Earl of Darlington is a title that has been created twice, each time in 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 ...

. Baroness von Kielmansegg, half-sister of King George I, was made countess of Darlington in 1722. This creation was for life only, and so the title expired on her death in 1725.Matthew Kilburn
‘Kielmansegg, Sophia Charlotte von , suo jure countess of Darlington and suo jure countess of Leinster (1675–1725)’
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 21 Dec 2013 The second creation came in 1754 in favour of Henry Vane, 3rd

Baron Barnard Baron Barnard, of Barnard Castle in the Bishopric of Durham, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1698 for Christopher Vane, who had previously served as a member of parliament for County Durham and Boroughbridge. Vane was ...

, who became the first Earl of Darlington. *

Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, PC (c. 1705 – 6 March 1758), known as Lord Barnard between 1753 and 1754, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1726 to 1753 when he succeeded to a peerage as Baron Barnard. Lif ...

(c. 1705–1758) *

Henry Vane, 2nd Earl of Darlington Henry Vane, 2nd Earl of Darlington (1726 – 8 September 1792) was a British peer. Life He was the son of the 1st Earl of Darlington and educated at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with a MA on 3 July 1749. He joined the Army as an En ...

(1726–1792) * William Harry Vane, 3rd Earl of Darlington (1766–1842) In 1833 Lord Darlington was created Duke of Cleveland. *

William Harry Vane, 1st Duke of Cleveland William Henry Vane, 1st Duke of Cleveland, KG (27 July 1766 – 29 January 1842), styled Viscount Barnard until 1792 and known as The Earl of Darlington between 1792 and 1827 and as The Marquess of Cleveland between 1827 and 1833, was a Britis ...

(1766–1842) *

Henry Vane, 2nd Duke of Cleveland General Henry Vane, 2nd Duke of Cleveland KG (6 August 1788 – 18 January 1864) was a British peer, politician and army officer. Born The Honourable Henry Vane, he was the eldest son of William Vane, Viscount Barnard and his first wife, K ...

(1788–1864) * William John Frederick Vane, 3rd Duke of Cleveland (1792–1864) * Harry George Powlett, 4th Duke of Cleveland (1803–1891)

In fiction

The Earl of Darlington was a character in

Kazuo Ishiguro Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five. He is one of the most cr ...

's novel ''

The Remains of the Day ''The Remains of the Day'' is a 1989 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro. The protagonist, Stevens, is a butler with a long record of service at Darlington Hall, a stately home near Oxford, England. In 1956, he take ...

''. He was the lord of Darlington Hall. Among his employees were the butler Stevens, his father and the housekeeper Miss Kenton. During the 1930s, the Earl hosted numerous conferences and secret meetings between Germany, the United Kingdom, and other European powers in Darlington Hall. The Germans manipulated the Earl so that he persuaded the British government to negotiate the appeasement peace treaty in its favour, which eventually resulted in the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Earl died in the early 1950s. Afterwards, his heirs auctioned off Darlington Hall and all of its belongings in order to raise money to pay for death duties and other taxes. The novel was adapted into a 1993 film by

Merchant Ivory Productions Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (b. 1928). Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005. During their ...

starring

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

as Stevens and

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

as Miss Kenton. Lord Darlington was played by

James Fox William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', ''The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performanc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darlington Extinct earldoms in the Peerage of Great Britain Noble titles created in 1722 Noble titles created in 1754