On her death, it was mistakenly believed that she had been entitled to the ancient (i.e. 1299) barony of Percy, but, as outlined above, this peerage had been forfeited in 1537. Notwithstanding this forfeiture, her son, Algernon Seymour, later 7th Duke of Somerset in 1748, was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Percy, and was wrongly placed in the order of precedence as if his peerage had been created in 1299, whereas the writ of summons had actually created an entirely new peerage.
	George Henry Charles Francis Malcolm Drummond, styled Viscount Forth, son of the 5th Earl of Perth, and his son, styled Lord Drummond
	On the death of the 4th Earl of Perth in May 1716, his son and heir, James Drummond, who had commanded the Jacobite cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir on 13 Nov 1715, was unable to inherit the peerage, since he had been attainted on 17 Feb 1716 for his role in the Jacobite Rebellion. The peerage remained forfeited until 1853, when George Drummond obtained a reversal of the attainder on both this peerage and also the Earldom of Melfort and its subsidiary titles.
	Forth was born in Naples on 13 May 1834, second (but oldest surviving son) of the George Drummond mentioned above. When George Drummond became the 5th Earl in 1853, his son became styled Viscount Forth, one of the subsidiary titles of the Earldom of Melfort.
	Forth enlisted in the 42nd Highlanders in December 1853 and was posted to the Crimea, where he arrived on 14 September 1854, just prior to the Battle of Alma. At that battle, Forth carried the regimental colours.
	One version of what happened next is described in a letter written by his father to The Times and published in that newspaper on 23 April 1855:-
	Various unpleasant allusions having been made in the newspapers regarding the conduct of my son, Lord Forth (late of the 42nd Regiment), in the Crimea, I shall feel much obliged if you will have the kindness to insert this letter in one of the next numbers of your paper, and I beg to add that it was out of my power to make this request before, in consequence of the necessity of having several communications on the subject with officers in the Crimea.
	My son obtained his commission in October, 1853, and joined the 42nd Regiment in the following December. In May, 1854, he accompanied his regiment to Varna, and landed in the Crimea on the 14th of September, and carried the colours of the regiment at the battle of the Alma, on the 20th. Immediately after the battle Colonel Cameron, commanding the 42nd Regiment, addressed my son and said, "I am glad to hear that you have been present in one of the most severe actions ever known; you carried the colours, did you not?" My son's reply was, "Yes;" and Colonel Cameron continued, "It was a very honourable post, and a good thing for a young man to have seen such service." The above conversation is stated by Colonel Cameron to have been correctly reported to me, and this is all that took place regarding the battle of the Alma, the only battle in which the 42nd Regiment has been engaged since it left England, that regiment not having been present either at Balaklava or Inkermann.
	After having been some time before Sebastopol, and having done his duty regularly in the trenches, on picket, etc., my son, being very unwell, the result of the great hardships he had undergone, resolved to retire from the service, on account of his bad state of health, as soon as Sebastopol was taken, and he sent in his papers requesting leave to sell out as soon as that object was attained; but he continued to do his duty in the trenches, etc., until one day, having only returned at noon, after having been 24 hours in the trenches, he was much exhausted, and as soon as he reached his tent rested for a couple of hours, without having taken any food. At 3 o'clock he went off to dine with a friend at the Commissariat quarters, and a few minutes after he had got there, and before dinner began, he was sent for to go with a covering party; he took his cloak to start at once, but was prevailed upon to drink some wine before he started, and to take some bread with him. When he reached his quarters, finding the covering party had gone, and that his place was taken by another officer, he resolved to go back and have his dinner, and afterwards to join the men at the halt. On being subsequently desired by his colonel to go at once, he stubbornly refused, stating that he had had no dinner, that he had plenty of time to dine, and overtake the men before they got to the trenches, and that he would not go without his dinner. This insubordinate refusal to obey his colonel's orders caused an altercation, and the colonel, finding him so stubborn (and being much irritated, no doubt, at his determination not to go before he had had his dinner), said to him, to rouse him, "If you do not go at once, I will not believe it is for want of your dinner that you refuse to go, but I will attribute it to fear, or, at all events, to gross insubordination." After some consideration, my son made up his mind to go without his dinner, and he joined the men at the halt, reported himself to the officer in command, and relieved the officer who had taken his place. It was after waiting a considerable time at the halt that it became sufficiently dark for the covering party to enter the trenches. Having considered what had taken place, the next morning, on his return to his quarters, my son sent in his immediate resignation, but he continued to do his duty in the trenches, etc., for several days and nights more, until one morning, on his return from the trenches, he received his leave of absence from Lord Raglan to return to England, to retire from the service, as he had requested, and he only then ceased doing duty, and left the camp for Balaklava to embark.
	This most unfortunate altercation, arising, I deplore to say, from my son's inattention to his military duty and want of subordination to the orders of Colonel Cameron, has been the foundation of many anonymous, slanderous and absurd falsehoods which have been so uncharitably set about regarding him, and which it was out of my power to deny until I had ascertained from various persons who were on the spot, and from Colonel Cameron himself, the truth of this most painful affair.
	I have the honour to be, Sir Your most obedient, humble servant, PERTH AND MELFORT
	On 29 May 1855, Colonel Cameron's response to the above letter was published in The Times.
	Sir - as the last paragraph in the letter from the Earl of Perth which appeared in The Times of the 23rd of April may have led the public to infer that the account therein given of his son's conduct in the 42nd Regiment before Sebastopol was derived from information furnished by me, I think it right to state that his Lordship's letter, besides omitting some important facts, contains many statements not authorised by any information ever given by me to his Lordship.
	According to Forth's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 'detrimental versions of this incident circulated widely'. Shortly after his return from the Crimea, when his name appeared in one newspaper, he is described as being "Lord Forth, of Crimean notoriety". American newspapers, which were less concerned about being sued for libel, described him as "the valiant Lord Forth, who was kicked out of the British camp in the Crimea for cowardly conduct". Other reports which appeared in The Chicago Daily Tribune on 19 August 1887 and 11 October 1899 were far more direct in their accusations against Viscount Forth, as interested readers can discover for themselves if they look up those particular editions.
	Forth married, on 24 October 1855, Harriet Mary Capell, niece of the 6th Earl of Essex. After one child, a son, styled Lord Drummond, had been born, the couple separated in 1858. In April 1861, the Divorce Court heard her petition for a divorce from Viscount Forth, based on his wife's allegations of adultery and cruelty. It was shown in evidence that Forth was an habitual drunkard, often in a state of delirium tremens, and often physically assaulted his wife. It was alleged that, on one occasion, he threatened to "contract a certain disease [syphilis?] and infect both her and the child with it". In any event, it seems that Harriet's reputation had been somewhat tarnished by her relationship with a Captain Theophilus Blakely, inventor of the Blakely gun used in the American Civil War.
	Shortly after the divorce case, in July 1861, Forth moved to the Spa Hotel in Gloucester. Here he lived under the name of Captain Drummond, together with a lady whom he passed off as his wife. On 19 September 1861, this woman gave birth to a baby girl, but the woman unfortunately died on 8 October 1861. In a report in The Times of 11 October 1861:-
	[Lord Forth] was with her at the time of his death, was very much grieved, and wept bitterly. Soon afterwards he commenced drinking brandy, and appeared like a madman. In this distracted state he continued for several hours, after which he commenced packing his own and the deceased lady's clothes … He then left that room (in which were the nurse and landlady) and proceeded to another opposite, followed by the nurse, whose suspicions were excited by his conduct. He asked what was the matter, at the same time putting a bottle to his mouth. The nurse exclaimed, "Good God! He's got hold of the laudanum bottle!" The landlady seized the bottle and succeeded in wresting it from him, but not until he had drunk nearly half. He said, "It's only a little port wine", and descended to the sitting room. A doctor was sent for and soon arrived; he found his Lordship walking up and down in the room, and was just in time to prevent him from cutting his throat with a knife. The deceased nobleman continued to walk up and down in the room, until at last he exclaimed, "Oh! how funny I feel", and became insensible. The stomach pump was used, but without success; it was found impossible to restore him.
	The fates of Forth's ex-wife and son were equally melancholy. His ex-wife is reported to have died from yellow fever, in a destitute state, in Lima, Peru in April 1868. His son, Lord Drummond, died in New York in August 1887 at the age of 30, apparently from consumption. He is reported to have earned a living as a ticket checker on the New York elevated railway and as a night porter at a New York newspaper.
	Upon his death, the following article appeared in The Illustrated Police News on 20 August 1887, under the heading of "A Romance of the Peerage" :-
	Some strange particulars are given of the life of George Montifex, Lord Drummond, who died a few days ago in the United States. He was born in 1856, and, upon becoming an orphan, was entrusted to the guardianship of his maternal grandmother, the Honourable Mrs. Capel, who resided at Folkestone. Here, it is stated, he associated with fishermen, and assumed their dress. His tutor tried in vain every inducement to wean him from this company. He was a most handsome lad and of the utmost daring. Fishermen of Folkestone narrate many stories illustrative of his intrepid courage, for it was his great delight to be on the sea, and the more boisterous the weather the greater his pleasure. Of course, the companionship of one so well known was eagerly sought after amongst the class he favoured, and although as far as education went he was comparatively ignorant, nothing offended him more, or more aroused his indignation, than any reference to his title or rank. Amongst the fisher-lads - for he frequented, unfortunately, the public-houses in the east quarters of the town - he mixed on equal terms as their boon companion. His purse seemed open to all, and his generosity may be judged from the following circumstance. A fisherman, having been laid up with illness, came into a certain place, after a long absence, where his lordship was. A subscription to assist the man was suggested, when Lord Drummond, emptying his pockets, produced £1 and 5s., and, giving it to the man, said, "Here's all I've got, and I'd give you more if I had it".
	He made the acquaintance of Miss Eliza Harrison, who was five years his senior; and immediately after the death of his grandmother, in 1871, he married her. Apprehensive of the disapproval of his grandfather, the Earl of Perth, whose heir he was, he engaged a steerage passage for himself and his wife to New York, where he obtained a situation as porter to a commission agent, and upon the failure of his first employer supported himself for a time by fishing and duck shooting on Long Island. A son was there born to him, but the child died, and the father, growing dissatisfied with his precarious mode of life, shipped in 1877 as a common sailor. Later he secured a post as packer in a wholesale clothing house in New York, and remained there until the firm failed. A second child, a girl, still living, was born in 1881; and, having no employment, Lord Drummund found himself reduced to most painful straits, for remittances from England were scanty and uncertain. After some months of almost absolute poverty he obtained an engagement as night gateman on the Elevated Railway, and in 1884 became a clerk in a clothing manufactory. During all this trying period, and indeed until the close of his life, Lord Drummond was a model husband and father; but his health was not good enough to enable him to continue the struggle indefinitely; and at last he became a chronic invalid. Lady Drummond from that time forward supported him by her needle, and did all that lay in her power to persuade her husband's relatives to recognise the marriage, which they always regarded as a mesalliance.
	Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough
	The following article on the life of the 3rd Earl of Peterborough appeared in the Australian monthly magazine Parade in its issue for May 1955:-
	On an afternoon in 1723 a dignified and fashionable audience at Bath was attending an opera performance. On stage a bulky Italian tenor, Signor Senesino, was giving his considerable all to his art - when suddenly out of the wings sprang the well-known, wiry little figure of the old Earl of Peterborough wielding a cane, with which, like a skinny David assaulting a fat Goliath, he proceeded to belabour the singer. After the first startled yells the audience rocked with laughter as the fiery little peer thrashed the mountainous tenor to his knees and demanded an apology for the insult he had tendered the young prima donna that morning.
	It was common gossip that the eccentric old soldier, peer and politician was the insulted Miss Anastasia Robinson's lover, though she was in her twenties and he nearly 40 years older; but for once gossip was wrong.
	The fact of the matter was that the young prima donna and her aged defender were married, though for some reason known only to himself Peterborough rather caddishly chose to let the world think she was only his mistress.
	Perhaps he feared the disclosure would adversely affect his ambitions for royal advancement, or may be he thought it would put a stopper on his ardent secret wooing of Mrs. Howard, the mistress of the Prince of Wales (later King George II).
	The royal mistress, whom he cascaded with love letters, conveying such sentiments as "I tremble when I approach your door", was also less than half his age; but throughout his lifetime Peterborough was never one to say die whether in the intrigues of war, politics, or love.
	Born Charles Mordaunt, son of Viscount Mordaunt, in 1658, he gathered a string of titles through following that policy in a number of tight corners and so outliving titled relatives.
	The tempestuous nobleman was an enigma to his contemporaries. The Duchess of Marlborough called him a man who "in violence of soul joined a sort of knight-errantry". An enthusiastic admirer called him "a hangdog he dearly loved" and "the ramblingest, lying rogue on earth".
	Perhaps the chief quality that made him a puzzling mixture of good and bad to his contemporaries was his complete, and reckless, indifference to public opinion - except, it seems, in his marriage to the fair Anastasia.
	As a youth he had been something of a rebel. He refused to adopt his father's allegiance to the restored Stuarts, scorned the playboy goings-on of King Charles II, and was outspoken in his praise of the "good old days" of the dead and gone Cromwell.
	To express his scorn of religious intolerance, he founded with his brother Philip, the first of the notorious Hellfire Clubs, and his defiance of social conventions was witnessed by his penchant for taking the stiff and stodgy down a peg or two, as was instances by one of his practical jokes, for which he became notorious.
	One day in the Strand he saw an actor or dancing master mincing along in pearl-coloured silk stockings. It had been raining and the dandy was daintily avoiding the puddles. Something in his behaviour aroused Peterborough's ire, and leaping from his coach with drawn sword, he chased the dandy, pricking him in the calves and driving him hopping and squealing into the puddles. In desperation the dandy closed with him, and dragged him, too, into the mud. When he shook himself free from the scrimmage, the earl returned laughing and spattered to his carriage.
	His contempt for public opinion is perhaps best instanced by his conduct at the fashionable resort of Bath. Priding himself on his cooking, he would often withdraw from his guests, don a chef's cap and cook the dinner, trusting his servants to serve it while he entertained his guests with witty roars from the kitchen. Because of his pride in his cooking he liked to do his own household marketing. "It is a comical sight to see him, decked in blue ribbon and star, clasping a cabbage under each arm or a chicken in his hand which he has purchased at market and carries home for his dinner," the Lady Hervey once wrote to her friend, Mrs. Howard.
	So reckless was his conduct and outspokenness at times that it is difficult to see how he escaped the attentions of Judge Jeffreys in the pogrom of "The Bloody Assizes" in James', the last of the Stuarts, reign. Even the "Hanging Judge" was not exempt from Peterborough's practical joking. The story is told that Judge Jeffreys once had an assignation with a domestic servant, Sophie Crowe, whom he had arranged to have picked up in a carriage from near her place of employment and conveyed to his chambers. Peterborough, it is said, heard of it and substituted himself for the girl, decking himself in a veil and woman's clothes. Jeffreys would have hanged him with the greatest pleasure there and then, when, after chasing his "charmer" around the room for a kiss, he tore off the veil, and gazed into the quizzical, laughing face of Mordaunt. Fortunately, however, for the practical joker, Jeffreys was not then Lord Chief Justice, nor plagued with the painful disease that made him unable to take a joke in his later life.
	Born the eldest of 11 children, Mordaunt ran away to sea at an early age, and at 16 was a volunteer in an expedition against the Corsair pirates of Algiers. Unfortunately little is known of his early adventures, as he was persuaded to burn his autobiography before he died. It was rumoured that in it he had confessed to the commission of three capital crimes before was 20.
	At that age he was back in England, heir the year before to his father's title and estates as viscount [Mordaunt]. The income was scarcely sufficient to support the reckless style of living he adopted, and he was soon in sore financial straits. His careless conduct of his affairs, it was said, provided an excellent example to dishonest stewards of methods by which they could rob their masters. His wooing cost him money too. In one affair he joined a band of strolling players to make love to a pretty married woman of the company named Barton, living apart from her husband. After stumping around the countryside with her his passion waned. So he gave the lady's husband £500 so that he could set up a home for her and withdraw her from the company.
	Later, to win favour in the eyes of another fair charmer, he is said to have had her and a companion held up by a highwayman, whom he hired for the occasion so that he might rescue the maiden under circumstances most conducive of his robbing her, himself, of her virtue.
	In the intervals between those affairs he sailed in other forays against the Barbary pirates and married [in 1678] a winsome Scottish lass, a Carey Fraser, daughter of a Highland knight. She was to bear him three children, but the union does seem to have caused him to be any the less reckless or indiscreet in his peccadilloes.
	His amatory exploits, added to the fame he acquired as a fighter of Barbary pirates, made him a notable figure in society, but his undisguised contempt for the Stuart monarchy barred him from political or martial advancement. Accordingly, when the "Glorious Revolution" to oust King James and put William of Orange on the throne was first mooted, he dashed off to Holland to urge William to take up the offer.
	He was appointed a Lieutenant-Colonel of Horse in the army of rebellion, and reaped a rich harvest of rewards when William and Mary came to the throne, being appointed Privy Councillor, Gentleman of the Bedchamber, First Lord of the Treasury (for which his conduct of his own financial affairs seems scarcely to have been a recommendation) and created Earl of Monmouth.
	His careless tongue soon made him suspect in the eyes of the new monarch. In spite of the favours he had gained, he complained that William had been ungrateful. He was already suspected of being the author of "the lemon letters", written in invisible ink composed of lemon juice, conveying information to the French, and was hauled before the House, adjudged guilty of "uttering undutiful words", and committed to the Tower. However, he was shortly released, and, what is more, granted a pension of £2,000 a year, and went off soldiering in Flanders till a temporary peace with the French was signed.
	When war with France broke out again in the reign of Anne he once more incurred the displeasure of the Commons and was sent off in command of an expeditionary force to drive the French out of Spain. Matching cunning against great odds, he penetrated Barcelona in disguise, surveyed the defences, and then led an attack that forced the city's surrender. Later, in Valencia, he drove out an enemy army numbering over 10,000 with a force of only 1,320, by sending a small party ahead to be captured, "turn traitor", and cause the French to retire by "warning" them that Peterborough's force was but the advance guard of a great English army.
	His exploits won him fame in England but his unorthodox tactics and careless comments on the efforts of less successful officers brought him into non-speaking terms with fellow generals. Inevitably he was recalled but took his time obeying the summons, and junketed about Saxony, the Netherlands, Italy, and Austria before embarking for England in 1707. He there found himself Marlborough's rival in military glory, the pet of the Tories and the despair of the Whigs.
	In the spring of 1709 Lady Peterborough died "of a quinsy" [acute inflammation of the tonsils]. The following year both his sons succumbed to smallpox. He was stunned by the disasters, but still had the spirit to keep up a running quarrel with the Marlboroughs. They were dropped from Queen  Anne's favour that year, and the Tories came into their own. Somewhat embarrassed by Peterborough, the Tories appointed him ambassador abroad [to Vienna] to get rid of him. Before he sailed he was accosted by a London mob which mistook him for the unpopular Marlborough, who gossip said had lined his pockets with war profits. But the earl's quips to the crowd and scattering five sovereigns among them soon convinced them of his identity, and he was cheered aboard.
	In Verona the aging and still tempestuous earl met Anastasia Robinson, who was then living with her family there. He travelled back with the Robinsons to England at the beginning of 1713.
	On the death of Queen Anne, the Whig government of her successor, King George I, had no use for him. For years he was abroad rushing from place to place although no records of his adventures have been preserved, except his imprisonment by Papal guards for suspicious conduct in 1717. His blazing anger was only appeased when the British government was given a reluctant apology by the Pope.
	Since the loss of official employment Peterborough had been paying court to Anastasia Robinson. Her father was a painter of good family who had settled in Italy to study art. After their return to England in 1713 his sight had failed and Anastasia had become a concert singer of considerable acclaim. She insisted that her favours could only be won via the altar. For a long time he could not bring himself to marry, but in the spring of 1722 he proposed. She accepted, even on his condition that their marriage should not be announced until "more convenient".
	For a year or more she continued on the stage and thereafter patiently bore the ignominy of being counted his mistress. It was only shortly before his death at Lisbon in 1735, at 77, that he allowed her to reveal the secret of their marriage.
	Three further anecdotes relating to Peterborough are to be found in Chambers' Book of Days under October 25th:-
	He was courting a young lady who was remarkably fond of birds, and had taken a fancy to an uncommonly fine canary which belonged to a widow, the keeper of a coffee house at Charing Cross. She besought Peterborough, then Lord Charles Mordaunt [sic], to procure for her, as a pledge of his affection, this unrivalled songster.
	He offered, accordingly, an enormous sum to its owner, who, however, was so much attached to it, that she refused to part with it at any price. Determined to gain the prize, he contrived to obtain another bird, of the same size and colour, but a hen, and totally tuneless. The coveted bird was almost never allowed out of sight of its mistress, who sat behind the bar of the coffee house; but one day Peterborough succeeded in getting her out of the way on some pretext, and made use of the opportunity to effect an exchange of the canaries. This was about the time of James II's expulsion. After the Revolution, Peterborough happened to be visiting the coffee house where he had committed the fraud, and ventured to remark to the landlady: "I would have bought that bird of yours, and you refused my money for it; I daresay you are by this time sorry for it." "Indeed, sir," she replied, "I am not, nor would I now take any money for him; for would you believe it? From the time that our good king was forced to go abroad and leave us, the dear creature has not sung a note!"
	When stationed at the town of Huete, he learned that a very beautiful young lady had just taken refuge there, in a convent. Peterborough was determined to get a sight of this celebrated fair one, but he was well known as a gay Lothario, and the strictness of the lady abbess would have opposed an effectual bar to the gratification of his wishes. Procuring the attendance, then, of an engineer officer, he proceeded with him to the convent, and demanded admission, for the purpose of tracing out a line of defences in the garden, preparatory to converting the place into a fort for protecting his position at Huete. The lady abbess and her nuns, including the object of Peterborough's curiosity, rushed out in an agony of terror, and besought him to spare their convent. It would seem that the great general was not inexorable, and the construction of the fort was indefinitely postponed. Whether the real purpose of the ruse was ever discovered by the fair nun whose beauty prompted the act, or how far she appreciated it, history does not record.
	A strong antipathy existed between Peterborough and the Duke of Marlborough. On one occasion, the former was surrounded by an angry mob who took him for the Duke, at that time rather unpopular. He ran a chance of receiving some violent usage, when he exclaimed "Gentlemen, I shall convince you by two good and sufficient reasons that I am not the Duke of Marlborough. First, I have only five guineas in my pocket; and, second, here they are at your service", suiting his action at the same time to the word, by scattering the money amongst the crowd. He was then allowed to depart amid loud huzzas, after having thus hurled an ingenious satire both at the wealth and avarice of the great commander.
	Philip Benedict Joseph Petre, 15th Baron Petre
	After succeeding to the title in June 1908, the 15th Baron enjoyed it for less than six months. The following report appeared in the Adelaide Advertiser on 12 January 1909:-
	The tragic death of Lord Petre, in modest apartments in North London, was disclosed on Monday by a notification to the Coroner for Central London. Lord Petre, who only came into the title last June, has a country seat at Ingatestone Hall, Ingatestone, Essex, and another at Brentwood, but he had somewhat eccentric ideas, and since he succeeded his brother in the title he occupied two rooms in Huntingdon-street, Barnsbury, a little distance off the Caledonian-road. It was in one of those rooms that he was found unconscious on Sunday afternoon shortly after midday. Dr. Jackson, who lives opposite, was at once brought over, but found his patient already dead from heart failure. A press representative obtained some interesting particulars of Lord Petre's obscure life in Barnsbury.
	The handsome, middle-aged gentleman, with the moustache turning grey (he was 45 years old) was known at the Huntingdon-street address simply as "Mr. Petre", and the people of the house only discovered by accident about a fortnight ago his real identity. A letter arriving by post addressed to "Lord Petre" gave the startling secret away. From all others, however, the fact was kept a profound secret. Nevertheless, a great deal of curiosity was felt about "Mr. Petre" in the neighbourhood, gossip being chiefly stimulated by the magnificent motor landau that called regularly for him every morning at half-past 10. It is not customary for Barnsbury boarders to keep big motor cars on daily hire. Where he went in the motor - sometimes accompanied by his valet and a friend and sometimes alone - none knew, but he generally remained away for the best part of the day.
	Another thing that aroused comment was the daily call of a local hairdresser to shave him in his own rooms. "Mr. Petre" was also addicted to extravagant acts of generosity. It was no uncommon thing for him to stop his car at sight of a poor woman, with a baby, selling matches in the gutter, astonish her with a present of a £5 note, and drive away without waiting to be thanked. Naturally the discovery of his secret, which has followed the announcement of his death, has created a great sensation in Huntingdon-street and the neighbourhood, a typical inner-London boarding-house district of small houses and little shops.
	The late peer has had a romantic career. He married twenty years ago a daughter of the late Mrs. Cavendish Taylor, once a famous American hostess in London, but some years ago he renounced Society, severing himself from all his old friends, and spending a roving life in England and America. It was in the West Indies that he caught the malarial fever that left him with the weak heart which caused his sudden death, and when he unexpectedly came into the barony last June his whereabouts were for some time undiscoverable by the family lawyers. The family is one of the oldest in England, sharing with the Duke of Norfolk the headship of the Catholic Church in England. The barony was created in 1603. The new peer is deceased's son, the Hon. Lionel George Carroll Petre, a lad of 17.
	At the subsequent inquest into Lord Petre's death, evidence was given that 'on Sunday last he rose as usual and went to the lavatory, taking with him a glass of whisky and soda. Half an hour later his hairdresser, who attended him every day, arrived. As Lord Petre did not appear the door of the lavatory was forced, and he was found dead.' The inquest returned a verdict of death from natural causes, the immediate cause being a blood-clot on the brain.
	Terence Conyngham Plunket, 6th Baron Plunket
	Plunket, together with his wife and the pilot, died in a plane crash on 24 February 1938. The following edited report appeared in the Los Angeles Times of 25 February 1938:-
	Lord Terence Conyngham Plunket [sic], 38-year-old member of the Irish Parliament, and his wife, Lady Plunket, lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth of England and [illegitimate] daughter of actress Fanny Ward [by the 7th Marquess of Londonderry], were killed instantly last night at San Simeon when a private airplane in which they rode crashed and burned.
	Pilot Tex Phillips, thrown clear of the wreckage, also died when the ship he sought to guide into the fog-bound airport at William Randolph Hearst's seacoast ranch smashed to earth a mile south of the landing field.
	[The] only one of four [on board] to escape instant death, James Lawrence, 34-year-old son of Sir Walter Lawrence of London, suffered serious burns and a broken leg. He was taken to San Luis Obispo Sanatorium, where surgeons said his condition is serious.
	The large, all-metal monoplane burst into roaring flames the moment it struck the ground, according to witnesses. Roy Summers, postmaster at San Simeon, heard the noise of the impact and rushed to the scene. He found Phillips dead, Lawrence staggering about in a daze, and the Plunkets trapped in the blazing cabin. Both, apparently, were killed instantly.
	In good weather and carrying instruments for blind-flying, the aircraft, which belongs to the newspaper publisher's aerial fleet, left Union Air Terminal, Burbank, at 2.40 p.m. with Phillips at the controls. The 150-mile flight took them slightly more than an hour.
	Apparently, reports indicated, Phillips was attempting the hazardous job of setting the metal-cabin monoplane down on the ranch airport in a blinding fog when the crash occurred.
	The Barony of [La] Poer, a subsidiary title of the Marquess of Waterford
	This peerage, although it certainly exists to the present day, appears to have been granted following an erroneous report from the Attorney General and Solicitor General of Ireland which considered that the Barony of La Poer was one created by writ.
	Catherine, Dowager Countess of Tyrone (widow of the 1st Earl) presented a claim on 4 April 1763 to the Barony of La Poer. The Irish House of Lords on 9 November 1767 decided that she "had fully proved her claim to the Barony of La Poer in fee and hath a right to the said Barony in fee" (my emphasis). This resolution was confirmed by King George III on 19 December 1767. Peerage works now consider that an entirely new peerage was created on either 9 November or 19 December 1767.
	The two following paragraphs appear in Cokayne's Complete Peerage under this title.
	Of this extremely anomalous Peerage (one which in point of fact could never have existed), viz, an Irish Barony "in fee", it is difficult to give any account other than it was allowed, 19 Dec. 1767, to the Dowager Countess of Tyrone and her heirs, as the "Barony of La Poer in fee by descent from her grandfather, Richard, who sat and voted in Parl. as Baron La Poer till 25 Car. II."
	From the Journals of the Irish House of Lords it appears that (1) that on 9 Nov. 1767, the claim was received "for the ancient Barony of La Poer" which the King on the 3rd of March previous had directed the Lord Lieutenant [I] to refer to the House, together with the report of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General thereon; (2) that on 16 Nov. 1767, it was "resolved that the Rt. Hon. Countess Dowager of Tyrone hath fully proved her claim to the Barony of La Poer and hath a right to the said Barony in fee; (3) that a letter, dated 19 Dec. 1767, from the Earl of Shelburne, one of the principal Secretaries of State, in respect to Lady Tyrone's "claim to the Barony of La Poer in fee, by descent from her grandfather Richard, who had sat and voted in Parl. as Baron La Poer till 25 Car, II [when] he was advanced to the title and dignity of Earl of Tyrone" confirms their Lordships' resolution thereon, and orders "that the said Catherine, Countess Dowager of Tyrone and her heirs, be allowed to enjoy all the rights and privileges belonging to the said Barony of La Poer." [It should be noted that the numbering of the regnal years of Charles II commence from the date of death of his father, Charles I, in 1649, rather than from the Restoration in 1660.]
	However, the Barony referred to above in which the Dowager Countess's grandfather sat and voted was that of "Power" created by patent in 1535 (qv). The date usually assigned to the earlier so called Barony of La Poer is 23 November 1375, being the date on which Nicholas Poer was first summoned to attend the Irish Parliament. Although such a writ of summons was sufficient to create a peerage in England, this writ did not create a peerage in Ireland.

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