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Peerage of Ireland
Peerage of Ireland
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The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in
their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland.[note 1] The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century.
The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. As of 2016,
there were 135 titles in the Peerage of Ireland extant: two dukedoms, ten marquessates, 43
earldoms, 28 viscountcies, and 52 baronies. The Crown of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland continues to exercise jurisdiction over the Peerage of Ireland,
including those peers whose titles derive from places located in what is now the Republic of
Ireland.[1] Article 40.2 of the Constitution of Ireland forbids the state conferring titles of
nobility and a citizen may not accept titles of nobility or honour except with the prior
approval of the Government.[2] As stated above, this issue does not arise in respect of the
Peerage of Ireland, as no creations of titles in it have been made since the Constitution came
into force.
In the following table, each peer is listed only by his or her highest Irish title, showing higher
or equal titles in the other peerages. Those peers who are known by a higher title in one of the
other peerages are listed in italics.
Contents
1 History
2 Ranks
3 Dukes in the Peerage of Ireland
4 Marquesses in the Peerage of Ireland
5 Earls in the Peerage of Ireland
6 Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland
7 Barons in the Peerage of Ireland
8 Extinct peerages
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
History
Both before and after the Union, Irish peerages were often used as a way of creating peerages
which did not grant a seat in the English House of Lords and so allowed the grantee (such as
Clive of India) to sit in the House of Commons in London. As a consequence, many Irish
peers had little or no connection to Ireland, and indeed the names of some Irish peerages refer
to places in Great Britain (for example, the Earldom of Mexborough refers to a place in
England and the Earldom of Ranfurly refers to a village in Scotland). Irish peerages continued
to be created for almost a century after the Union, although the treaty of Union placed
restrictions on their numbers: three needed to become extinct before a new peerage could be
granted, until there were only one hundred Irish peers (exclusive of those who held any
peerage of Great Britain subsisting at the time of the union, or of the United Kingdom created
since the union)– a condition still not achieved. There was a spate of creations of Irish
peerages from 1797 onward, mostly peerages of higher ranks for existing Irish peers, as part
of the negotiation of the Act of Union; this ended in the first week of January 1801, but the
restrictions of the Act were not applied to the last few peers. Irish peerages were created in the
early nineteenth century at least as often as the Act permitted, but the pace then slowed.
The last two grants of Irish peerages were the promotion of the Marquess of Abercorn (a
peerage of Great Britain) to be Duke of Abercorn in the Irish Peerage when he became Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland in 1868 and the granting of the Curzon of Kedleston barony to George
Curzon when he became Viceroy of India in 1898. Peers of Ireland have precedence below
peers of England, Scotland, and Great Britain of the same rank, and above peers of the United
Kingdom of the same rank; but Irish peers created after 1801 yield to United Kingdom peers
of earlier creation. Accordingly, the Duke of Abercorn (the junior Duke in the Peerage of
Ireland) ranks between the Duke of Sutherland and the Duke of Westminster (both dukes in
the Peerage of the United Kingdom).
When one of the Irish representative peers died, the Irish Peerage met to elect his
replacement; but the officers required to arrange this were abolished as part of the creation of
the Irish Free State. The existing representative peers kept their seats in the House of Lords,
but they have not been replaced. Since the death of Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey in
1961, none remains. The right of the Irish Peerage to elect representatives was abolished by
the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971.
Titles in the Peerage of the United Kingdom have also referred to places in Ireland, for
example Baron Arklow (created 1801 and 1881) or Baron Killarney (created 1892 and 1920).
Since partition, only places in Northern Ireland have been used, although the 1880 title
"Baron Mount Temple, of Mount Temple in the County of Sligo", was recreated in 1932 as
"Baron Mount Temple, of Lee in the County of Southampton".
Ranks
In the following table of the Peerage of Ireland as it currently stands,[4] each peer's highest
titles in each of the other peerages (if any) are also listed.
Irish peers possessed of titles in any of the other peerages (except Scotland, which only got
the right to an automatic seat in 1963, with the Peerage Act 1963) had automatic seats in the
House of Lords until 1999.
The Earl of Darnley inherited the Baron Clifton in the Peerage of England in 1722–1900 and
1937–1999 as the barony is in writ.
Kingdom of Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland
The Marquess of Duke of Leinster in Peerage of
3 March 1761
Kildare Ireland.
Earl of 1772–
Hillsborough 1999
Since
Baron Sandys
2013
King George III
Baron 1790–
Fisherwick 1999
The Marquess of
4 July 1791
Donegall [6]
Baron 1975–
Templemore 1999
29 December 1801–
The Marquess of Ely Baron Loftus
1800 1999
Subsidiary title.
Other Earldom or higher titles
Title Creation Monarch
House of Lords titles
Kingdom of Ireland
King Edward
The Earl of Kildare 14 May 1316 Duke of Leinster in Peerage of Ireland.
II
26 October
The Earl of Cork
1620
30 December
The Earl of Granard Baron Granard 1806–1999
1684
12 February
The Earl Winterton
1766
24 October
The Earl of Bective Marquess of Headfort in the Peerage of Ireland.
1766
1 December
The Earl of Roden
1771 King George
III
4 December
The Earl of Altamont Marquess of Sligo in the Peerage of Ireland.
1771
The Earl of
21 June 1785
Portarlington
The Earl of Mayo 24 June 1785
The Earl of
18 August 1789 Baron Grinstead 1815–1999
Enniskillen
The Earl of Ely 2 March 1794 Marquess of Ely in the Peerage of Ireland.
5 November
The Earl Conyngham Marquess Conyngham in the Peerage of Ireland.
1797
20 November
The Earl Belmore
1797
29 December
The Earl of Caledon
1800
5 February
The Earl of Kilmorey
1822
King George
5 February
The Earl of Listowel Baron Hare 1869–1999 IV
1822
Subsidiary title.
Kingdom of Ireland
19 February
The Viscount Downe Baron Dawnay 1897–1999
1681
The Viscount
10 Jul 1716
Molesworth
King George I
The Viscount
29 June 1717
Chetwynd
15 August
The Viscount Midleton Baron Brodrick 1796–1999
1717
20 August
The Viscount Boyne Baron Brancepeth 1866–1999
1717
14 September
The Viscount Gage Baron Gage 1790–1999
1720
15 August
The Viscount Sudley Earl of Arran in the Peerage of Ireland.
1758
Marquess of Headfort in the Peerage
The Viscount Headfort 12 April 1762
of Ireland.
The Viscount
18 July 1776
Southwell
6 January
The Viscount Erne Earl Erne in the Peerage of Ireland.
1781
8 January
The Viscount Lifford
1781
11 January
The Viscount Bangor
1781
13 January
The Viscount Mayo Earl of Mayo in the Peerage of Ireland.
1781
The Viscount
22 June 1785
Doneraile
6 December
The Viscount Belmore Earl Belmore in the Peerage of Ireland.
1789
The Viscount 6 December Marquess Conyngham in the Peerage
Conyngham 1789 of Ireland.
The Viscount
5 July 1791
Harberton
5 January
The Viscount Monck Baron Monck 1866–1999
1801
King George III
The Viscount Lorton 28 May 1806 Earl of Kingston in the Peerage of
Ireland.
The Viscount
15 January Earl of Listowel in the Peerage of
Ennismore and
1816 Ireland. The Prince Regent on
Listowel
behalf of King George
III
16 January
The Viscount Gort
1816
Subsidiary title.
Kingdom of Ireland
The Lord
1461
Trimlestown
The Lord
1541
Dunboyne
The Lord
1776
Newborough
The Lord
1776
Macdonald
The Lord
1792
Waterpark
The Lord
1796
Huntingfield
17 March
The Baron Hotham
1797
1 December
The Baron Crofton
1797
14 February
The Baron ffrench
1798
9 November 1885–
The Baron Henley Baron Northington
1799 1999
The Baron
31 July 1800
Clanmorris
The Baron
31 July 1800
Dunalley
The Baron
31 July 1800 Earl of Listowel in the Peerage of Ireland.
Ennismore
The Baron
31 July 1800
Langford
27 December
The Baron Norbury Earl of Norbury in the Peerage of Ireland.
1800
29 December
The Baron Erris Viscount Kingston in the Peerage of Ireland.
1800
21 December
The Baron Decies
1812
The Prince Regent
The Baron 24 December
on behalf of King
Castlemaine 1812
George III
28 August
The Baron Garvagh
1818
The Baron
1926–
Oranmore and 4 July 1836 Baron Mereworth Queen Victoria
1999
Browne
The Baron Bellew 10 July 1848
10
The Baron Fermoy September
1865
Extinct peerages
Two peerages have become extinct since the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999:
See also
List of Irish representative peers
Irish nobility, which distinguishes three groups of Irish nobility, the other two being:
o Gaelic nobility of Ireland
o Hiberno-Normans
Notes
1.
1. With the establishment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the separate title
"King of Ireland" ceased.
References
1.
The Marquess is the Hereditary Lord High Admiral of Lough Neagh and Hereditary Governor of
Carrickfergus Castle
7. The Baron is the Hereditary Lord Admiral of Malahide and the Adjacent Seas
External links
Courthope, William (editor) (1838). Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland: 22nd edition. London.
Lodge, John; Archdall, Mervyn (1789). The Peerage of Ireland: Volume I. Dublin: James
Moore.
Lodge, John; Archdall, Mervyn (1789). The Peerage of Ireland: Volume II. Dublin: James
Moore.
Kimber, Edward (1768). The Peerage of Ireland: Volume II. London: J Alman.
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Peerage of Ireland
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