The Dukes Read Free Page B

the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, dwindling to a handful of fresh creations in the nineteenth. The oldest of these is Hamilton, created by Charles I in 1643, and the prize for quantity must go to Charles II, who created twenty-six dukes, including five nephews, two mistresses, and six bastard sons as well as the unrelated Duke of Beaufort. Five of his creations survive. Of the others which continue today, William and Mary are responsible for Bedford (1694), Devonshire (1694) and Argyll (1701). Queen Anne created Marlborough (1702), Rutland (1703), Atholl (1703), Montrose (1707), Roxburghe (1707), and Brandon (1711); George I created Portland (1716) and Manchester (1719); George II, Newcastle (1756). The Dukes of Northumberland and Leinster were both created in 1766 by George III, who honoured Wellington in 1814. William IV created only one duke, Sutherland in 1833, while Queen Victoria introduced four new creations, Abercorn (1868), Westminster (1874), Gordon (11876) and Fife (1889), plus two duplications in Argyll (1892) and Fife again (1900). It is common knowledge that Winston Churchill was offered a dukedom by the present Queen, but respectfully declined.
    In all, less than 500 individuals have had the right to call them­selves Duke (or suo jure Duchess) in the 651 years since the first creation. 7
    The titles chosen do not always bear a close relation to the county or town where the grantee lives or holds land. The Duke of Devon­shire, for example, has no landholding in Devon, but 72,000 acres in Derbyshire. The Duke of Norfolk has property in Sheffield and land in Sussex and Yorkshire, but precious little in Norfolk. The Duke of Richmond's land is in Sussex, and the Duke of Rutland's in Nottinghamshire. The Duke of St Albans had nothing to do with the town of that name, and the Duke of Sutherland owns not an acre in that county. The Duke of Manchester has hardly been near Manchester. On the other hand, the Dukes of Northumberland, Bedford, Argyll, Atholl, Roxburghe, are all firmly seated in the counties from which they take their titles, and Westminster in the City which his ancestors made so elegant.
    Further complications arise when you consider that there is not one peerage system into which these twenty-six individuals fit, but five. There used to be just three separate peerages - of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland - until the union of England and Scotland in 1707, forming Great Britain and establishing peers of that new entity, and then the union of Great Britain and Ireland, forming the United Kingdom in 1801, giving us a fifth peerage. It may help to have a list showing how the dukes divide :
Dukes of England
 
Norfolk
(1483)
Somerset
(1547)
Richmond
(1675)
Grafton
(1675)
Beaufort
(1682)
St Albans
(1684)
Bedford
(1694)
Devonshire
(1694)
Marlborough
(1702)
Rutland
(1703)
Dukes of Scotland
 
Hamilton
(1643)
Buccleuch
(1663)
                   Argyll                                                (1701)
                  Atholl                                                 (1703)
                  Montrose                                            (1707)
                  Roxburghe                                        (1707)
    ( plus Lennox, 1675, and Queensberry, 1684, held respectively by the Dukes of Richmond and Buccleuch).
    Dukes of Great Britain
    Portland                                              (1716)
    Manchester                                          (1719)
    Newcastle                                           (1756
    Northumberland                                  (1766
    (plus Brandon, 1711, held by the Duke of