Henry Radcliffe, 2nd Earl of Sussex

Henry Radcliffe, second earl of Sussex (c.1507–1557), was aged about thirty-five when his father died. He combined service to the crown with a regional interest in East Anglia and a close affinity to the Howard family. He accompanied Henry VIII to Calais and Boulogne to meet the French king François I in 1532 and was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of Anne Boleyn. In 1539 he was one of the commissioners given responsibility for the defence of the Norfolk coast and in the 1544 invasion of France commanded 100 footmen in the vanguard under Norfolk. He survived the disgrace of the Howards in 1547 and exercised his hereditary office of lord sewer at the coronation of Edward VI. In April 1551 he was made joint lord lieutenant of Norfolk, and was reappointed in May 1552 and May 1553.

Sussex gave important support to the coup which brought Princess Mary to the throne. At the time of Edward VI's death he was at Atleburgh in Suffolk. According to Robert Wingfield, the earl (who was conservative in religion) was immediately inclined to support the princess's claims, but was deterred by Lord Robert Dudley's telling him that Edward was still alive. He was persuaded to throw in his lot with Mary when his son Henry was captured by Sir John Huddleston with letters from his father to the council at Westminster. To protect his son Sussex now joined the princess at Kenninghall and raised a substantial body of men on her behalf. Presumably on the strength of his military experience he was made her commander-in-chief, ‘the queen's lieutenant and, as the proverb goes, her mouth and chin’ (MacCulloch, 261). On 17 May he was made a privy councillor, and in November he served as a commissioner at the trial of Lady Jane Grey. His rewards included the wardenship of the royal forests south of Trent and annuities worth about £300. In 1554 he was elected a knight of the Garter, and in 1556 lord lieutenant of Norfolk and Suffolk. But although Sussex was active in pursuing heretics in Norfolk, he did not always support royal policy. He opposed Mary's marriage to Philip (but later accepted a Habsburg pension) and upheld the position of Princess Elizabeth as the queen's heir presumptive. One of the councillors who escorted Elizabeth to the Tower in 1554, he is reported to have wept and warned his colleagues, ‘What will ye doe, my Lordes … She was a kinges daughter and is the queenes syster, and ye have no sufficient commyssyon so to do’ (Loach, 92).

Sussex married twice. His first wife, married before 21 May 1524, was Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Howard, second duke of Norfolk. They had three sons, Thomas Radcliffe and Henry Radcliffe, successively third and fourth earls, and Robert who predeceased his father. One of Anne Boleyn's attendants when Henry VIII met François I at Calais in 1532, Elizabeth died on 18 September 1534, and by 21 November 1538 her husband had remarried. Anne Radcliffe, countess of Sussex (d. 1579x82), was the daughter of Sir Philip Calthorp, a Norfolk landowner, and his second wife, Jane Blennerhassett. She and Sussex had three children: Egremont Radcliffe; Maud, who died young; and Frances, who married Sir Thomas Mildmay. But the relationship proved stormy, at least partly because of religious differences. Sussex's conservatism was not shared by his wife, who had a position in Queen Katherine Parr's household and shared the latter's evangelicalism—she was one of the queen's ladies whom Anne Askew was pressed to incriminate in 1546. But there seem to have been other differences. In 1552 the countess was in the Tower, charged with sorcery, and when she fled abroad after Mary's accession her husband divorced her; in November 1553 a bill was introduced into parliament ‘against the adulterous living of the late countess of Sussex’ (Loach, 71). The bill did not pass, nor did another in 1555 which would have deprived her of her jointure unless she came back to England and underwent purgation before a bishop. But she may have returned, for in the following year she acted as intermediary between the French ambassador and Princess Elizabeth, when the latter was contemplating flight abroad. In April 1557 she was in the Fleet prison, but the bill which finally passed in 1558 was somewhat more generous over her jointure than the abortive previous ones had been.

By then Sussex was dead, having described Anne in his will as ‘my unnaturall and unkynde devorsyd wiff’ (GEC, Peerage, 12/1.521 n. k). He died at Cannon Row, Westminster, on 17 February 1557 and was buried nine days later at St Laurence Pountney; but his remains, like those of his father, were later removed to Boreham. By 23 June 1559 his second countess had married Andrew Wyse, formerly vice-treasurer of Ireland, who was then in prison following his dismissal for maladministration in 1554. Her plea for his release may have been heeded, since Wyse returned to Ireland in 1564 as secretary to a commission of inquiry, and they had several children. He had died by 26 January 1568; his widow died between 22 August 1579 and 28 March 1582.

Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich

Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich (3 January 1647/48 - 29 November 1688) was born in Hinchinbrooke, Huntingdon, to Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich and Jemima Crew. He was styled Viscount Hinchinbrooke from 1660 until his accession in 1672. He married Lady Anne Boyle, daughter of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork and Elizabeth Clifford, 2nd Baroness Clifford. They had three children: Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich, Richard Montagu and Elizabeth Montagu.

In 1681 he was to be appointed Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon upon his return from abroad, but he never took up the office, which was exercised successively by Robert Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury, and Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury. The 1st Earl also exercised for him, in the same fashion, the office of Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 1685 but the appointment was rescinded after Ailesbury's death the same year.

Henry Rich, Earl Holland

Baptised at the church of Stratford-le-Bow, London, on 19 Aug 1590, he was second son of Robert, first Earl of Warwick, by his wife, Penelope Devereux. Robert Rich, second Earl of Warwick, was his elder brother. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, was knighted on 3 Jun 1610, and was elected M.P. for Leicester in 1610 and 1614. In 1610 he served as a gentleman volunteer at the siege of Juliers. Rich was more qualified to succeed as a courtier than as a soldier, and his handsome person and winning manners made his rise rapid: 'His features and pleasant aspect equalled the most beautiful women'. From the first James regarded him with favour which sometimes found expression in gifts of money, sometimes in unpleasing caresses. He was made gentleman of the bedchamber to Charles, Prince of Wales, and on 5 Nov 1617 captain of the yeomen of the guard.

On 8 Mar 1623 he was created Baron Kensington that title being selected because he had married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Walter Cope of Kensington. In Feb 1624 he was sent to Paris to sound the French court on the question of a marriage between Prince Charles and the Princess Henrietta Maria. He proved acceptable to the Queen mother and the court, sent home glowing descriptions of the beauty of the princess and made love as the prince's representative with great spirit and fluency. On his own account he also made love to Madame de Chevreuse. But when it came to drawing up a marriage treaty, Kensington showed his incapacity to deal with the political questions raised by the alliance which was to accompany the match. He was 'careless of any considerations beyond the success of the marriage' and willing to comply with the demand of the French for an engagement to tolerate the English catholics though well aware that the King was pledged against it. His letters contrast most unfavourably with those of Carlisle his partner in the embassy. As a reward for his pliability to Buckingham's wishes he was raised to the rank of Earl of Holland (15 Sep 1624). He was again sent to Paris (conjointly with Sir Dudley Carleton) in 1625 to negotiate a peace between Louis XIII and the Huguenots, and in the same year accompanied Buckingham on a mission to the Netherlands.

He was elected K.G. on 13 Dec 1625. In Oct 1627 Holland was placed in command of the fleet and army which were to reinforce Buckingham at the Ile of Ré but contrary weather and want of money prevented his sailing and, when he did start, he met Buckingham's defeated force returning. He was severely blamed for the delay but it was rather due to the general disorganisation of the government than to his remissness. On Buckingham's death Holland was chosen to succeed him as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. On 28 Mar 1628 he was appointed, for life, Governor and Captain of Harwich and Landguard point. He was also (Sep - Nov 1628) Master of the Horse and was appointed Constable of Windsor (27 Oct 1629) and High Steward to the Queen (1 Dec 1629).

Like his brother, the Earl of Warwick, Holland took part in colonisation. He was the first governor of the Providence Company (4 Dec 1630) and one of the lords proprietors of Newfoundland (13 Nov 1637). But he preferred monopolies and crown grants as a quicker method of increasing his fortune. On 15 May 1631 he was created chief justice in Eyre south of Trent and became thus associated with one of the most unpopular acts of the reign - the revival of the obsolete forest laws. Holland used his position at court and his influence with the Queen to cabal against the King's ministers. He intrigued against the pacific and pro-Spanish policy of Portland and challenged his son, Jerome Weston, to a duel. For a few days the King placed him under arrest and he was obliged to make a submissive apology, though the Queen's intercession saved him from severer punishment on 13 Apr 1633.

As chancellor of Cambridge he did nothing to enforce uniformity and resisted, though without success, Laud's claim to visit the university as metropolitan. With Strafford he was on still worse terms. They exchanged frigid complimentary letters but the opponents of the lord deputy habitually looked to Holland for support. Over Sir Piers Crosby's case they had an open quarrel, caused by Holland's refusal to be examined as a witness, and embittered still further by the slanders which Holland circulated against Strafford. In letters to intimate friends Strafford wrote of Holland with well-deserved contempt.

In 1636 Holland hoped to be appointed lord high admiral but was given the more appropriate post of groom of the stole and first lord of the bedchamber. By the Queen's influence, however, he was made general of the horse (2 Feb 1639) in place of the much more capable Essex. His sole exploit was the unlucky march to Kelso and the hasty retreat thence (3 June 1639) whereby he covered himself and the King's army with ridicule but whether he was really to blame for the failure may be doubted and the imputations on his courage were undeserved. His command also involved him in a quarrel with the Earl of Newcastle which the intervention of the King prevented from ending in a duel.

In the second Scottish war Conway was appointed general of the horse instead of Holland. The latter's animosity to Strafford and the King's chief ministers and the suspicion that he inclined too much to the party which desired peace with the Scots were apparently the causes.

In the Privy Council on 5 May 1640 he backed Northumberland in opposing the dissolution of the Short Parliament.

During the early part of the Long Parliament he acted with the popular party among the peers and gave evidence against Strafford though aiming at his exclusion from office not at his death. The Queen, whose favour he had lost for a time, won him back with the promise of the command of the army and on 16 Apr 1641 he was made Captain General north of the Trent. He carried out the business of disbanding the army with success but the refusal of the King to grant him the nomination of a new baron reopened the breach between him and the court. Holland wrote to Essex hinting plainly that Charles was still tampering with the officers. When the King, in Jan 1642, left Whitehall Holland, though still groom of the stole, refused to attend his master and declined to obey a later summons to York (23 Mar 1642).

On 12 Apr 1642 Lord Falkland by the King's command obliged him to surrender the key which was the ensign of his office. This deprivation was instigated by the Queen. She had contracted so great an indignation against Holland, whose ingratitude towards her was very odious, that she had said 'she would never live in the court if he kept his place'. In Mar and Jul 1642 the Parliament chose Holland to bear its declarations to the King but in each case Charles received him with pointed disfavour by which the Earl 'was transported from his natural temper and gentleness into passion and animosity against the King and his ministers'.

He was one of the committee of safety appointed by parliament on 4 Jul 1642. After Edgehill he made two exhortations to the citizens of London, one urging them to defend the city and another on 10 Nov about the proposed negotiations with Charles.

At Turnham Green on 13 Nov he appeared in arms himself, marshalled Essex's army and is credited with dissuading that general from fighting. During the early part of 1643 Holland was one of the leaders of the peace party in the Lords and in Aug he endeavoured to induce Essex to back the peace propositions with the weight of the army. When this plan failed he made his way to the King's quarters, confidently expecting to be received back into favour and restored at once to his old office of groom of the stole. In the privy council, however, only Hyde and one other were in favour of giving him a gracious reception, the rest exaggerated his ingratitude and the King himself complained with bitterness that Holland made no attempt to apologise for his past misconduct. Therefore, though he attended the King to the siege of Gloucester and charged in the King's regiment of horse at the first battle of Newbury, Charles gave the post he desired to the Marquis of Hertford and, finding that there was nothing to be gained at Oxford, Holland returned to London. The House of Lords had him arrested, but, as he had returned at the special invitation of Essex, they readmitted him to sit (13 Jan 1644) and persuaded the Commons to release his estates from sequestration. To the kingdom at large Holland explained that he found the court too indisposed to peace and the papists too powerful there for a patriot of his type. The Commons were less easily satisfied than the Lords and obliged the upper house to pass an ordinance disabling the peers who had deserted the parliamentary cause from exercising their legislative powers during the existing parliament without the assent of both houses. An ordinance for the readmission of Holland and two other deserters was brought forward in 1646 but failed to pass the second reading.

In Dec 1645 Holland petitioned parliament for some pecuniary compensation for the losses which the civil war, and his adherence to the parliamentary party, had entailed upon him. His office of first gentleman of the bedchamber had been worth £1,600 a year, he had lost also two pensions of £2,000 a year apiece, a share in the customs on coal worth £1,300 a year and a legal office worth £2,000 a year besides smaller salaries as chief justice in Eyre and Constable of Windsor. Moreover the King owed him £30,000. The Commons, however, laid aside the petition and negatived a proposal to give him a pension of £1,000.

Under these circumstances Holland turned once more to the King's side. In September 1645 he had endeavoured to mediate between the Scottish commissioners and the English presbyterian leaders, suggesting to the French agent, Montreuil, that the King should take refuge in the Scottish army. He was also one of the authors of the scheme of settlement put forward by the presbyterian peers in Jan 1647. When the second civil war began he resolved to redeem his past faults by taking up arms for the King. He procured a commission as general from the Prince of Wales and proceeded to issue commissions to royalist officers. Lady Carlisle pawned her pearl necklace to supply him with funds and through her he carried on a correspondence with Lauderdale and Lanark.

On 4 Jul Holland left London and the next day appeared in arms at Kingston intending to raise the siege of Colchester. He issued a declaration asserting that he sought a personal treaty between Charles and the Parliament, a cessation of arms during the treaty and the restoration of the King to his just regal authority. Holland's preparations had been made with so little secrecy that they had no chance of success nor could he get together more than six hundred men. On 7 Jul he was defeated by Sir Michael Livesey near Kingston, on 10 Jul what remained of his forces were surprised at St. Neots by Colonel Scroope and Holland was sent prisoner to Warwick Castle.

On 18 Nov the two houses agreed that he and six others should be punished by banishment but the army resolved that the authors of the second civil war should not be allowed to escape and on 3 Feb 1649 a high court of justice was erected to try Holland and other culprits. The proceedings opened on 10 Feb, Holland pleaded that his captor had given him quarter for life but, his plea having been overruled by the court, he was sentenced to death 6 Mar. Fairfax interceded for Holland and Warwick used all his influence to save his life, nevertheless, Parliament, by 31 to 30 votes, refused to reprieve him. On 9 Mar he was beheaded in company with the Duke of Hamilton and Arthur, Lord Capel.

On the scaffold Holland made a long and rambling speech protesting his fidelity to the Protestant religion, to Parliaments and the innocency of his intentions in his late attempt. 'God be praised, although my blood comes to be shed here, there was scarcely a drop of blood shed in that action I was engaged in'.

Holland left a son Robert, who became in 1673 fifth Earl of Warwick. Of his daughters, Isabella married Sir James Thynne, Frances married William, Lord Paget, Mary married John Campbell, third Earl of Breadalbane and Susan, James Howard, third Earl of Suffolk.

A doubtful portrait of Holland was No. 95 in the Vandyck exhibition of 1886. Engraved portraits are contained in 'Tragicum Theatrum Londini celebratum,' 1649, 12mo (p. 232), and in Houbraken's 'Heads of Illustrious Persons'.

Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke KG, (1534 - January 19 1601) was a statesman of the Elizabethan era. He was the son of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Anne Parr. He was married to Catherine Grey in May 1553 in a political match arranged by their parents. The couple probably had their marriage annulled in 1554 when Mary rose to the throne.

His second wife was Catherine Talbot, daughter of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife Gertrude Manners, daughter of Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland.

His third wife was the former Mary Sidney. His children included William and Philip who both were Earl of Pembroke after their father.

The armour of Henry Herbert is now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Arms and Armour galleries. It was made in 1580 at the Greenwich armoury, a royal workshop founded by Henry VIII to produce armour for the English nobility, chiefly Henry, without having to commission it from overseas.

During the 1590s he was patron of Pembroke's Men, a theatre company who were the first group to perform a number of plays including Henry VI, part 1, by William Shakespeare and The Isle of Dogs by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson.

Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby

His father had been summoned to Parliament as Lord Strange in 1482 in right of his wife, but predeceased his father. Derby succeeded his grandfather in the earldom and barony of Stanley in 1504 and in 1514 he also inherited the baronies of Strange and Mohun from his mother. He married Anne Hastings, daughter of Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings, in circa 1507.

Lord Derby died in May 1521 and was succeeded in his titles by his son Edward. His line of the Stanley family failed on the death of James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, in 1736, when the Earldom passed on to a descendant of his younger brother Sir James Stanley, who founded the branch of the family known as the "Stanleys of Bickerstaffe".

Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle

Edward, 2nd Earl of Carlisle, sat as a Whig MP in the House of Commons from 1666-85, and he was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland and Governor of Carlisle.

William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire

William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire KG, PC, (1672 –  4 June 1729) was a British politician, the eldest son of William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire and Lady Mary Butler. 

A prominent Whig, he was sworn of the Privy Council in 1707 and served as Lord President of the Council from 1716 to 1717 and 1725 to 1729. He married The Hon. Rachel Russell (1674– 1725), daughter of William, Lord Russell, on 21 June 1688.

John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater

John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater PC, (30 May 1623 – 26 October 1686) was a son of John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater and his wife Lady Frances Stanley. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, and his wife Alice Spencer.

According to the will of Henry VIII, his mother, at one time, was second-in-line to inherit England's throne. However, Lady Frances Stanley's older sister, Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven, was passed over for James VI of Scotland.

He served as Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (1660–1686), Cheshire (1670–1676), Lancashire (1670–1676), and Hertfordshire (1681–1686), in addition to being invested as a Privy Councillor in 1679. He was buried in Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire.

In 1641 he married Elizabeth Cavendish (1626–1663), a daughter of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle and his first wife Elizabeth Basset. They had four children:

* John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater (9 November 1646 - 19 March 1701). 

* William Egerton (born 15 August 1649). He married Honora Leigh.
* Thomas Egerton of Tatton Park.
* Elizabeth Egerton (24 August 1653 - 1709). Married Robert Sidney, 4th Earl of Leicester.

Like his father, the second Earl combined prudence with loyalty, suffering little or nothing under the Commonwealth, and dying in 1686 Lord-Lieutenant of four counties - Lancashire among them. The author of Comus and the personator of the Elder Brother diverged in their politics, and any connection - probably there was none - that may have existed between Milton and the Egertons was dissolved by the poet's fervid espousal of the popular cause. The late Earl of Ellesmere (the literary and art-loving Earl) possessed a copy of Milton's Defensio pro populo Anglicano which had belonged to this second Earl of Bridgewater, and on the title-page of which the loyal nobleman had written: Liber z,,ne, auclorfured dt,,,nissi.vii:-"A book richly deserving to be burned, and its author to be hanged." He was "a learned man," was this original personator of the Elder Brother in Comus,-"delighted much in his library," in which, as has been seen, was a copy of Milton's Defensio, and among the honours conferred upon him was the High Stewardship of the University of Oxford. One composition of his, though not of a literary kind, survives, and is printed in the History of Ashridge by Todd, who was also the editor and biographer of Alilton. It consists of a series of detailed instructions for the management of his household, and testifies to the careful and orderly, nay, almost prince-like, organisation of a great English nobleman's establishment in the seventeenth century, as well as to the precise and rigorous character of this particular Lord of Ashridge who had played the part of the Elder Brother in Comus, and who thought its author worthy of the gallows.

At Ashridge there are domestic functionaries of every kind and degree, and each of them is copiously instructed by my Lord how to conduct himself, from "the steward," "the gentleman of my horse," "my gentleman usher," down to "the porter" and the clerk of the kitchen,"who is admonished to curb the wasteful expense of butter." On the other hand, among the "orders for the huisher -  usher - "of my hall" is one conceived in a liberal spirit, and smacking pleasantly of the olden time. He is bidden "Gather together the broken meate that remaynes after meales, and carry it to the gate, that there it may be, by himselfe and the porter, distributed among the poore." "June 24, 1652. These are the orders which I require and command to be observed by all the servants in my family in their several and respective degrees.-J. BRIDGWATER."
 

Ashridge

George Granville Sutherland-Leveson Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland

At the time of the Crimean War it was a matter of honour for highland chiefs to raise troops from their own lands. George, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland and son of the Countess Elizabeth and the greatest landowner of all, unbelievably appointed as his recruiting agent, the very same James Loch who had organized the clearances in his parent's time. Not a single man enlisted. In an attempt to avoid humiliation, the Duke came north in person to address a packed meeting of the clan at Golspie. He warned the men of the Russian menace, reminded them of their great service in the past and invited them to enroll on the spot. Again there was no response until an old clansman stepped forward to say, "I am sorry for the reception your Grace's proposals are meeting here. But there is a cause for it. It is the opinion of this county that should the Czar of Russia take possession of Dunrobin Castle, we would not expect worse treatment at his hands than we have experienced in the hands of your family for the last 50 years. But one comfort you have. Though you cannot find men to fight, you can supply those who do fight with plenty of mutton and beef." Of course the resentment was not universal, nor did it last forever. The very same 93rd Regiment to which the Duke tried to recruit his men won great honor as "The Thin Red Line" at Balaclava soon afterwards, with many Sutherland men among the heroes.

The 2nd Duke of Sutherland assumed the additional name of Sutherland, making the surname Sutherland-Leveson-Gower. His wife, Duchess Harriet, was a Carlisle Howard and Mistress of Robes to Queen Victoria. It was the 2nd Duke who commissioned Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament, to transform Dunrobin from a traditional Scottish Castle into a vast palace in Franco-Scots style. Barry encased the ancient parts and added all the main rooms now seen by the public. This architect also worked on the Duke's houses of Cliveden in Buckinghamshire and Trentham Hall in Staffordshire.

Dunrobin Castle

Cliveden

Trentham Hall

William Parr, Marquess of Northampton

 

William Parr, Marquess of Northampton and Earl of Essex KG (c. 1512-28 October 1571), was the son of Sir Thomas Parr and his wife, Maud Green, daughter of Sir Thomas Green, of Broughton and Green's Norton, and brother of Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII.

On 9 February 1526 William married Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier, daughter of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex. On 17 April 1543 their marriage was annulled by an Act of Parliament and her children were declared illegitimate.

He later married Elisabeth Brooke, daughter of George Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham.

Their marriage was declared valid in 1548, invalid in 1553, and valid again in 1558.

He was Edward VI's 'beloved uncle' and one of the most important men at Edward's court, especially during the time of John Dudley's, the Duke of Northumberland, time as leader of the government. Parr, and especially his wife, were leaders in the plot to put Jane Grey on the throne after Edward's death.

Five months before he died, he married Helena Snakenborg, a lady in waiting, who was from Sweden.

He was created Baron Parr of Kendal in 1539, Earl of Essex in 1543 and Marquess of Northampton in 1547. He was stripped of these title by Mary in 1553 but they were restored by Elizabeth  in 1559. On his death, as he had no legitimate children, the titles became extinct.

Sir Thomas Clifford, Baron Chudleigh

Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1 August 1630 - 17 October 1673), English statesman and politician, was created the first Baron Clifford of Chudleigh on April 22 1672 for his suggestion that the King supply himself with money by stopping, for one year, all payments out of the Exchequer.

He was born in Ugbrooke, the son of Hugh Clifford of Chudleigh, Devon, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir George Chudleigh, Bt. He was baptised 4 August 1630 at Ugbrooke and matriculated at Exeter College (Oxford), receiving his B.A. there in 1650.

He became a barrister of the Middle Temple and an MP for Totnes in 1660-1672. He distinguished himself in naval battles and was knighted. He became Comptroller of the Household in 1666 and a member of the Privy Council. At the end of the Dutch war in 1669 he intrigued against the peace treaty, preferring the French interests. He was one of the five Counsellors who formed the Cabal, although he was probably the least important of them.

He was Lord High Treasurer from 28 November 1672 to June 1673, when, as a Roman Catholic, he found himself unable to comply with the Test Act and resigned.

He died by his own hand (perhaps "strangled with his cravat upon the bed-tester") a few months after his retirement.

He married Elizabeth Martin, who died in 1709. She was the daughter of Richard (William) Martin of Lindridge, Devon.

They had fifteen children, eight of whom were daughters:

1.      Elizabeth, born before 1655, died as an infant.

2.      Elizabeth b. 1655 d. 1677, married Henry Carew, 2nd   Baronet Carew of Haccombe. They had no issue.

3.      Mary, born 1658, died October 9 1715, married in 1673 Sir Simon Leach  of Cadeleigh. They had no issue.

4.      Amy, born 1661, married in October 1681 John Courtenay of  Molland.  They had no issue.

5.      Anne, born 1662, died 1678.

6.      Rhoda, born 1665, died 1689.

7.      Isabel Clifford, born between 1665 and 1669, died as an infant.

8.      Catherine Clifford, born 1670, died 1708.

And their sons were:

1.      Thomas, born before 1652, died as an infant.

2.      Thomas, born before 1652, died as an infant.

3.      Thomas, born on December 3 1652, died in 1671 in Florence, Italy.

4.      George, born between 1653 and 1662, died as an infant.

5.      Hugh, 2nd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1663-1730).

6.      Simon, born 1666, acceded in 1686.

7.      Charles, born 1671, baptized on June 24 1671, died on July 4 1691, buried in Ugbrooke.

Sir Richard Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor

Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor, (18 June 1731 - 5 August 1802) known as Sir Richard Grosvenor, 7th Baronet between 1755 and 1761 and as Lord Grosvenor between 1761 and 1784, was a British peer, racehorse owner and art collector. He was created Baron Grosvenor in 1761 and in 1784 became both Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor.

Richard Grosvenor was born at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, the elder son of Sir Robert Grosvenor, 6th Baronet. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, graduating MA in 1751 and DCL in 1754. He became Member of Parliament for Chester in 1754 and continued to represent the city until 1761, when he became Baron Grosvenor and was elevated to the House of Lords. He was mayor of Chester in 1759 and in 1769 he paid for the building of the East Gate in the city. Grosvenor extended his estate by the purchase of the village of Belgrave and the manor of Eccleston in 1769. He succeeded as 7th baronet on the death of his father in 1755.

Eaton Hall

On 19 July 1764 Grosvenor married Henrietta Vernon, daughter of Henry Vernon of Hilton Park, Staffordshire; they had four sons. However the marriage was not happy and Henrietta had an affair with Henry, Duke of Cumberland, the younger brother of George III. The couple were discovered in flagrante delicto in 1769, which led to Grosvenor bringing an action against the Duke for "criminal conversation" (that is, adultery). He was awarded damages of £10,000, which together with costs, amounted to an award of £13,000 (£1,430,000 as of 2010). But Grosvenor was also known to be guilty of adultery himself, so he could not sue for divorce. The couple separated and he settled an annual allowance of £1,200 (£130,000 as of 2010) on his estranged wife.

Initially Grosvenor was, like his father, a Tory but later he came to support the ideas of William Pitt the elder. In 1758 he declared himself in favour of the Pitt-Newcastle coalition and following this he was created Baron Grosvenor in 1761. However when the Tory Earl of Bute became Prime Minster the following year, Grosvenor changed his allegiance. Then, when Pitt was returned to power in the Chatham Ministry of 1766-68 Grosvenor returned to support him. During the 1770s he supported North during the American War of Independence. He voted against Fox's India Bill in 1783 and was rewarded by William Pitt the Younger with title of Earl Grosvenor the following year.

Otherwise Grosvenor was interested in the acquisition of art and in horse racing. He was also the principal patron of the satirist and journalist William Gifford. For his art collection he acquired works from Italy, and also bought paintings from Benjamin West (including his painting of The Death of General Wolfe), Thomas Gainsborough, Richard Wilson and George Stubbs. In 1788 a collection of literary pieces composed at Eaton was published as The Eaton Chronicle, or The Salt-Box. In order to breed his race horses Grosvenor established studs at Wallasey and at Eaton. His horses won the Derby on three occasions and the Oaks six times.

Grosvenor died at Earls Court in 1802 and was buried in the family vault at St Mary's Church, Eccleston. His assets amounted to "under £70,000" (£5,160,000 as of 2010), but his debts were "over £100,000" (£7,370,000 as of 2010). He was succeeded at Eaton Hall by his eldest son Robert.

Granville Leveson-Gower, "nd Earl Gower, Marquess of Stafford

Granville served as British ambassador to Russia (1804-1807) and France (1824-1828, 1830-1835, 1835-1841).

The Earl and Countess Granville threw events that were often the toast of Parisian society while he was a British diplomat.

Lord Granville, prior to marrying Lady Harriet Cavendish, was the lover of Lady Harriet's maternal aunt, Henrietta Frances Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, nee Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, with whom he fathered two illegitimate children:

Harriet Stewart and George Stewart.

He was created Viscount Granville in 1815 and Earl Granville in 1833.

 
He had one son by Lady Harriet: Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville. He also had two daughters by Lady Harriet: 

Susan and Georgiana, who both received the title of Lady after he became an Earl.

Susan married Baron Rivers.

Georgiana married Alexander Fullerton. She was a biographer, novelist and great philanthopist.

Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter

The elder of William, Lord Burghley's, sons, Thomas was created an Earl in 1605. He was a successful and respected soldier, a well-travelled collector of fine art and an able builder. He built Wothorpe House; at the time probably the grandest hunting lodge in England.

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, KG (5 May 1542 - 8 February 1623), known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician and soldier.

Exeter was the eldest son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and the half-brother of Robert Cecil. He served in government under Elizabeth I, first serving in the House of Commons in 1563 and representing various constituencies for most of the time from then until 1593. He was knighted in 1575. His father's death in 1598 brought him a seat in the House of Lords, the 2nd Lord Burghley, as he then was, served from 1599 to 1603 as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire and Lord President of the Council of the North. It was during this period that Elizabeth made him a Knight of the Garter in 1601. He was created Earl of Exeter on 4 May 1605, the same day his half-brother Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cranborne was created 1st Earl of Salisbury. Unlike his brother, however, he did not become a Government minister under James I.

The Cecil family fostered arts; they supported musicians such as William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Robinson. The latter, in his youth, was in the service of Thomas Cecil.

Thomas Cecil married Dorothy Neville, the daughter of John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer by his wife Lucy Somerset daughter of Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester.

By his wife, Thomas Cecil had eleven children:

* William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter

* Catherine Cecil

* Lucy Cecil, married William Paulet, 4th

  Marquess of Winchester

* Mildred Cecil

* Sir Richard Cecil of Wakerley

* Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon

* Mary Cecil married Edward Denny, 1st Earl of

  Norwich

* Dorothy Cecil

* Elizabeth Cecil

* Thomas Cecil, Esq

* Frances Cecil married Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl

  of Thanet

Lord Exeter is buried in a tomb in the warrior chapel at St Mary's church in Wimbledon village.

Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle

In 1645 he became a Protestant and supported the government of the commonwealth, being appointed high sheriff  of Cumberland in 1650. He bought Carlisle Castle and became governor of the town. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Worcester on Cromwell's side, was made a member of the council of state in 1653, chosen captain of the protector's body-guard and selected to carry out various public duties.

In 1655 he was given a regiment, was appointed a commissioner to try the northern rebels and a deputy major-general of Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumberland. In the parliament of 1653 he sat for Westmorland, in those of 1654 and 1656 for Cumberland. In 1657 he was included in Cromwell's House of Lords and voted for the protector's assumption of the royal title the same year. In 1659 he urged Richard Cromwell to defend his government by force against the army leaders, but his advice being refused he used his influence in favour of a restoration of the monarchy and, after Richard's fall, he was imprisoned. In April 1660 he sat again in parliament for Cumberland and at the Restoration was made custos rotulorum of Essex and Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland and Westmorland.

On April 20 1661 he was created Baron Dacre of Gillesland, Viscount Howard of Morpeth and Earl of Carlisle; the same year he was made vice-admiral of Northumberland, Cumberland and Durham, and in 1662 joint commissioner for the office of Earl Marshal. In 1663 he was appointed ambassador to Russia, Sweden and Denmark, and in 1668 he carried the Garter to Charles XI of Sweden.

In 1667 he was made lieutenant-general of the forces and joint commander-in-chief of the four northernmost counties. In 1672 he became Lord Lieutenant of Durham, and in 1673 deputy earl marshal. In 1678 he was appointed governor of Jamaica and reappointed governor of Carlisle. He died in 1685 and was buried in York Minster. He married Anne (d. 1696), daughter of Edward, 1st Lord Howard of Escrick; his eldest son Edward succeeded him as 2nd Earl of Carlisle. His daughter Mary wed Sir John Fenwick, a conspirator executed in 1697.

James Butler, Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde (October 19, 1610 - July 21, 1688), was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier. He is best known for his involvement in the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s, when he commanded the English Royalist forces in Ireland.
 
James Butler was the eldest son of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Poyntz, and the grandson of Walter, 11th Earl of Ormonde. The Butlers of Ormonde were an Old English dynasty who had dominated the southeast of Ireland since the Middle Ages. He was born in London.

On the death of his father by drowning in 1619, the boy was made a royal ward by James I, removed from his Roman Catholic tutor and placed in the household of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, with whom he stayed until 1625, when he went to live in Ireland with his grandfather. This was very important for Butler's future life, as it meant that, unlike almost all his relatives in the Ormonde dynasty, he was a Protestant. This made his relationship with the rest of his family and dependents somewhat strained, as they suffered from land confiscations and legal discrimination on account of their religion, while he did not.

In December 1629, he married his cousin, Lady Elizabeth Preston, daughter and heiress of Richard, Earl of Desmond, putting an end to the long-standing quarrel between the families and uniting their estates. In 1634, on the death of his grandfather, he succeeded to the Earldom.

Ormonde already had a reputation in Ireland. His active career began in 1633 with the arrival of the Earl of Strafford by whom he was treated with great favour. Writing to the king Strafford described Ormonde as "young, but take it from me, a very staid head" and Ormonde became Strafford's chief friend and supporter. Wentworth planned large scale confiscations of Catholic owned land something that Ormonde supported but which infuriated his relatives and drove many of them into opposition to Wentworth and ultimately into rebellion. In 1640, during Strafford's absence, he was made commander-in-chief of the forces and in August he was appointed lieutenant-general.

On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Ormonde found himself in command of government forces based in Dublin. Almost all the rest of the country was taken by the Catholic rebels, who included Ormonde's Butler relatives. However Ormonde's bonds of kinship were not entirely severed. His wife and children were escorted from rebel held Kilkenny to Dublin by Richard Butler, Lord Mountgarret (Ormonde's cousin).

Ormonde mounted several expeditions from Dublin to try to clear the surrounding area of rebel forces. First he relieved Naas and then the northern part of the Pale in 1642. The Lords justices, who suspected him because he was related to many of the Irish rebels, recalled him after he had succeeded in relieving Drogheda. He received the public thanks of the English Parliament and a jewel to the value of £620. On 15 April 1642 he won the battle of Kilrush against Lord Mountgarret. On 30 August 1642 he was created a Marquess and on 16 September 1642 was appointed lieutenant-general with a commission direct from the king.

On 18 March 1643 he won the Battle of Balinvegga against Thomas Preston, afterwards Viscount Tara. However, Ormonde was now in a very difficult situation. In September civil war broke out, leaving Ormonde without reinforcements from England. The Catholic rebels held two thirds of the country by this time. In addition Scots Covenanters in Ulster, who had landed an army there to put down the Irish rebellion in 1642, had sided with the English Parliament against the King.

Isolated in Dublin, Ormonde therefore agreed to a "cessation" or ceasefire with the Catholics, by which the greater part of Ireland was given up into the hands of the Irish Catholic Confederation, leaving only small districts on the east coast and round Cork, together with certain fortresses in the north and west in the possession of the English commanders. This truce was vehemently opposed by the Lords Justices and the Protestant community in general in Ireland.

Ormonde subsequently, by the king's orders, despatched a body of his troops into England to fight on the Royalist side in the Civil War there. These troops were shortly afterwards routed by Thomas Fairfax at the Battle of Nantwich (26 January 1644). Ormonde was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in January 1644, with the brief of preventing the King's Parliamentarian enemies from being reinforced from Ireland, while at the same time securing more troops to fight on the Royalist side in England. To these ends he had special instructions to do all in his power to keep the Scottish Covenanter army in the north of Ireland occupied. He was also given the King's authority to negotiate a Treaty with the Irish Confederates which would allow their troops to be sent to fight for the King in England.

Ormonde was faced with a difficult task in reconciling all the different factions in Ireland. The Old (native) Irish and Catholic Irish of English descent ("Old English") were represented in Confederate Ireland - essentially an independent Catholic government based in Kilkenny - who wanted to come to terms with Charles I in return for religious toleration and self-government. On the other side any concession that Ormonde made to the Confederates weakened his support among English and Scottish Protestants in Ireland. Ormonde's negotiations with the Confederates were therefore tortuous, even though many of the Confederate leaders were his relatives or friends.

In 1644 he assisted Randall MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim, in mounting an Irish Confederate expedition into Scotland. The force, led by Alasdair MacColla, was sent to help the Scottish Royalists and sparked off a civil war in Scotland (1644-45). This turned out to be the only intervention of Irish Catholic troops in Britain during the Civil Wars.

The difficulties of Ormonde's position had been greatly increased by the secret treaty that Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, signed with the Irish Catholics on August 25 1645. On March 28 1646 Ormonde concluded a treaty with the Irish Confederates which granted religious concessions and removed various grievances. However, the Confederates' General Assembly rejected the deal, partly due to the influence of Pope Innocent X's nuncio, Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, who worked to prevent the Catholics entering into a compromise. Those who had signed the treaty were arrested and the Confederates called off their truce with Ormonde.

It soon became clear that he could not hold Dublin against the Irish rebels. He applied to the Long Parliament, signed a treaty on June 19 1647, gave Dublin into their hands on terms which protected the interests of both Protestants and Roman Catholics who had not actually entered into rebellion and sailed for England at the beginning of August 1647. He handed over Dublin and the troops under his command to the Parliamentarian commander Michael Jones. Ormonde famously remarked of his surrender that he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones."

Ormonde attended King Charles during August and October 1647 at Hampton Court Palace but in March 1648, in order to avoid arrest by the parliament, he joined the Queen and the Prince of Wales at Paris. In September of the same year, the Pope's nuncio having been expelled, and affairs otherwise looking favourable, he returned to Ireland to endeavour to unite all parties for the king.

The Irish Confederates were now much more amenable to compromise, as 1647 had seen a series of military disasters for them at the hands of English Parliamentarian forces. On 17 January 1649 Ormonde concluded a peace with the rebels on the basis of the free exercise of their religion.

On the execution of the King (30 January1649) he proclaimed Charles II, who made him a Knight of the Garter in September 1649. Ormonde was placed in command of the Irish Confederates' armies and also English Royalist troops who were landed in Ireland from France.

However, despite controlling almost all of Ireland before August 1649, Ormonde was unable to prevent the conquest of Ireland by Cromwell in 1649-50. Ormonde tried to re-take Dublin in August 1649 but was routed at the battle of Rathmines. Subsequently he tried to halt Cromwell by holding a line of fortified towns across the country. However, the New Model Army took them one after the other beginning with the Siege of Drogheda in September 1649.

Ormonde lost most of the English and Protestant Royalist troops under his command when they mutinied and went over to Cromwell in May 1650. This left him with only the Irish Catholic forces, who distrusted him greatly. Ormonde was ousted from his command in late 1650 and he returned to France in December 1650. In Cromwell's Act of Settlement 1652 all of Ormonde's lands in Ireland were confiscated and he was excepted from the pardon given to those Royalists who had surrendered by that date.

Ormonde, though desperately short of money, was in constant attendance on Charles II and the Queen mother in Paris and accompanied the former to Aix and Cologne when expelled from France by the terms of Mazarin's treaty with Cromwell in 1655. In 1658 he went disguised, and at great risk, on a secret mission into England to gain trustworthy intelligence as to the chances of an uprising. He attended the King at Fuenterrabia in 1659 and had an interview with Mazarin and was actively engaged in the secret transactions immediately preceding the Restoration.

On the return of Charles to England as King, Ormonde was appointed a commissioner for the treasury and the navy, made Lord Steward of the Household, a Privy Councillor, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (an office which he resigned in 1672), High Steward of Westminster, Kingston and Bristol, Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, Baron Butler of Llanthony and Earl of Brecknock in the peerage of England and, on 30 March 1661, he was created Duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage and made Lord High Steward of England for Charles's coronation that year. At the same time he recovered his enormous estates in Ireland and large grants in recompense of the fortune he had spent in the royal service were made to him by the King, while in the following year the Irish Parliament presented him with £30,000. His losses, however, according to Carte, exceeded his gains by £868,000.

On 4 November 1661 he once more received the lord lieutenantship of Ireland and busily engaged in the work of settling that country. The main problem was the land question and the Act of Explanation was passed through the Irish parliament by Ormonde on 23 December 1665.

His heart was in his government and he vehemently opposed the bill prohibiting the importation of Irish cattle which struck so fatal a blow at Irish trade and retaliated by prohibiting the import into Ireland of Scottish commodities and obtained leave to trade with foreign countries. He encouraged Irish manufactures and learning to the utmost and it was to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owes its incorporation.

Ormonde's personality had always been a striking one and he was highly regarded. He was dignified and proud of his loyalty, even when he lost royal favour, declaring, "However ill I may stand at court I am resolved to lye well in the chronicle". Ormonde soon became the mark for attack from all that was worst in the court. Buckingham especially did his utmost to undermine his influence. Ormonde's almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troubled times was open to criticism. He had billeted soldiers on civilians and had executed martial law. He was threatened by Buckingham with impeachment.

In March 1669 Ormonde was removed from the government of Ireland and from the committee for Irish affairs. He made no complaint, insisted that his sons and others over whom he had influence should retain their posts, and continued to fulfil the duties of his other offices, while his character and services were recognized in his election as Chancellor of the University of Oxford on 4 August 1669.

In 1670 an extraordinary attempt was made to assassinate the Duke by a ruffian and adventurer named Thomas Blood, already notorious for an unsuccessful plot to surprise Dublin Castle in 1663 and later for stealing the royal crown from the Tower. Ormonde was attacked by Blood and his accomplices while driving up St James's Street on the night of 6 December 1670, dragged out of his coach and taken on horseback along Piccadilly with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn. Ormonde, however, succeeded in overcoming the horseman to whom he was bound and escaped.

The outrage, it was suspected, had been instigated by Buckingham, who was openly accused of the crime by Lord Ossory, Ormonde's son, in the King's presence, and threatened by him with instant death if any violence should happen to his father. These suspicions were encouraged by the improper action of the King in pardoning Blood and in admitting him to his presence and treating him with favour after his apprehension while endeavouring to steal the crown jewels.

In 1671 Ormonde successfully opposed Richard Talbot's attempt to upset the Act of Settlement. In 1673 he again visited Ireland, returned to London in 1675 to give advice to Charles on affairs in parliament and in 1677 was again restored to favour and reappointed to the lord lieutenancy. On his arrival in Ireland he occupied himself in placing the revenue and the army upon a proper footing. Upon the outbreak of the disturbances caused by the Popish Plot (1678) in England, Ormonde at once took steps towards rendering the Roman Catholics, who were in the proportion of 15 to 1, powerless and the mildness and moderation of his measures served as the ground of an attack upon him in England led by Shaftesbury, from which he was defended with great spirit by his own son Lord Ossory.

In 1682 Charles summoned Ormonde to court. The same year he wrote "A Letter, from a Person of Honour in the Country, in answer to the Earl of Anglesey, his Observations upon the Earl of Castlehaven's Memoires concerning the Rebellion of Ireland" and gave Charles general support. On 9 November 1683 an English Dukedom was conferred upon him and in June 1684 he returned to Ireland but he was recalled in October in consequence of fresh intrigues. Before he could give up his government to Rochester, Charles II died, and Ormonde's last act as lord lieutenant was to proclaim James II in Dublin.

Ormonde also served as the sixth Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin between 1645 and 1688, although he was in exile for the first fifteen years of his tenure.

Subsequently Ormonde lived in retirement at Cornbury in Oxfordshire, a house lent to him by Lord Clarendon, but emerged in 1687 to offer opposition at the board of the Charterhouse to James's attempt to assume the dispensing power and force upon the institution a Roman Catholic candidate without taking the oaths. Ormonde also refused the king his support in the question of the Indulgence; James, to his credit, refused to take away his offices and continued to hold him in respect and favour to the last. Ormonde died on 21 July 1688 at Kingston Lacy, Dorset, not having, as he rejoiced to know, "outlived his intellectuals" and with him disappeared the greatest and grandest figure of the times. His splendid qualities were expressed with some felicity in verses written on welcoming his return to Ireland and printed in 1682:

A Man of Plato's grand nobility,
An inbred greatness, innate honesty;
A Man not form'd of accidents, and whom
Misfortune might oppress, not overcome
Who weighs himself not by opinion
But conscience of a noble action.

He was buried in Westminster Abbey on 1 August 1688.

With his wife, Elizabeth, he had at least 7 children, of whom three of his sons survived into adulthood:

1.    Thomas Butler (1632-1632)
2.    Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory (1634-1680)
3.    James Butler (1636-1645)
4.    Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran (1639-1686)
5.    Elizabeth Butler (b. 1640)
6.    John Butler, 1st Earl of Gowran (1643-1677)
7.    Mary Butler (1646-1710)
 
The eldest of these, Thomas, Earl of Ossory (1634-1680) predeceased him, his eldest son (that is to say James Butler's grandchild) succeeded as 2nd Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745). The other two sons, Richard, created Earl of Arran, and John, created Earl of Gowran, both died without male issue and the male descent of the 1st Duke becoming extinct in the person of Charles, 3rd Duke of Ormonde, the Earldom subsequently reverted to the cadet descendants of Walter, 11th earl of Ormonde.

Lineage of the Butlers can be traced back to James Butler born in 1331 in Knocktopher Castle, Arklow, Wicklow, Ireland. This James Butler was the son of Eleanor Bohun who was the daughter of Elizabeth Plantagenet or also called Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (born 1282 in Rhuddlan Castle, Wales). Elizabeth Plantagenet was the daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.