Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
history, in 1661 and 1776.
The family seat is Holywell House, near
Swanmore,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
.
First creation of the title
The title was created for the first time in the
Peerage of England
The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. There are five peerages in t ...
in 1661 for the statesman
Edward Hyde, 1st Baron Hyde. He was
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
from 1643 to 1646 and
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
from 1658 to 1667 and a close political adviser to
Charles II, although he later fell out of favour and was forced into exile. Hyde had already been created
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
Hyde, of Hindon in the County of Wiltshire, in 1660, and was made
Viscount
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...
Cornbury, in the County of Oxford, at the same time he was given the earldom. These titles were also in the Peerage of England. His second son
Laurence Hyde was also a politician and was created
Earl of Rochester
Earl of Rochester is a title that was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1652 in favour of the Royalist soldier Henry Wilmot, 2nd Viscount Wilmot. He had already been created Baron Wilmot, of Adderbury in the Co ...
in 1682. Lord Clarendon's daughter
Anne Hyde
Anne Hyde (12 March 163731 March 1671) was Duchess of York and Albany as the first wife of James, Duke of York, who later became King James II and VII.
Anne was the daughter of a member of the English gentry – Edward Hyde (later created ...
married the future
King James II
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...
and was the mother of
Queen Mary II
Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694.
Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...
and
Queen Anne.
Lord Clarendon was succeeded by his eldest son Henry, the second Earl. He was also a politician and served as
Lord Privy Seal and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...
. His son, the third Earl, represented
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
and served as
Governor of New York
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
, before succeeding to the earldom; he had married Katherine, 8th Baroness Clifton, but she died in New York before becoming Countess of Clarendon. Their only son Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, succeeded his mother as ninth Baron Clifton in 1706; he died ten years before his father, unmarried. The only daughter Lady Theodosia succeeded her elder brother as tenth Baroness Clifton (see the
Baron Clifton
Baron Clifton, of Leighton Bromswold in the County of Huntingdon, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1608 for Sir Gervase Clifton, who made Prebendal house which was built by John Thorpe and later owned by the Clifton baron ...
for later history of this title).
Lord Clarendon was succeeded by his first cousin
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Rochester, who became the fourth Earl of Clarendon; he was the only son of the first Earl of Rochester. He had earlier represented
Launceston in the House of Commons and served as
Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. His only surviving son and heir apparent Henry Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, was summoned to the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
through a
writ of acceleration
A writ in acceleration, commonly called a writ of acceleration, is a type of writ of summons that enabled the eldest son and heir apparent of a peer with more than one peerage to attend the British or Irish House of Lords, using one of his father ...
in his father's junior title of Baron Hyde in 1751. However, he died childless in April 1753, eight months before the death of his father. Consequently, on Lord Clarendon's death in December 1753 all the titles became extinct.
Second creation of the title
Lady Jane Hyde, eldest daughter of the fourth Earl of Clarendon, married
William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex
William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex, (11 January 16978 January 1743) was an English courtier and diplomat.
Early life
He was the son of the 2nd Earl of Essex and Lady Mary Bentinck. His younger sister, Lady Mary Capel, married Alan Brodrick, 2n ...
. Their daughter
Lady Charlotte Capell married the prominent diplomat and politician
Thomas Villiers, second son of
William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey
William Villers, 2nd Earl of Jersey (c. 1682 – 13 July 1721), known as Viscount Villiers from 1697 to 1711, was an English peer and politician from the Villiers family.
Jersey was the son of Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, and his wife ...
. Villiers was Envoy to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and served as Joint
Postmaster General
A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...
and as
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...
. In 1748 he was made a Baron of the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...
, an honour which he received Royal licence to use in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, and in 1756 the barony of Hyde held by his wife's ancestors was revived when he was raised to the
Peerage of Great Britain
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself r ...
as Baron Hyde, of Hindon in the County of Wiltshire. In 1776 the earldom of Clarendon was also revived when he was made Earl of Clarendon in the Peerage of Great Britain.
Lord Clarendon was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He sat as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for Christchurch and
Helston
Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...
. He never married and was succeeded by his younger brother, the
third Earl. He represented several constituencies in the House of Commons and served as
Comptroller of the Household between 1789 and 1790. He had one daughter but no sons and was succeeded by his nephew, the
fourth Earl. He was the eldest son of George Villiers (1759–1827), third son of the first Earl. Known as the "Great Lord Clarendon", he was a prominent diplomat and
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
politician. He was three times
Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
and also served as Lord Privy Seal, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,
President of the Board of Trade
The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centu ...
and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...
.
Lord Clarendon was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the fifth Earl. In early life he briefly represented
Brecon
Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...
in the House of Commons as a Liberal but later joined the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
and held minor office from 1895 to 1905 under
Lord Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
and
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...
. On his death the titles passed to his only son, the sixth Earl. He was a Conservative politician and served under
Bonar Law and
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
as
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms
The Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms is a post in the Government of the United Kingdom that has been held by the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is th ...
and
Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs The position of Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs was a British ministerial position, subordinate to that of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, created in 1925 to deal with British relations with the Dominions – Canada, Aust ...
. He was later
Governor-General of South Africa
The governor-general of the Union of South Africa ( af, Goewerneur-generaal van Unie van Suid-Afrika, nl, Goeverneur-generaal van de Unie van Zuid-Afrika) was the highest state official in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 ...
from 1931 to 1937. His grandson, George, the seventh Earl, who succeeded in 1955 died in July 2009. He was the only son of George Herbert Arthur Edward Hyde Villiers, Lord Hyde, who died in 1935. The title has passed to his son, George, eighth earl.
Several other members of this branch of the Villiers family have also gained distinction.
Thomas Hyde Villiers
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the ...
, second son of George Villiers (third son of the first Earl), represented three constituencies in the House of Commons before his early death in 1832. His son Reverend Charles Villiers was the father of 1) Edward Cecil Villiers, a
Rear-Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, whose son
Sir Michael Villiers was a
vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and
Fourth Sea Lord
The Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies originally known as the Fourth Naval Lord was formerly one of the Naval Lords and members of the Board of Admiralty which controlled the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom the post is currently known ...
from 1960 to 1963, and 2)
Ernest Amherst Villiers, Liberal Member of Parliament for
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
from 1906 to 1910. The successful businessman and racehorse owner Charles Villiers (born 1963) who co-founded the local newspaper company Score Press Limited, which was sold for £155 million in 2005, is the great-great-great grandson of the aforementioned Thomas Villiers MP.
Charles Pelham Villiers
Charles Pelham Villiers (3 January 1802 – 16 January 1898) was a British lawyer and politician from the aristocratic Villiers family. He sat in the House of Commons for 63 years, from 1835 to 1898, making him the longest-serving Member of Parl ...
, third son of George Villiers, was a prominent Liberal politician and served as
President of the Poor Law Board The Poor Law Board was established in the United Kingdom in 1847 as a successor body to the Poor Law Commission overseeing the administration of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The new body was headed by a President, and with the Lord President of ...
(with a seat in the cabinet) from 1859 to 1866. Between 1890 and 1898 he was
Father of the House of Commons
Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...
.
The Conservative politician
Theresa Villiers
Theresa Anne Villiers (born 5 March 1968) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet since 2005, having previously served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2005. A member of the ...
is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Edward Ernest Villiers, fourth son of George Villiers.
Henry Montagu Villiers, fifth son of George Villiers, was
Bishop of Durham
The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...
from 1860 until his death the following year.
Sir Francis Hyde Villiers
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
, fourth and youngest son of the fourth Earl, was a diplomat and served as
British Ambassador to Belgium from 1919 to 1920. His grandson was the actor
James Villiers
James Michael Hyde Villiers (29 September 1933 – 18 January 1998) was an English character actor. He was particularly known for his plummy voice and ripe articulation.
He was a great-grandson of the 4th Earl of Clarendon.
Early life
Villie ...
.
The family main home is Holywell House,
Swanmore, Hampshire. The family's main home 1753-1923 was the largest of the three main manors of
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
,
the Grove which is today a hotel in
Sarratt
Sarratt is both a village and a civil parish in Three Rivers District, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated north of Rickmansworth on high ground near the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. The chalk stream, the River Chess, rising just n ...
(civil parish).
Earls of Clarendon, First creation (1661)
*
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (18 February 16099 December 1674), was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II fro ...
(1609–1674)
*
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, PC (2 June 163831 October 1709) was an English aristocrat and politician. He held high office at the beginning of the reign of his brother-in-law, King James II.
Early life
He was the eldest son of Edward Hyd ...
(1638–1709)
*
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon (28 November 1661 – 31 March 1723), styled Viscount Cornbury between 1674 and 1709, was an English aristocrat and politician. Better known by his noble title Lord Cornbury, he was propelled into the forefr ...
(1661–1723)
**Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, 9th Baron Clifton (1691–1713)
*
Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1672–1753)
**
Henry Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, 5th Baron Hyde (1710–1753)
Earls of Clarendon, Second creation (1776)
*
Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon, PC (1709 – 11 December 1786) was a British politician and diplomat from the Villiers family.
Clarendon was the second son of William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey, and his wife Judith Herne, daughter of ...
(1709–1786)
*
Thomas Villiers, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (1753–1824)
*
John Charles Villiers, 3rd Earl of Clarendon (1757–1838)
*
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800–1870)
**Edward Hyde Villiers, Lord Hyde (1845–1846)
*
Edward Hyde Villiers, 5th Earl of Clarendon (1846–1914)
*
George Herbert Hyde Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon (1877–1955)
**George Herbert Arthur Edward Hyde Villiers, Lord Hyde (1906–1935)
*
George Frederick Laurence Hyde Villiers, 7th Earl of Clarendon (1933–2009)
* George Edward Laurence Villiers, 8th Earl of Clarendon (b. 1976)
The
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
is the present holder's eldest son Edward George James Villiers, Lord Hyde (b. 2008)
See also
*
Clarendon Palace
Clarendon Palace is a medieval ruin east of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The palace was a royal residence during the Middle Ages, and was the location of the Assize of Clarendon which developed the Constitutions of Clarendon. It now lies ...
*
Earl of Jersey
Earl of the Island of Jersey, usually shortened to Earl of Jersey, is a title in the Peerage of England held by a branch of the Villiers family, which since 1819 has been the Child-Villiers family.
History
It was created in 1697 for the sta ...
*
Earl of Rochester
Earl of Rochester is a title that was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1652 in favour of the Royalist soldier Henry Wilmot, 2nd Viscount Wilmot. He had already been created Baron Wilmot, of Adderbury in the Co ...
*
Sir Nicholas Hyde
*
Town Hall, Wootton Bassett
Bibliography
*Catalogue of the Portraits in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon, by
Robin Gibson,
Paul Mellon Centre, 1977
Notes
References
*
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
External links
George Villiers, 8th Earl of Clarendon*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarendon
Extinct earldoms in the Peerage of England
Earldoms in the Peerage of Great Britain
Noble titles created in 1661
Noble titles created in 1776
*
Earls of Clarendon
1661 establishments in England