| BARONETAGE | ||||||
| Last Update: 25-06-2024. | ||||||
| Names of baronets shown in blue | ||||||
| have not yet proved succession and, as a | ||||||
| result, their name has not yet been placed on | ||||||
| the Official Roll of the Baronetage. | ||||||
| Date | Type | Order | Name | Born | Died | Age |
| Dates in italics in the "Born" column indicate that the baronet was | ||||||
| baptised on that date; dates in italics in the "Died" column indicate | ||||||
| that the baronet was buried on that date | ||||||
| ABDY of Felix Hall,Essex | ||||||
| 14 Jul 1641 | E | 1 | Thomas Abdy | by May 1612 | 14 Jan 1686 | |
| 14 Jan 1686 | 2 | Anthony Abdy | c 1655 | 2 Apr 1704 | ||
| 2 Apr 1704 | 3 | Anthony Thomas Abdy | c 1690 | 11 Jun 1733 | ||
| 11 Jun 1733 | 4 | William Abdy | by Sep 1689 | 18 Jan 1750 | ||
| 18 Jan 1750 | 5 | Anthony Thomas Abdy | c 1720 | 7 Apr 1775 | ||
| MP for Knaresborough 1763-1775 | ||||||
| 7 Apr 1775 | 6 | William Abdy | c 1732 | 21 Jul 1803 | ||
| 21 Jul 1803 | 7 | William Abdy | 1779 | 16 Apr 1868 | 88 | |
| to | MP for Malmesbury 1817-1818 | |||||
| 16 Apr 1868 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| ABDY of Albyns,Essex | ||||||
| 9 Jun 1660 | E | 1 | Robert Abdy | c 1615 | 1670 | |
| 1670 | 2 | John Abdy | c 1643 | 1691 | ||
| 1691 | 3 | Robert Abdy | 8 Apr 1688 | 27 Aug 1748 | ||
| MP for Essex 1727-1748 | ||||||
| 27 Aug 1748 | 4 | John Abdy | c 1714 | 1 Apr 1759 | ||
| to | MP for Essex 1748-1759 | |||||
| 1 Apr 1759 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| ABDY of Moores,Essex | ||||||
| 22 Jun 1660 | E | 1 | John Abdy | c 1620 | 1662 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 1662 | ||||||
| ABDY of Albyns,Essex | ||||||
| 8 Jan 1850 | UK | 1 | Thomas Neville Abdy | 21 Dec 1810 | 20 Jul 1877 | 66 |
| MP for Lyme Regis 1847-1852 | ||||||
| 20 Jul 1877 | 2 | William Neville Abdy | 18 Jun 1844 | 9 Aug 1910 | 66 | |
| For further information on this baronet,see | ||||||
| the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 9 Aug 1910 | 3 | Anthony Charles Sykes Abdy | 19 Sep 1848 | 17 May 1921 | 72 | |
| 17 May 1921 | 4 | Henry Beadon Abdy | 13 Jun 1853 | 1 Dec 1921 | 68 | |
| 1 Dec 1921 | 5 | Robert Henry Edward Abdy | 11 Sep 1896 | 16 Nov 1976 | 80 | |
| 16 Nov 1976 | 6 | Valentine Robert Duff Abdy | 11 Sep 1937 | 27 Jun 2012 | 74 | |
| 27 Jun 2012 | 7 | Robert Etienne Eric Abdy | 22 Feb 1978 | |||
| ABEL of Cadogan Place,London | ||||||
| 25 May 1893 | UK | 1 | Frederick Augustus Abel | 17 Jul 1827 | 6 Sep 1902 | 75 |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 6 Sep 1902 | ||||||
| ABERCROMBIE of Edinburgh,Midlothian | ||||||
| 21 May 1709 | GB | 1 | James Abercrombie | 14 Nov 1724 | ||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 14 Nov 1724 | ||||||
| ABERCROMBY of Birkenbog,Banff | ||||||
| 20 Feb 1636 | NS | 1 | Alexander Abercromby | c 1603 | by Dec 1684 | |
| by Dec 1684 | 2 | James Abercromby | 20 Sep 1734 | |||
| 20 Sep 1734 | 3 | Robert Abercromby | 11 Mar 1787 | |||
| 11 Mar 1787 | 4 | George Abercromby | 1750 | 18 Jul 1831 | 81 | |
| 18 Jul 1831 | 5 | Robert Abercromby | 4 Feb 1784 | 6 Jul 1855 | 71 | |
| MP for Banff 1812-1818 | ||||||
| 6 Jul 1855 | 6 | George Samuel Abercromby | 22 May 1824 | 14 Nov 1872 | 48 | |
| 14 Nov 1872 | 7 | Robert John Abercromby | 14 Jun 1850 | 24 Jul 1895 | 45 | |
| 24 Jul 1895 | 8 | George William Abercromby | 18 Mar 1886 | 9 Sep 1964 | 78 | |
| Lord Lieutenant Banff 1946-1964 | ||||||
| 9 Sep 1964 | 9 | Robert Alexander Abercromby | 15 Aug 1895 | 19 Oct 1972 | 77 | |
| 19 Oct 1972 | 10 | Ian George Abercromby | 30 Jun 1925 | 16 May 2003 | 77 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 16 May 2003 | ||||||
| ABNEY-HASTINGS of Willesley Hall,Derby | ||||||
| 28 Feb 1806 | UK | See "Hastings" | ||||
| ACHESON of Market Hill,co.Armagh | ||||||
| 1 Jan 1628 | NS | 1 | Archibald Acheson | 9 Sep 1634 | ||
| 9 Sep 1634 | 2 | Patrick Acheson | c 1611 | 6 Oct 1638 | ||
| 6 Oct 1638 | 3 | George Acheson | 4 Aug 1629 | 1685 | 55 | |
| 1685 | 4 | Nicholas Acheson | c 1656 | 1701 | ||
| 1701 | 5 | Arthur Acheson | 26 Jan 1688 | 8 Feb 1749 | 61 | |
| 8 Feb 1749 | 6 | Archibald Acheson | 1 Sep 1718 | 5 Sep 1790 | 72 | |
| He was created Baron Gosford (qv) | ||||||
| in 1776 with which title the baronetcy | ||||||
| remains merged | ||||||
| ACKROYD of Dewsbury,Yorkshire | ||||||
| 5 Jul 1956 | UK | 1 | Cuthbert Lowell Ackroyd | 1892 | 11 Apr 1973 | 80 |
| 11 Apr 1973 | 2 | John Robert Whyte Ackroyd | 2 Mar 1932 | 30 Aug 1995 | 63 | |
| 30 Aug 1995 | 3 | Timothy Robert Whyte Ackroyd | 7 Oct 1958 | |||
| ACLAND of Columb John,Devon | ||||||
| 1 Mar 1644 | E | 1 | John Acland | c 1591 | 24 Aug 1647 | |
| 24 Aug 1647 | 2 | Francis Acland | 1649 | |||
| 1649 | 3 | John Acland | c 1636 | 1655 | ||
| 1655 | 4 | Arthur Acland | c 1655 | 1672 | ||
| 1672 | 5 | Hugh Acland | c 1639 | 9 Mar 1714 | ||
| He obtained a fresh creation 21 Jan 1678 | ||||||
| MP for Barnstaple 1679 and Tiverton | ||||||
| 1685-1687 | ||||||
| Mar 1714 | 6 | Hugh Acland | 26 Jan 1697 | 29 Jul 1728 | 31 | |
| MP for Barnstaple 1721-1727 | ||||||
| 29 Jul 1728 | 7 | Thomas Acland (Dyke-Acland from 1745) | 14 Aug 1722 | 24 Feb 1785 | 62 | |
| MP for Devon 1746-1747 and Somerset | ||||||
| 1767-1768 | ||||||
| 24 Feb 1785 | 8 | John Dyke-Acland | Mar 1778 | Apr 1785 | 7 | |
| Apr 1785 | 9 | Thomas Dyke-Acland | 18 Apr 1752 | 17 May 1794 | 42 | |
| 17 May 1794 | 10 | Thomas Dyke-Acland | 29 Mar 1787 | 22 Jul 1871 | 84 | |
| MP for Devonshire 1812-1818 and 1820-1831 | ||||||
| and Devonshire North 1837-1857 | ||||||
| 22 Jul 1871 | 11 | Thomas Dyke-Acland | 25 May 1809 | 29 May 1898 | 89 | |
| MP for Somerset West 1837-1847, Devon | ||||||
| North 1865-1885 and Wellington 1885-1886 | ||||||
| PC 1883 | ||||||
| 29 May 1898 | 12 | Charles Thomas Dyke-Acland | 16 Jul 1842 | 18 Feb 1919 | 76 | |
| MP for Cornwall East 1882-1885 and | ||||||
| Launceston 1885-1892. | ||||||
| 18 Feb 1919 | 13 | Arthur Herbert Dyke-Acland | 13 Oct 1847 | 9 Oct 1926 | 78 | |
| MP for Rotherham 1885-1899. Vice President | ||||||
| of the Committee of Council on Education | ||||||
| 1892-1895 PC 1892 | ||||||
| 9 Oct 1926 | 14 | Francis Dyke-Acland | 7 Mar 1874 | 9 Jun 1939 | 65 | |
| MP for Richmond 1906-1910,Camborne 1910- | ||||||
| 1922,Tiverton 1923-1924 and Cornwall North | ||||||
| 1932-1939. Financial Secretary to the War Office | ||||||
| 1908-1910. Under Secretary of State for | ||||||
| Foreign Affairs 1911-1915. Financial | ||||||
| Secretary to the Treasury 1915. Secretary | ||||||
| to the Board of Agriculture 1915-1916 | ||||||
| PC 1915 | ||||||
| 9 Jun 1939 | 15 | Richard Thomas Dyke-Acland | 26 Nov 1906 | 24 Nov 1990 | 83 | |
| MP for Barnstaple 1935-1945 and | ||||||
| Gravesend 1947-1955 | ||||||
| 24 Nov 1990 | 16 | John Dyke-Acland | 13 May 1939 | 26 Sep 2009 | 70 | |
| 26 Sep 2009 | 17 | Dominic Dyke-Acland | 19 Nov 1962 | |||
| ACLAND of Fairfield,Somerset | ||||||
| 9 Dec 1818 | UK | 1 | John Palmer-Acland | 11 Feb 1756 | 23 Feb 1831 | 75 |
| MP for Bridgwater 1781-1784 | ||||||
| 23 Feb 1831 | 2 | Peregrine Palmer Palmer-Acland (Fuller- | ||||
| to | Palmer-Acland from 1834) | 10 Nov 1789 | 25 Oct 1871 | 81 | ||
| 25 Oct 1871 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| ACLAND of Oxford,Oxon | ||||||
| 16 Jun 1890 | UK | 1 | Sir Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland | 23 Aug 1815 | 16 Oct 1900 | 85 |
| 16 Oct 1900 | 2 | William Alison Dyke Acland | 18 Dec 1847 | 26 Nov 1924 | 76 | |
| 26 Nov 1924 | 3 | William Henry Dyke Acland | 16 May 1888 | 4 Dec 1970 | 82 | |
| 4 Dec 1970 | 4 | Hubert Guy Dyke Acland | 8 Jun 1890 | 6 May 1978 | 87 | |
| 6 May 1978 | 5 | Antony Guy Acland | 17 Aug 1916 | 14 Dec 1984 | 68 | |
| 14 Dec 1984 | 6 | Christopher Guy Dyke Acland | 24 Mar 1946 | |||
| A'COURT of Heytesbury House,Wiltshire | ||||||
| 4 Jul 1795 | GB | 1 | William Pierce Ashe A'Court | 1747 | 22 Jul 1817 | 70 |
| MP for Heytesbury 1781-1790 and 1806-1807 | ||||||
| 22 Jul 1817 | 2 | William A'Court | 11 Jul 1779 | 31 May 1860 | 80 | |
| He was created Baron Heytesbury (qv) | ||||||
| in 1828 with which title the baronetcy | ||||||
| remains merged | ||||||
| ACTON of London | ||||||
| 30 May 1629 | E | 1 | William Acton | 22 Jan 1651 | ||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 22 Jan 1651 | ||||||
| ACTON of Aldenham,Salop | ||||||
| 17 Jan 1644 | E | 1 | Edward Acton | 20 Jul 1600 | 29 Jun 1659 | 58 |
| MP for Bridgnorth 1640 and 1640-1644 | ||||||
| Jun 1659 | 2 | Walter Acton | c 1621 | 3 Sep 1665 | ||
| MP for Bridgnorth 1660 | ||||||
| c Sep 1665 | 3 | Edward Acton | c 1650 | 28 Sep 1716 | ||
| MP for Bridgnorth 1689-1705 | ||||||
| 28 Sep 1716 | 4 | Whitmore Acton | 1 Apr 1678 | 9 Jan 1732 | 53 | |
| MP for Bridgnorth 1710-1713 | ||||||
| 9 Jan 1732 | 5 | Richard Acton | 1 Jan 1712 | 20 Nov 1791 | 79 | |
| 20 Nov 1791 | 6 | John Francis Edward Acton | 3 Jun 1736 | 12 Aug 1811 | 75 | |
| 12 Aug 1811 | 7 | Ferdinand Richard Edward Acton (Dalberg- | ||||
| Acton from 1833) | 24 Jul 1801 | 31 Jan 1837 | 35 | |||
| 31 Jan 1837 | 8 | John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton | 10 Jan 1834 | 19 Jun 1902 | 68 | |
| He was subsequently created Baron Acton | ||||||
| (qv) in 1869 with which title the baronetcy | ||||||
| remains merged,although as at 30/06/2014 | ||||||
| the baronetcy does not appear on the Official | ||||||
| Roll of the Baronetage | ||||||
| ADAIR of Flixton Hall,Suffolk | ||||||
| 2 Aug 1838 | UK | 1 | Robert Shafto Adair | 26 Jun 1786 | 24 Feb 1869 | 82 |
| 24 Feb 1869 | 2 | Robert Alexander Shafto Adair,later [1873] | ||||
| 1st Baron Waveney | 25 Aug 1811 | 5 Feb 1886 | 74 | |||
| 5 Feb 1886 | 3 | Hugh Edward Adair | 26 Dec 1815 | 2 Mar 1902 | 86 | |
| MP for Ipswich 1847-1874 | ||||||
| 2 Mar 1902 | 4 | Frederick Edward Shafto Adair | 26 Dec 1860 | 8 Apr 1915 | 54 | |
| 8 Apr 1915 | 5 | Robert Shafto Adair | 18 Aug 1862 | 9 Oct 1949 | 87 | |
| 9 Oct 1949 | 6 | Allen Henry Shafto Adair | 3 Nov 1897 | 4 Aug 1988 | 90 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 4 Aug 1988 | ||||||
| ADAM of Blair Adam,Kinross | ||||||
| 20 May 1882 | UK | 1 | Charles Elphinstone Adam | 7 Aug 1859 | 6 Dec 1922 | 63 |
| to | Lord Lieutenant Kinross 1909-1911 | |||||
| 6 Dec 1922 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| For further inormation, see the note at the | ||||||
| foot of this page | ||||||
| ADAM of Hankelow Court,Sussex | ||||||
| 15 Feb 1917 | UK | 1 | Frank Forbes Adam | 17 Jun 1846 | 22 Dec 1926 | 80 |
| 22 Dec 1926 | 2 | Ronald Forbes Adam | 30 Oct 1885 | 26 Dec 1982 | 97 | |
| 26 Dec 1982 | 3 | Christopher Eric Forbes Adam | 12 Feb 1920 | 17 Jan 2009 | 88 | |
| 17 Jan 2009 | 4 | Rev Stephen Timothy Beilby Forbes Adam | 19 Nov 1923 | 22 Mar 2019 | 95 | |
| 22 Mar 2019 | 5 | Nigel Colin Forbes Adam | 7 Dec 1930 | 8 Jan 2022 | 91 | |
| 8 Jan 2022 | 6 | Charles David Forbes Adam | 8 Oct 1957 | |||
| ADAMS of London | ||||||
| 13 Jun 1660 | E | 1 | Thomas Adams | c 1586 | 24 Feb 1668 | |
| MP for London 1654-1655 and 1656-1658 | ||||||
| 24 Feb 1668 | 2 | William Adams | 8 Jun 1634 | 1687 | 53 | |
| 1687 | 3 | Thomas Adams | 16 Aug 1659 | Aug 1690 | 31 | |
| Aug 1690 | 4 | Charles Adams | c 1665 | 12 Aug 1726 | ||
| 12 Aug 1726 | 5 | Robert Adams | c 1754 | |||
| c 1754 | 6 | Thomas Adams | 12 Apr 1770 | |||
| to | Presumably extinct on his death | |||||
| 12 Apr 1770 | ||||||
| AFFLECK of Dalham Hall,Suffolk | ||||||
| 10 Jul 1782 | GB | 1 | Edmund Affleck | 19 Apr 1725 | 19 Nov 1788 | 63 |
| MP for Colchester 1782-1788 | ||||||
| 19 Nov 1788 | 2 | Gilbert Affleck | 24 Dec 1740 | 17 Jul 1808 | 67 | |
| 17 Jul 1808 | 3 | James Affleck | 29 Apr 1759 | 10 Aug 1833 | 74 | |
| 10 Aug 1833 | 4 | Robert Affleck | 27 Jan 1763 | 7 May 1851 | 88 | |
| 7 May 1851 | 5 | Gilbert Affleck | 9 Jun 1804 | 18 Nov 1854 | 50 | |
| 18 Nov 1854 | 6 | Robert Affleck | 28 Jul 1805 | 9 Oct 1882 | 77 | |
| 9 Oct 1882 | 7 | Robert Affleck | 4 Mar 1852 | 4 Dec 1919 | 67 | |
| For information on this baronet's wife,see the | ||||||
| note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 4 Dec 1919 | 8 | Frederick Danby James Affleck | 3 Feb 1856 | 24 Jul 1939 | 83 | |
| to | Peerage references state that the title | |||||
| 24 Jul 1939 | became extinct on his death,but see the | |||||
| note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| AGNEW of Lochnaw Castle,Wigtown | ||||||
| For further information on this family,see | ||||||
| the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 28 Jul 1629 | E | 1 | Patrick Agnew | c 1578 | 1661 | |
| 1661 | 2 | Andrew Agnew | 1671 | |||
| 1671 | 3 | Andrew Agnew | 9 Jun 1702 | |||
| Jun 1702 | 4 | James Agnew | 9 Mar 1735 | |||
| 9 Mar 1735 | 5 | Andrew Agnew | 21 Dec 1687 | 21 Aug 1771 | 83 | |
| For further information on this baronet,see | ||||||
| the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 21 Aug 1771 | 6 | Stair Agnew | 9 Oct 1734 | 28 Jun 1809 | 74 | |
| 28 Jun 1809 | 7 | Andrew Agnew | 21 Mar 1793 | 12 Apr 1849 | 56 | |
| MP for Wigtounshire 1830-1837 | ||||||
| 12 Apr 1849 | 8 | Andrew Agnew | 2 Jan 1818 | 25 Mar 1892 | 74 | |
| MP for Wigtounshire 1856-1868 | ||||||
| 25 Mar 1892 | 9 | Andrew Noel Agnew | 14 Aug 1850 | 14 Jul 1928 | 77 | |
| MP for Edinburgh South 1900-1906 | ||||||
| 14 Jul 1928 | 10 | Fulque Melville Gerard Noel Agnew | 6 Oct 1900 | 28 Aug 1975 | 74 | |
| For further information on this baronet,see | ||||||
| the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 28 Aug 1975 | 11 | Crispin Hamlyn Agnew | 13 May 1944 | |||
| AGNEW of Great Stanhope Street | ||||||
| 2 Sep 1895 | UK | 1 | William Agnew | 20 Oct 1825 | 31 Oct 1910 | 85 |
| MP for Lancashire Southeast 1880-1885 | ||||||
| and Stretford 1885-1886 | ||||||
| 31 Oct 1910 | 2 | George William Agnew | 19 Jan 1852 | 19 Dec 1941 | 89 | |
| MP for Salford West 1906-1918 | ||||||
| 19 Dec 1941 | 3 | John Stuart Agnew | 16 Sep 1879 | 27 Aug 1957 | 77 | |
| 27 Aug 1957 | 4 | John Anthony Stuart Agnew | 25 Jul 1914 | 6 Feb 1993 | 78 | |
| 6 Feb 1993 | 5 | George Keith Agnew | 25 Nov 1918 | 12 Apr 1994 | 75 | |
| 12 Apr 1994 | 6 | John Keith Agnew | 19 Dec 1950 | 22 Jun 2011 | 60 | |
| 22 Jun 2011 | 7 | George Anthony Agnew | 18 Aug 1953 | |||
| AGNEW-SOMERVILLE of Clendry,Wigtown | ||||||
| 31 Jan 1957 | UK | 1 | Peter Garnett Agnew | 9 Jul 1900 | 26 Aug 1990 | 90 |
| MP for Camborne 1931-1950 and | ||||||
| Worcestershire South 1955-1966 | ||||||
| 26 Aug 1990 | 2 | Quentin Charles Agnew-Somerville | 8 Mar 1929 | 13 Oct 2010 | 81 | |
| 13 Oct 2010 | 3 | James Lockett Charles Agnew-Somerville | 26 May 1970 | |||
| AINSLIE of Great Torrington,Lincs | ||||||
| 19 Nov 1804 | UK | 1 | Robert Ainslie | c 1730 | 21 Jul 1812 | |
| For information on the special remainder | ||||||
| included in this creation, see the note at | ||||||
| the foot of this page | ||||||
| MP for Milborne Port 1796-1802 | ||||||
| 21 Jul 1812 | 2 | Robert Sharpe Ainslie | 8 Jan 1777 | 14 Mar 1858 | 81 | |
| to | MP for Mitchell 1802-1806 | |||||
| 14 Mar 1858 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| For further information on the fate of this | ||||||
| baronetcy,see the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| AINSWORTH of Ardanaiseig,Argyll | ||||||
| 12 Jan 1917 | UK | 1 | John Stirling Ainsworth | 30 Jan 1844 | 24 May 1923 | 79 |
| MP for Argyllshire 1903-1918 | ||||||
| 24 May 1923 | 2 | Thomas Ainsworth | 8 Feb 1886 | 1 Mar 1971 | 85 | |
| 1 Mar 1971 | 3 | John Francis Ainsworth | 4 Jan 1912 | 30 Apr 1981 | 69 | |
| 30 Apr 1981 | 4 | Thomas David Ainsworth | 22 Aug 1926 | 24 Nov 1999 | 73 | |
| 24 Nov 1999 | 5 | Anthony Thomas Hugh Ainsworth | 30 Mar 1962 | |||
| AIRD of Hyde Park Terrace | ||||||
| 5 Mar 1901 | UK | 1 | John Aird | 3 Dec 1833 | 6 Jan 1911 | 77 |
| MP for Paddington North 1887-1905 | ||||||
| 6 Jan 1911 | 2 | John Aird | 6 Nov 1861 | 20 Oct 1934 | 72 | |
| 20 Oct 1934 | 3 | John Renton Aird | 7 Aug 1898 | 20 Nov 1973 | 75 | |
| 20 Nov 1973 | 4 | George John Aird | 30 Jan 1940 | 4 May 2023 | 83 | |
| 4 May 2023 | 5 | James John Aird | 12 Jun 1978 | |||
| AIRMINE of Osgodby,Lincs | ||||||
| 28 Nov 1619 | E | 1 | William Airmine | 11 Dec 1593 | 10 Apr 1651 | 57 |
| MP for Boston 1621-1622 and 1624-1625 | ||||||
| Grantham 1625 and 1641 and Lincolnshire | ||||||
| 1626 and 1628-1629. | ||||||
| 10 Apr 1651 | 2 | William Airmine | 14 Jul 1622 | 2 Jan 1658 | 35 | |
| MP for Cumberland 1646-1653 | ||||||
| 2 Jan 1658 | 3 | Michael Airmine | 21 Sep 1625 | 1668 | 42 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 1668 | ||||||
| AITCHISON of Lemmington,Northumberland | ||||||
| 31 Jan 1938 | UK | 1 | Sir Stephen Aitchison | 1863 | 26 Aug 1942 | 79 |
| 26 Aug 1942 | 2 | Walter de Lancey Aitchison | 14 May 1892 | 14 Oct 1953 | 61 | |
| 14 Oct 1953 | 3 | Stephen Charles de Lancey Aitchison | 10 Mar 1923 | 12 May 1958 | 35 | |
| For further information on the death of this | ||||||
| baronet,see the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 12 May 1958 | 4 | Charles Walter de Lancey Aitchison | 27 May 1951 | |||
| AITKEN of New Brunswick | ||||||
| 3 Jul 1916 | UK | 1 | William Maxwell Aitken | 25 May 1879 | 9 Jun 1964 | 85 |
| He was subsequently created Baron | ||||||
| Beaverbrook (qv) in 1917 with which title | ||||||
| the baronetcy remains merged | ||||||
| ALBU of Grosvenor Place | ||||||
| and Johannesburg,South Africa | ||||||
| 12 Feb 1912 | UK | 1 | George Albu | 26 Oct 1857 | 27 Dec 1935 | 78 |
| 27 Dec 1935 | 2 | George Werner Albu | 3 Sep 1905 | 18 Feb 1963 | 57 | |
| 18 Feb 1963 | 3 | George Albu | 5 Jun 1944 | |||
| ALEN of St Wolstans,Kildare | ||||||
| 7 Jun 1622 | I | 1 | Thomas Alen | c 1566 | 7 Mar 1627 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 8 Mar 1627 | ||||||
| ALEXANDER of Menstre,Clackmannan | ||||||
| 12 Jul 1625 | NS | 1 | William Alexander | c 1576 | 12 Feb 1640 | |
| He was subsequently created Earl of | ||||||
| Stirling (qv) in 1633 with which title | ||||||
| the baronetcy then merged until its | ||||||
| extinction in 1739 | ||||||
| ALEXANDER of Dublin | ||||||
| 11 Dec 1809 | UK | See "Cable-Alexander" | ||||
| ALEXANDER of Ballochmyle,Ayr | ||||||
| 22 Jan 1886 | UK | See "Hagart-Alexander" | ||||
| ALEXANDER of Edgehill,Stamford,Connecticut | ||||||
| 2 Jul 1921 | UK | 1 | Douglas Alexander | 4 Jul 1864 | 22 May 1949 | 84 |
| 22 May 1949 | 2 | Douglas Hamilton Alexander | 6 Jun 1900 | 1983 | 83 | |
| 1983 | 3 | Douglas Alexander | 9 Sep 1936 | |||
| ALEXANDER of Sundridge Park,Kent | ||||||
| 19 Nov 1945 | UK | 1 | Sir Frank Samuel Alexander | 17 Jun 1881 | 18 Jul 1959 | 78 |
| 18 Jul 1959 | 2 | Charles Gundry Alexander | 5 May 1923 | 31 Dec 2009 | 86 | |
| 31 Dec 2009 | 3 | Richard Alexander | 1 Sep 1947 | 2 Dec 2019 | 72 | |
| 2 Dec 2019 | 4 | Edward Samuel Alexander | 1 Oct 1974 | |||
| ALISON of Possil House,Devon | ||||||
| 25 Jun 1852 | UK | 1 | Archibald Alison | 29 Dec 1792 | 23 May 1867 | 74 |
| 23 May 1867 | 2 | Archibald Alison | 21 Jan 1826 | 5 Feb 1907 | 81 | |
| 5 Feb 1907 | 3 | Archibald Alison | 20 May 1862 | 7 Nov 1921 | 59 | |
| 7 Nov 1921 | 4 | Archibald Alison | 5 Nov 1888 | 9 Dec 1967 | 79 | |
| 9 Dec 1967 | 5 | Frederick Black Alison | 5 Aug 1893 | 13 Jan 1970 | 76 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 13 Jan 1970 | ||||||
| ALLAN of Kingsgate,Kent | ||||||
| 18 Sep 1819 | UK | 1 | Alexander Allan | c 1764 | 14 Sep 1820 | |
| to | MP for Berwick 1803-1806 and 1807-1820 | |||||
| 14 Sep 1820 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| ALLAN of Lucknow,India | ||||||
| 22 Jan 1858 | UK | See "Havelock-Allan" | ||||
| ALLEN of London | ||||||
| 14 Jun 1660 | E | 1 | Thomas Allen | 15 Dec 1690 | ||
| 15 Dec 1690 | 2 | Thomas Allen | c 1648 | 10 Jun 1730 | ||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 10 Jun 1730 | ||||||
| ALLEN of Marlow,Bucks | ||||||
| 23 Jan 1933 | UK | 1 | Frederick Charles Allen | 19 Jun 1864 | 27 Sep 1934 | 70 |
| 27 Sep 1934 | 2 | Francis Raymond Allen | 11 Jan 1910 | 19 Jan 1939 | 29 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 19 Jan 1939 | ||||||
| ALLEYN of Hatfield,Essex | ||||||
| 24 Jun 1629 | E | 1 | Edward Alleyn | c 1586 | Nov 1638 | |
| Nov 1638 | 2 | Edmund Alleyn | c 1632 | 2 Nov 1656 | ||
| 2 Nov 1656 | 3 | Edmund Alleyn | c 1658 | |||
| c 1658 | 4 | George Alleyn | 1664 | |||
| 1664 | 5 | George Alleyn | 1702 | |||
| 1702 | 6 | Clopton Alleyn | 8 Sep 1726 | |||
| 8 Sep 1726 | 7 | George Alleyn | c 1746 | |||
| c 1746 | 8 | Edmund Alleyn | 15 Sep 1759 | |||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 15 Sep 1759 | ||||||
| ALLEYNE of Four Hills,Barbados | ||||||
| 6 Apr 1769 | GB | 1 | John Gay Alleyne | 28 Apr 1724 | 1801 | 77 |
| 1801 | 2 | Reynold Abel Alleyne | 10 Jun 1789 | 14 Feb 1870 | 80 | |
| 14 Feb 1870 | 3 | John Gay Newton Alleyne | 8 Sep 1820 | 20 Feb 1912 | 91 | |
| 20 Feb 1912 | 4 | John Meynell Alleyne | 11 Aug 1889 | 17 Dec 1983 | 94 | |
| 17 Dec 1983 | 5 | John Olpherts Campbell Alleyne | 18 Jan 1928 | |||
| ALLIN of Blundeston,Suffolk | ||||||
| 7 Feb 1673 | E | 1 | Thomas Allin | c 1613 | 5 Oct 1685 | |
| 5 Oct 1685 | 2 | Thomas Allin | Oct 1696 | |||
| to | MP for Dunwich 1678 and 1679 | |||||
| Oct 1696 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| ALLIN of Somerleyton,Suffolk | ||||||
| 14 Dec 1699 | E | 1 | Richard Allin | c 1659 | 19 Oct 1725 | |
| MP for Dunwich 1709-1710 | ||||||
| 19 Oct 1725 | 2 | Thomas Allin | 12 Aug 1765 | |||
| 12 Aug 1765 | 3 | Ashurst Allin | c 1720 | 6 Nov 1770 | ||
| 6 Nov 1770 | 4 | Thomas Allin | 30 Apr 1794 | |||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 30 Apr 1794 | ||||||
| ALLSOPP of Hindlip Hall,Worcs | ||||||
| 7 May 1880 | UK | 1 | Henry Allsopp | 19 Feb 1811 | 2 Apr 1887 | 76 |
| He was subsequently created Baron | ||||||
| Hindlip (qv) in 1886 with which title | ||||||
| the baronetcy remains merged | ||||||
| ALSTON of Odell,Beds | ||||||
| 13 Jun 1642 | E | 1 | Thomas Alston | c 1609 | 11 Jul 1678 | |
| Jul 1678 | 2 | Rowland Alston | c 1654 | 24 Sep 1697 | ||
| Sep 1697 | 3 | Thomas Alston | c 1676 | Dec 1714 | ||
| MP for Bedford 1698-1701 | ||||||
| Dec 1714 | 4 | Rowland Alston | 6 Sep 1679 | 2 Jan 1759 | 79 | |
| MP for Bedfordshire 1722-1741 | ||||||
| 2 Jan 1759 | 5 | Thomas Alston | 18 Jul 1774 | |||
| MP for Bedfordshire 1747-1761 | ||||||
| 18 Jul 1774 | 6 | Rowland Alston | 29 Jun 1791 | |||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 29 Jun 1791 | ||||||
| ALSTON of Chelsea,London | ||||||
| 20 Jan 1682 | E | 1 | Joseph Alston | 31 May 1688 | ||
| May 1688 | 2 | Joseph Alston | c 1640 | 14 Mar 1689 | ||
| 14 Mar 1689 | 3 | Joseph Alston | c 1665 | 29 Jan 1716 | ||
| 29 Jan 1716 | 4 | Joseph Alston | 15 Sep 1691 | 1718 | 26 | |
| 1718 | 5 | Evelyn Alston | 12 Nov 1692 | 15 Apr 1750 | 57 | |
| Apr 1750 | 6 | Evelyn Alston | c 1721 | 1783 | ||
| 1783 | 7 | William Alston | 10 Apr 1722 | Nov 1801 | 79 | |
| Nov 1801 | 8 | William Alston | 1746 | 6 Mar 1819 | 72 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 6 Mar 1819 | ||||||
| AMCOTTS of Kettlethorpe Park,Lincs | ||||||
| 11 May 1796 | GB | 1 | Wharton Amcotts | 23 Feb 1740 | 26 Sep 1807 | 67 |
| MP for East Retford 1780-1790 and 1796-1802 | ||||||
| 26 Sep 1807 | 2 | William Ingilby (Amcotts-Ingilby from 1812) | 20 Jun 1783 | 14 May 1854 | 70 | |
| to | MP for East Retford 1807-1812, | |||||
| 14 May 1854 | Lincolnshire 1823-1832 and Lincolnshire | |||||
| North 1832-1835 | ||||||
| He subsequently succeeded to the | ||||||
| baronetcy of Ingleby of Ripley,Yorks | ||||||
| (qv) in 1815. | ||||||
| Both baronetcies extinct on his death | ||||||
| AMORY of Knightshayes Court,Devon | ||||||
| 21 Mar 1874 | UK | See "Heathcote-Amory" | ||||
| AMYAND of Moccas Court,Hereford | ||||||
| 9 Aug 1764 | GB | See "Cornewall" | ||||
| ANDERSON of St Ives,Hunts | ||||||
| 3 Jan 1629 | E | 1 | John Anderson | 1630 | ||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 1630 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Penley,Herts | ||||||
| 3 Jul 1643 | E | 1 | Henry Anderson | c 1608 | 7 Jul 1653 | |
| 7 Jul 1653 | 2 | Richard Anderson | c 1635 | 16 Aug 1699 | ||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 16 Aug 1699 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Broughton,Lincs | ||||||
| 11 Dec 1660 | E | 1 | Edmund Anderson | 10 Aug 1605 | 19 Jan 1661 | 55 |
| Jan 1661 | 2 | John Anderson | 23 Dec 1628 | 18 Mar 1670 | 41 | |
| 18 Mar 1670 | 3 | Edmund Anderson | c 1661 | 17 Dec 1676 | ||
| 17 Dec 1676 | 4 | Edmund Anderson | 7 Jan 1629 | c 1703 | ||
| c 1703 | 5 | Edmund Anderson | 4 Nov 1687 | 3 May 1765 | 77 | |
| 3 May 1765 | 6 | William Anderson | 31 Mar 1722 | 9 Mar 1785 | 62 | |
| 9 Mar 1785 | 7 | Edmund Anderson | 11 Sep 1758 | 30 May 1799 | 40 | |
| 30 May 1799 | 8 | Charles John Anderson | 5 Oct 1767 | 24 Mar 1846 | 78 | |
| 24 Mar 1846 | 9 | Charles Henry John Anderson | 24 Nov 1804 | 8 Oct 1891 | 86 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 8 Oct 1891 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Eyworth,Beds | ||||||
| 13 Jul 1664 | E | 1 | Stephen Anderson | c 1644 | 19 Jan 1707 | |
| 19 Jan 1707 | 2 | Stephen Anderson | 1 Oct 1678 | 21 Oct 1741 | 63 | |
| 21 Oct 1741 | 3 | Stephen Anderson | 15 Nov 1708 | 19 Feb 1773 | 64 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 19 Feb 1773 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Mill Hill,Middlesex | ||||||
| 14 May 1798 | GB | 1 | John William Anderson | c 1736 | 21 May 1813 | |
| to | MP for London 1793-1806 | |||||
| 21 May 1813 | Extinct on his death | |||||
| ANDERSON of Fermoy,Cork | ||||||
| 22 Mar 1813 | UK | 1 | James Caleb Anderson | 21 Jul 1792 | 4 Apr 1861 | 68 |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 4 Apr 1861 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Parkmount,Belfast and | ||||||
| Mullaghmore,Monaghan | ||||||
| 22 Jun 1911 | UK | 1 | Sir Robert Anderson | 8 Dec 1837 | 16 Jul 1921 | 83 |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 16 Jul 1921 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Ardtaraig,Perth | ||||||
| 7 May 1919 | UK | 1 | Sir Kenneth Skelton Anderson | 21 Dec 1866 | 9 Dec 1942 | 75 |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 9 Dec 1942 | ||||||
| ANDERSON of Harrold Priory,Beds | ||||||
| 15 Jun 1920 | UK | 1 | John Anderson | 8 May 1878 | 11 Apr 1963 | 84 |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 11 May 1963 | ||||||
| ANDERTON of Lostock,Lancs | ||||||
| 8 Oct 1677 | E | 1 | Francis Anderton | c 1628 | 9 Feb 1678 | |
| 9 Feb 1678 | 2 | Charles Anderton | 1657 | 30 Dec 1691 | 34 | |
| 30 Dec 1691 | 3 | Charles Anderton | 1705 | |||
| 1705 | 4 | James Anderton | 5 Oct 1710 | |||
| 5 Oct 1710 | 5 | Laurence Anderton | c 1680 | 4 Oct 1724 | ||
| 4 Oct 1724 | 6 | Francis Anderton | 12 Feb 1760 | |||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 12 Feb 1760 | ||||||
| ANDRE of Southampton | ||||||
| 4 Mar 1781 | GB | 1 | William Lewis Andre | 25 Nov 1760 | 11 Nov 1802 | 41 |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 11 Nov 1802 | ||||||
| ANDREWS of Doddington,Northants | ||||||
| 11 Dec 1641 | E | 1 | William Andrews | c 1649 | ||
| c 1649 | 2 | John Andrews | c 1665 | |||
| c 1665 | 3 | William Andrews | 15 Aug 1684 | |||
| 15 Aug 1684 | 4 | Francis Andrews | 3 Apr 1759 | |||
| 3 Apr 1759 | 5 | Williams Andrews | 1804 | |||
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 1804 | ||||||
| ANDREWS of Lathbury,Bucks | ||||||
| 27 May 1661 | E | 1 | Henry Andrews | c 1629 | 27 Aug 1696 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| Aug 1696 | ||||||
| ANDREWS of Shaw Place,Berks | ||||||
| 19 Aug 1766 | GB | 1 | Joseph Andrews | 30 Oct 1727 | 29 Dec 1800 | 73 |
| 29 Dec 1800 | 2 | Joseph Andrews | 22 Sep 1768 | 27 Feb 1822 | 53 | |
| to | Extinct on his death | |||||
| 27 Feb 1822 | ||||||
| ANDREWS of Comber,Down | ||||||
| 6 Jul 1942 | UK | 1 | James Andrews | 3 Jan 1877 | 18 Feb 1951 | 74 |
| to | Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland | |||||
| 18 Feb 1951 | 1937-1951. PC [NI] 1924 | |||||
| Extinct on his death | ||||||
| ANNESLEY of Mountnorris,co.Armagh | ||||||
| 7 Aug 1620 | I | 1 | Francis Annesley | 2 Jan 1586 | 23 Nov 1660 | 74 |
| He was subsequently created Viscount | ||||||
| Valentia (qv) in 1622 with which title this | ||||||
| baronetcy remains merged,although as at | ||||||
| 30/06/2014 this baronetcy does not appear on | ||||||
| the Official Roll of the Baronetage | ||||||
| ANSON of Birch Hall | ||||||
| 30 Sep 1831 | UK | 1 | William Anson | 13 Aug 1772 | 13 Jan 1847 | 74 |
| 13 Jan 1847 | 2 | John William Hamilton Anson | 26 Dec 1816 | 2 Aug 1873 | 56 | |
| For further information on the death of this | ||||||
| baronet,see the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 2 Aug 1873 | 3 | William Reynell Anson | 14 Nov 1843 | 4 Jun 1914 | 70 | |
| MP for Oxford University 1899-1914. | ||||||
| PC 1911 | ||||||
| 4 Jun 1914 | 4 | Denis George William Anson | 14 Aug 1888 | 3 Jul 1914 | 25 | |
| For further information on the death of this | ||||||
| baronet,see the note at the foot of this page | ||||||
| 3 Jul 1914 | 5 | John Henry Algernon Anson | 13 Jan 1897 | 10 Mar 1918 | 21 | |
| 10 Mar 1918 | 6 | Edward Reynell Anson | 31 Jan 1902 | 26 Jun 1951 | 49 | |
| 26 Jun 1951 | 7 | Peter Anson | 31 Jul 1924 | 17 Apr 2018 | 93 | |
| 17 Apr 2018 | 8 | Philip Roland Anson | 4 Oct 1957 | |||
| Sir William Neville Abdy, 2nd baronet [creation of 1850] and his wives | ||||||
| Following Sir William's death, the following article appeared in the Hobart 'Mercury' on | ||||||
| 15 September 1910:- | ||||||
| 'A strange and grimly pathetic figure has passed from the world with the death of Sir William | ||||||
| Abdy, Bart. Here….can be traced the failure of the hereditary principle. The title is an old | ||||||
| one and goes back to 1641 [although not in this creation], but the line was broken in 1868 | ||||||
| when the 7th holder died without children, at the age of ninety. This Sir William Abdy had | ||||||
| married, sixty years previously, a beautiful Miss Wellesley, [illegitimate] daughter of the | ||||||
| victor of Waterloo's elder brother [i.e. Marquess Wellesley]. The marriage led to a cause | ||||||
| célèbre, and was dissolved by Act of Parliament. Miss Wellesley subsequently married Lord | ||||||
| Charles Bentinck, and, in due time, became grandmother to the present Duke of Portland. | ||||||
| [and also grandmother to the then Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, one of whose | ||||||
| grand-daughters is now Queen Elizabeth II]. | ||||||
| 'The Sir William Abdy who has just died belonged to another branch of the family which had | ||||||
| also secured a baronetcy. He was no more fortunate in affairs of the heart than the | ||||||
| husband of Miss Wellesley had been. Born in 1844, and succeeding to the title in 1877, he | ||||||
| was married for the first time in 1883. | ||||||
| 'Sir William was interested in the famous Belt v. Lawes libel action, and was fascinated by | ||||||
| one of the witnesses, a Mdlle. Marie Therese Petritzka. He secured an introduction to this | ||||||
| lady through Mr. Belt, and settled £20,000 upon her on their marriage. [The libel action | ||||||
| referred to occurred in 1882, when Richard Claude Belt, a noted sculptor, sued Charles | ||||||
| Lawes (later Sir Charles Lawes, 2nd baronet), himself a sculptor, over articles allegedly | ||||||
| written by Lawes which had appeared in 'Vanity Fair' and elsewhere. For further information, | ||||||
| see the note under the Lawes baronetcy.] | ||||||
| 'Three years later Sir William prosecuted Belt for obtaining money under false pretences, | ||||||
| and the "sculptor" was convicted at the Old Bailey. Sir William Abdy's story was that Belt | ||||||
| told him that a lady named Morphy, who had been a mistress of the Sultan, was anxious to | ||||||
| find a purchaser for some valuable jewels which her royal protector had given her. Sir | ||||||
| William paid £8,000 for a parcel of paste jewels. After that, law suit followed law suit in | ||||||
| quick succession. In 1892 the first Lady Abdy sued her husband for divorce without success. | ||||||
| In 1897 Sir William figured as co-respondent in a notorious St. John's Wood [divorce] case. | ||||||
| Soon after his second marriage [Marie Petritzka had died in September 1902], he sued his | ||||||
| wife for a divorce, and won [he had married again in December 1902 and won the divorce in | ||||||
| 1905]. Finally, in spite of the fact that he was paralyzed as a result of an accident in the | ||||||
| hunting field many years earlier, Sir William married the present Lady Abdy [in Feb 1909]. He | ||||||
| showered a pitiable wealth of presents upon her. A country house near Dorking, a cheque | ||||||
| for £5,000, two motor-cars, jewels galore, horses and the like. The lady recently made a | ||||||
| small sensation by falling out of an aeroplane with Mr. Grahame White, and by offering a | ||||||
| large sum (some say £50,000) for the furtherance of aviation in England.' | ||||||
| This last reference regarding the third Lady Abdy relates to an incident which occurred in | ||||||
| June 1910, which was reported in 'The Times' on 20 June of that year:- | ||||||
| 'There was keen competition to obtain the privilege of making the first passenger flight with | ||||||
| Mr. C. Grahame-White at Brooklands on Saturday, but Lady Abdy, who secured the right, | ||||||
| was not to be envied her experience, for, through the engine not working well, both she | ||||||
| and the airman were thrown to the ground, though fortunately neither was hurt. | ||||||
| '…….After Lady Abdy had taken her place in the aeroplane the machine was started, but | ||||||
| it only rose a few feet in the air. The motor was not firing properly, and it became evident | ||||||
| that unless the engine would pick up the machine would have to be brought to the ground. | ||||||
| The airman described a half-circle, and they had just cleared the River Wey, but had | ||||||
| scarcely done so when the opposite bank was struck and the machine was badly damaged. | ||||||
| One of the blades of the propeller was broken off, and the right fore plane was damaged.' | ||||||
| One must have a certain admiration for Lady Abdy's courage. Her flight came less than 7 | ||||||
| years after the Wright Brothers' supposed first flight in December 1903. I say "supposed | ||||||
| first flight" because, while I have no doubt that this flight occurred, I have always felt | ||||||
| that the flights made by the New Zealander Richard Pearse pre-dated the Wright Brothers' | ||||||
| flight (although whether they were "controlled" flights is open to question), and that he | ||||||
| has never been given the credit he deserves. | ||||||
| In March 1912, Lady Abdy was again in the headlines after she had given a man named | ||||||
| Clairmonte Arnot in charge after he allegedly stole a diamond and pearl brooch belonging | ||||||
| to her. After he was acquitted of the theft, Arnot sued Lady Abdy for false imprisonment, | ||||||
| to his cost. In the Court's judgment, Mr. Justice Scrutton said "that in this case the | ||||||
| defendant [Lady Abdy] gave the plaintiff [Arnot] into custody on a charge of theft. At the | ||||||
| Sessions the jury acquitted the plaintiff of the theft. Thereupon the plaintiff brought an | ||||||
| action for false imprisonment, not for malicious prosecution, and that action was tried on | ||||||
| two days last week. His Lordship left to the jury the question whether the brooch was | ||||||
| stolen, and they found that it had not been stolen. He further left to the jury the question | ||||||
| of damages, and they returned a verdict for a farthing damages. The interpretation to be | ||||||
| put upon that finding was, he thought, that, while they acquitted the plaintiff of theft, they | ||||||
| considered his conduct was such as disentitled him from recovering damages. People talked | ||||||
| of a person leaving a Court without a stain upon his character, and his Lordship supposed | ||||||
| that a man who had been on two occasions acquitted of theft was in that position, but | ||||||
| his Lordship had rarely seen a more contemptible person in the witness-box than the | ||||||
| plaintiff on his own showing, and he (the Judge) took the same view as the jury as to | ||||||
| damages. In these circumstances there would be judgment for the plaintiff for one | ||||||
| farthing, but without costs. ['The Times' 26 March 1912] | ||||||
| Sir Charles Elphinstone Adam, 1st baronet [UK 1882] | ||||||
| William Patrick Adam was a Liberal politician and colonial administrator, who was MP for Clack- | ||||||
| mannan and Kinross from 1859-1880. During that period, he was twice First Commissioner of | ||||||
| Works (1873-1874 and 1880), Paymaster General (1873-1874), and Governor of Madras (1880- | ||||||
| 1881), which post he held at his death. | ||||||
| He was about to be created a baronet at the time of his death. Accordingly, his eldest son, | ||||||
| Charles Elphinstone Adam was created a baronet in his place. In addition, in the London Gazette | ||||||
| (issue 25110, page 2409) there appeared a notice dated 22 May 1882, which stated that "The | ||||||
| Queen has been pleased to ordain and declare that Emily Eliza Adam, Widow of the Right Honour- | ||||||
| able William Patrick Adam, C.I.E., later Governor of the Presidency of Fort St. George, at Madras, | ||||||
| in the East Indies, shall have, hold, and enjoy, the same style, title, place, and precedence to | ||||||
| which she would have been entitled had her said husband survived, and been created a Baronet." | ||||||
| Julia Georgina Affleck, wife of Sir Robert Affleck, 7th baronet | ||||||
| The following article appeared in the "Weekly Irish Times" on 8 January 1910:- | ||||||
| 'It has long been the fashion for ladies of title to be connected with trade, but only her own | ||||||
| personal acquaintances have known that for the past seven or eight months Lady Affleck, the | ||||||
| wife of Sir Robert Affleck, Bart., has been engaged as a saleswoman at Messrs. Selfridge's great | ||||||
| emporium in Oxford street. In fact, up to a few days ago, only Mr. Gordon Selfridge and Mr. A. | ||||||
| W. Best (the staff superintendent) knew that the smart saleswoman in the costumes depart- | ||||||
| ment, dressed in the regulation black costume and known to her fellow assistants as Mme. Julie, | ||||||
| was the wife of a baronet, who had seen financial misfortune. Mr. Best, in an interview, said | ||||||
| that Lady Affleck was among the 10,000 people who applied for situations when Selfridge's | ||||||
| opened last spring. "She told me her life-story," said Mr. Best, "explained that she had spent | ||||||
| thousands a year in shops, and was prepared to take any situation I could offer. I was (added | ||||||
| Mr. Best) so struck with her grit and determination under misfortune that I decided to give her | ||||||
| a trial and appointed her a 'critic' - that is to say, she opened an account with Selfridge's, and | ||||||
| proceeded to make purchases in all the various departments, and give as her criticism a written | ||||||
| report. In this position she proved a great success. Her former experience served her in good | ||||||
| stead, and her reports were full of excellent criticisms of the various departments in which she | ||||||
| made purchases. The result was that I eventually gave her a position in the costumes depart- | ||||||
| ment as saleswoman, and an excellent saleswoman she proved herself to be." | ||||||
| 'Lady Affleck, who was a Miss Julia Georgina Prince, daughter of Mr. John Sampson Prince, was | ||||||
| married to Sir Robert Affleck, the seventh Baronet, on March 9, 1886. In 1900 Sir Robert sold | ||||||
| the Dalham Hall estate, near Newmarket, to the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes for £107,000. Dalham Hall | ||||||
| had been the seat of the Afflecks for a couple of centuries. It is a stately house, built during | ||||||
| the reign of Queen Anne by one of the Bishops of Ely, and the estate comprised over 3,000 | ||||||
| acres. The property afforded the best partridge shooting in England. The title was conferred in | ||||||
| 1782 on Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Affleck in consideration of his gallant conduct in command of | ||||||
| the centre division in the memorable victory gained by Admiral Rodney on April 12 of that year. | ||||||
| The Admiral had no issue, and was succeeded by his nephew, who, in turn, was succeeded by | ||||||
| his cousin so that the relationship between the Admiral and the present baronet is not very | ||||||
| intimate. The Afflecks are descended from Gilbert Affleck, of Dalham Hall, a descendant of the | ||||||
| ancient Scottish family of Auchinleck, Admiral Sir Edmund being the ninth son. Sir Robert | ||||||
| Affleck's affairs were before the Bankruptcy Court in 1903. The accounts showed liabilities of | ||||||
| £45,000, and the assets were expected to produce a surplus of £11,000. Debtor attributed his | ||||||
| difficulties to his having been defrauded of £10,000 by a solicitor and to his capital being locked | ||||||
| up in the Barton Court Estate, Hants.' | ||||||
| For further information regarding the Affleck's family seat at Dalham Hall, see the following link:- | ||||||
| http://www.landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/50-affleck-of-dalham-hall-baronets.html | ||||||
| The story of Lady Affleck is of great interest to me at a personal level, since my paternal | ||||||
| grandmother was employed in the book department at Selfridge's during the same period, and | ||||||
| it is thus very possible that the two ladies knew each other. | ||||||
| The fate of the Affleck baronetcy | ||||||
| The obituary of Sir Frederick Affleck, 8th baronet, which was published in 'The Times' on | ||||||
| 27 July 1939, reads:- | ||||||
| 'The death of Sir Frederick Affleck, eighth baronet, is announced by a Reuter message | ||||||
| from Brisbane. He was a fruit grower. Born on February 3, 1856, Frederick Danby James | ||||||
| Affleck was the eldest son of the late Rev. James Danby Affleck, third son of the fourth | ||||||
| baronet. He succeeded his cousin in 1919. In 1904 he married Lily, daughter of Alfred | ||||||
| Quarm Ross, and had two sons, the elder being Mr. Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, who | ||||||
| was born in 1905.' (my emphasis) | ||||||
| Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, born 29 March 1905, is also shown as the heir to the | ||||||
| baronetcy in the eighth baronet's entry in "Who's Who." | ||||||
| On the face of it, therefore, there would seem to be little doubt that Sir Frederick left male | ||||||
| heirs, apparently legitimate, who would normally be expected to inherit the baronetcy, but | ||||||
| the title, on the death of the eighth baronet, appears to have become extinct. I can find | ||||||
| no trace of the baronetcy after 1939 - no entry ever appeared in "Who's Who" which | ||||||
| indicates that the title passed to a son, and Colin Parry's "Index of Baronetage Creations" | ||||||
| states that the title became extinct in 1939. Now, however, due to the kindness of my | ||||||
| friend, archivist Nicholas Kingsley, who runs a magnificent site at landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/ | ||||||
| I am able to finally resolve this question. If you wish to know anything about the landowning | ||||||
| families of the British Isles and the country houses they lived in, Nick's page is where you | ||||||
| should go. Nick was able to supply me with a copy of the Affleck file held in the National | ||||||
| Archives, and for this I am very grateful to him. | ||||||
| The letters in the file cover a period of nine years, a period explained by the distance between | ||||||
| London and Brisbane during a time of warfare, together with the apparent dilatoriness of the | ||||||
| Civil Service (or at least one of its members). Many of the documents in the file are merely | ||||||
| "covering" letters of the "please find attached" variety, and I have therefore limited this note to | ||||||
| those documents of substance. The first of these is a letter from the 8th baronet's widow to | ||||||
| the Registrar of the Baronetage, appended below. I have retained Lady Affleck's underlinings. | ||||||
| 7th March 1940 | ||||||
| The Registrar of the Baronetage, London | ||||||
| Dear Sir, | ||||||
| Please accept my regrets, that owing to the war, the uncertainty of safe delivery of overseas | ||||||
| mail, family trouble, and the state of my health; you have not been ere this notified of the | ||||||
| death of my late husband, Frederick Danby James Affleck, 8th baronet, son of the Rev. James | ||||||
| Danby Affleck, Dalham, Suffolk, England, who died at the General Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland | ||||||
| Australia, on the 24th July 1939, aged 83 years, 6 months. Born 1856, February 3rd. | ||||||
| I was associated with Sir Frederick 15 years previous to our marriage. During that period I bore | ||||||
| him three children, Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, born at Wynnum, Brisbane, Queensland, | ||||||
| March 29th 1905, Dalham, registered Dalham, christened Dalham Robert Affleck, born at | ||||||
| Morningside, Brisbane, Queensland May 3rd 1906, Pansy Gabrielle Affleck, born at Crows Nest, | ||||||
| Toowoomba, Queensland, January 17th 1909, deceased June 7th 1914. | ||||||
| The children were registered in their father's surname. Before residing with Mr. Affleck, I had | ||||||
| been living apart from my husband by deed of separation drawn out by Messrs O'Shea and | ||||||
| O'Shea, Solicitors, Brisbane. | ||||||
| One day in Toowoomba, as Frederick and I were about to entrain for Brisbane, he purchased | ||||||
| "The Toowoomba Chronicle"; it contained a paragraph referring to the death by accident on the | ||||||
| railway line, of a man whose Christian and surnames, description and age corresponded to that | ||||||
| of husband. | ||||||
| Mr. Affleck and I held no doubt whatever but that it was he - strengthened by the fact that | ||||||
| my husband was a hopeless inebriate, the more so that the accident occurred near a mental | ||||||
| home from which the man had wandered. That was in 1911. | ||||||
| Later, not having seen or heard from him for a period of 13 years (thirteen) and being fully | ||||||
| convinced of his death Mr. Affleck and I were married at Brisbane, November 23, 1918. | ||||||
| Years passed. Just 13 years later 1931, I met my first husband's sister whom I had not seen | ||||||
| for 26 years. | ||||||
| She said her brother had died in Sidney [sic] a few years previous to our conversation. | ||||||
| I then realised that my second marriage was not valid. | ||||||
| Frederick and I again married, not before satisfying Mr G. Porter, Reg. General for Births, | ||||||
| Marriages and Deaths, Brisbane, Queensland that I was free to take this step. | ||||||
| Acting upon his advice, I obtained confirmation of the decease of my first husband from the | ||||||
| Reg. General, Sidney, who sent word that he had found the entry-of-death. | ||||||
| Mr. Porter read the document from the Reg. General, Sidney, made further inquiry - then upon | ||||||
| that information, consented to my marriage with Sir Frederick, which took place in Ann | ||||||
| Street Presbyterian Church, Brisbane, June 21st, 1939. | ||||||
| Six days later, on the 27th June, 1939 my three children were legitimated at the Registry | ||||||
| Office for Births, Marriages and Deaths, Brisbane by Mr. Scott, Deputy Registrar in the presence | ||||||
| of Sir Frederick and myself. | ||||||
| Four weeks later Sir Frederick passed away. | ||||||
| Subsequently I consulted Mr. Corser one of the partners in the legal firm of O'Shea & O'Shea, | ||||||
| Corser & Wadley, who gave me his assurance that our son Frederick James Siddartha having | ||||||
| been legitimated prior to his father's demise, is by virtue of that legitimacy now the lawful | ||||||
| successor to the Baronetcy. | ||||||
| My son, who hopes next year to establish himself with you request[s] me in the meantime to | ||||||
| communicate with "The Registrar of the Baronetage, London. | ||||||
| Sir Frederick died happy in the knowledge that his children were legitimate, and spoke of the | ||||||
| matter two days before his death, saying that he was now ready to leave us. | ||||||
| He was an English gentleman. | ||||||
| Will you please be so good as to forward all correspondence on this matter, whether to my son | ||||||
| or myself to the address as under: | ||||||
| Lilley Affleck, | ||||||
| Seaville Avenue, | ||||||
| Scarborough, | ||||||
| Brisbane, | ||||||
| Queensland, | ||||||
| Australia. | ||||||
| Thanking you, I am, Faithfully Yours | ||||||
| Lilley Affleck | ||||||
| The next document of importance in the file is that written by an A.J. Eagleston and dated | ||||||
| August 1940. It will be noted that Eagleston's note contains the term "incorporeal hereditament" | ||||||
| and it would be wise to understand the meaning of these words before proceeding further. | ||||||
| A hereditament is any kind of property that can be inherited. Hereditaments are divided into | ||||||
| two classes - corporeal and incorporeal. Corporeal hereditaments are "such as affect the | ||||||
| senses, and may be seen and handled by the body; incorporeal are not the subject of | ||||||
| sensation, can neither be seen nor handled, are creatures of the mind, and exist only in | ||||||
| contemplation." [Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England."] An example of a | ||||||
| corporeal hereditament is land held in freehold. On the other hand, examples of incorporeal | ||||||
| hereditaments include such items as hereditary dignities and titles of honour (including | ||||||
| baronetcies), coats of arms, rights of way, easements, rents and pensions. | ||||||
| 1. Frederick Danby James Affleck, the 8th baronet, died in Queensland on the 24th July, 1939. | ||||||
| A claim to the baronetcy has been made on behalf of his elder son, Frederick James Siddartha | ||||||
| Affleck, born in Queensland on the 29th March, 1905. | ||||||
| The claimant was born before the marriage of his parents. The question for decision is whether | ||||||
| he is entitled to succeed his father in the baronetcy. | ||||||
| 2. The claimant was born in Queensland in 1905; his father was the deceased baronet; and his | ||||||
| mother was Lily Ross who at the time of the birth was married to somebody other than the | ||||||
| father of the claimant. | ||||||
| In 1918 the claimant's father went through a form of marriage with Lily Ross in Queensland. | ||||||
| Subsequently it was learned that the husband of Lily Ross was still alive. | ||||||
| On the 21st June, 1939, it having been established then that the husband of Lily Ross was | ||||||
| dead, the claimant's father and his mother were married in Brisbane. | ||||||
| The claimant was, in accordance with the requirements of the Queensland Legitimation Acts, | ||||||
| registered on 27 July, 1939. | ||||||
| 3. It must be observed that this narrative of facts is based on information supplied by Lily Ross; | ||||||
| the facts have not been verified from official records. No doubt this can easily be done, but it | ||||||
| seems desirable to clear up the legal point set out below before giving the applicant the trouble | ||||||
| of producing the documents. | ||||||
| The deceased baronet had lived in Queensland from a date prior to 1905 until his death in 1939. | ||||||
| It seems clear that he was domiciled in Queensland both at the time of the claimant's birth and | ||||||
| at the time of his own marriage, and this has been assumed for the purpose of this | ||||||
| memorandum. | ||||||
| 4. There seems to be no doubt that the claimant is legitimate according to the law of | ||||||
| Queensland. Copies of the Queensland Legitimation Acts, 1899 and 1938, are attached to this | ||||||
| memorandum. It should perhaps be added, though of course it does not affect the validity of | ||||||
| the applicant's claim to the title, that the claimant and his younger brother are understood to | ||||||
| have been convicted at Brisbane in 1937 of robbery and blackmail and sentenced to 4 years' | ||||||
| imprisonment. | ||||||
| 5. Since the claimant's father was domiciled in Queensland at the time of the marriage with | ||||||
| the claimant's mother, and since the claimant by the law of Queensland, became legitimated | ||||||
| by this marriage, that the claimant is in England recognised as having been legitimated from the | ||||||
| date of the marriage and is in the same position as a person legitimated by the Act; and this, | ||||||
| it seems is so notwithstanding the exception contained in section 1(2) of the Act as regards | ||||||
| the case where the father or mother is married to a third person when the illegitimate child | ||||||
| was born. (Collins v Attorney-General 1931). The grounds for this decision are not very clearly | ||||||
| brought out in the report; but presumably the decision was based on the view that the words | ||||||
| "nothing in this Act shall operate to legitimate a person" in section 1(2) should not be construed | ||||||
| as having effect in relation to the operation of extraneous law as applied by section 8, since | ||||||
| that law, being a law of the domicile, should be applied in its entirety and without any limitation. | ||||||
| 6. But by section 10 of the Act of 1926 nothing in that Act is to affect the succession to any | ||||||
| dignity or title of honour. From this it would appear to follow that the legitimation in Queensland | ||||||
| cannot enable the claimant to succeed to the baronetcy unless he would have been entitled to | ||||||
| succeed under the law of England as it was before the Legitimacy Act 1926 was passed. | ||||||
| 7. Before the passing of the Legitimacy Act 1926, the law, it is submitted, was this:- a person | ||||||
| born before the marriage of his father and mother was recognised by English law as legitimate | ||||||
| provided that his father was domiciled at the time of the birth of the child and at the time of | ||||||
| the marriage in a country by the law of which the child was legitimated by the subsequent | ||||||
| marriage, but such legitimacy did not enable the person to succeed as heir to lands in England | ||||||
| (see the authorities cited in In re Goodman's Trusts (1881). | ||||||
| 8. It seems, therefore, that the Claimant is entitled to succeed unless the succession to a | ||||||
| baronetcy is governed by the same rule as formerly applied to succession as an heir to lands | ||||||
| in England. | ||||||
| Although there have been cases of a claim to a Scottish peerage by a person born before the | ||||||
| marriage of his parents (Strathmore Peerage case 1821, Lauderdale Peerage (1885) the general | ||||||
| case of a claim to a dignity or title of honour by such a person appears never to have arisen. | ||||||
| There is ample authority for maintaining that a peerage is an inalienable incorporeal | ||||||
| hereditament (Viscountess Rhondda's claim (1922), Earl Cowley v. Countess Cowley 1901. But | ||||||
| the only case relating to a baronetcy which has been found is the case of Sir T. Rivett Carnac's | ||||||
| Will (1885) in which it was held that, where the patent for a baronetcy was granted to the | ||||||
| grantee and the heirs male of his body, the dignity was descendible as an estate tail, notwith- | ||||||
| standing that no place was named in the creation of the title. The effect of this decision is | ||||||
| that the dignity of baronetcy is an incorporeal hereditament and therefore "land" within | ||||||
| the meaning of the Settled Land Act 1882; and if this case was rightly decided it is difficult | ||||||
| to avoid the conclusion that the judicial decisions as to the descent of land to legitimated | ||||||
| Barons are applicable [my emphasis]. | ||||||
| 9. The decision as to the claim of Frederick James Siddartha Affleck would, therefore, appear | ||||||
| to depend on the answer given to the following question:- | ||||||
| The claimant having been born before the marriage of his father and mother, and the | ||||||
| claimant's father having been domiciled in Queensland at the time of the marriage and at the | ||||||
| time of the claimant's birth, and the claimant being legitimate according to the law of | ||||||
| Queensland, is the claimant as eldest son of his father entitled to the baronetcy? | ||||||
| 10. It may be observed that a decision that a person in Mr. Affleck's position is incapable of | ||||||
| succeeding to a baronetcy may possibly lead to an awkward and undesirable conflict of laws. | ||||||
| The effect would be that he is legitimate for all purposes in his country of domicile (Australia), | ||||||
| and, since the Legitimacy Act 1926, legitimate for all purposes except succession to a title in | ||||||
| England. Suppose he insists on assuming and using the title after being told that his right to | ||||||
| do so is not recognised by His Majesty. The only means of enforcing the decision is by refusing | ||||||
| to receive him at Court as a baronet or to give him the title in official documents. This is done | ||||||
| in England on the advice of His Majesty's British Ministers acting on a finding of the British | ||||||
| Privy Council. But in Australia the right of advising His Majesty belongs to His Australian | ||||||
| Ministers, and they might advise that as the man is legitimate without reservation by Australian | ||||||
| law His Majesty ought to recognise his title in the Commonwealth. | ||||||
| 11. This is very unlikely to happen in the present case, as the character of the claimant is not | ||||||
| such as to secure either public sympathy or official support for him; but the same question | ||||||
| might easily arise in the case of a popular and respected citizen of Australia, and the fact that | ||||||
| a man's right to a title was not recognised in England owing to a technical difference between | ||||||
| the English and Australian law of legitimation the logical base of which is removed, or at least | ||||||
| greatly weakened, by the removal of the corresponding difference as to the succession in the | ||||||
| case of a landed estate might cause friction and ill-feeling. This seems a good reason for | ||||||
| getting the question settled on a particular case of such a nature that the point of law can be | ||||||
| discussed on its merits alone sine ira et studio [without hate and zealousness]. | ||||||
| No further action appears to be have been taken until June 1949, when the following note was | ||||||
| submitted to the Attorney General for his opinion. | ||||||
| CLAIM TO THE BARONETCY OF AFFLECK | ||||||
| SUBMITTED FOR THE OPINION OF A LAW OFFICER | ||||||
| PURSUANT TO ART. II OF THE ROLL OF THE | ||||||
| BARONETAGE ROYAL WARRANT DATED 10TH MARCH 1922 | ||||||
| 1. Art. II of the Royal Warrant of 10th March 1922 provides that if in any case the Secretary of | ||||||
| State finds difficulty in advising the King as to the validity of the claims of any person to be | ||||||
| placed or to be retained on the Roll he shall refer the matter to one of the Law Officers for his | ||||||
| Opinion thereon and shall, after that opinion has been obtained, decide whether the case shall | ||||||
| be referred to the Privy Council for decision or not. | ||||||
| 2. This case was sent to Swan on the 5th September 1940 and again in 1947. It is another | ||||||
| regrettable instance of Swan's inactivity for the Home Office were unable to obtain any opinion. | ||||||
| There is, as usual in these cases of delay, no record in the Department. Further copies of the | ||||||
| papers have, therefore, been submitted. | ||||||
| 3. The short point on which a Law Officer's Opinion is requested is whether the legitimation | ||||||
| of the elder son of the baronet per subsequens matrimonium of his parents who were domiciled | ||||||
| in Australia is recognised by English law and, if so, whether he is entitled to succeed to the | ||||||
| baronetcy. | ||||||
| 4. Affleck, the 8th Baronet, lived in Queensland from a date prior to 1905 until his death in | ||||||
| 1939 and was clearly domiciled there. | ||||||
| 5. The elder son, the claimant, was born on the 29th March 1905 before the marriage of his | ||||||
| parents, his mother then being married to somebody other than the father of the claimant. | ||||||
| 6. In 1918 the claimant's father and mother went through a form of marriage in Queensland. | ||||||
| Subsequently it was learned that the husband of the mother was still alive. | ||||||
| 7. On 21st June 1939, it having been established then that her husband was dead, the | ||||||
| claimant's father and mother were married in Brisbane. | ||||||
| 8. The Claimant was, in accordance with the requirements of the Queensland Legitimation | ||||||
| Acts, 1899 to 1938, registered on the 27th June 1939. | ||||||
| 9. The father died in Queensland on the 24th July 1939. | ||||||
| 10. The claimant is clearly legitimate according to the law of Queensland. | ||||||
| 11. Is the claimant recognised as legitimated by English law? | ||||||
| 12. Sec. 8 of the Legitimacy Act 1926 provided that where the parents of an illegitimate person | ||||||
| marry and the father was domiciled at the time of the marriage in a country, other than | ||||||
| England, by the law of which the illegitimate person became legitimated by virtue of such | ||||||
| subsequent marriage, that person shall be recognised in England as having been so legitimated. | ||||||
| 13. The claimant's legitimation is therefore, I submit, recognised in England notwithstanding | ||||||
| Sec. 1 (2) which provides: | ||||||
| "Nothing in this Act shall operate to legitimate a person whose father or mother was | ||||||
| married to a third person when the illegitimate person was born." | ||||||
| See Collins v A-G (1931) 145 L.T. which held that the restriction under Sec. 1 (2) does not | ||||||
| apply when the person seeking to be declared legitimate is domiciled abroad and when by the | ||||||
| law of the domicile he would be legitimated per subsequens matrimonium. | ||||||
| 14. As far as is known, the claimant is domiciled in Australia. | ||||||
| 15. Sec. 10 of the 1926 Act provides: | ||||||
| "Nothing in this Act shall affect the succession to any dignity or title of honour or | ||||||
| render any person capable of succeeding to or transmitting a right to succeed to | ||||||
| any such dignity or title" | ||||||
| 16. It follows, therefore, that the legitimation in Queensland cannot enable the claimant to | ||||||
| succeed to the title unless he would have been entitled to succeed under the law of England | ||||||
| before 1st January 1927, the date when the 1926 Act came into force. | ||||||
| 17. [Then follows reference to a number of English cases regarding the law of extraneous | ||||||
| legitimation prior to 1926 which lead to the conclusion below] | ||||||
| 18. The conclusion is that before 1927 the law recognised as legitimate a person born before | ||||||
| the marriage of his father and mother provided that his father was domiciled at the time of the | ||||||
| birth of the child and at the time of the marriage in a country by the law of which the child was | ||||||
| legitimated by the subsequent marriage; but that such legitimacy did not enable the person | ||||||
| to succeed as heir to lands in England. (my emphasis) | ||||||
| 19. The question remains, what is the nature of a baronetcy? Is it an incorporeal hereditament | ||||||
| and therefore land? | ||||||
| 20. In peerage cases there is ample authority for maintaining that a peerage is an inalienable | ||||||
| incorporeal hereditament. Viscountess Rhondda's claim (1922 2 A.C. 339) | ||||||
| 21. In re Sir F. Rivett-Carnac's Will (1885) which appears to be the only case relating to a | ||||||
| baronetcy, it was held that a baronetcy was an incorporeal hereditament and was "land" within | ||||||
| the meaning of the Settled Land Act 1882. There was no difference in these respects between | ||||||
| a baronetcy and other descendible dignities. | ||||||
| 22. [This paragraph contains a discussion of the situation in Scotland where a legitimated child | ||||||
| is entitled to succeed to a title or dignity.] | ||||||
| 23. I submit that there can be no doubt that the claimant could not have succeeded to the | ||||||
| baronetcy as the law was before the Act of 1926 and it follows from Sec. 10 of the Act that he | ||||||
| cannot do so now. (This is, in a way, fortunate, as the claimant and his younger brother are | ||||||
| understood to have been convicted at Brisbane in 1937 of robbery and blackmail and sentenced | ||||||
| to 4 years imprisonment.) | ||||||
| If you approve I will so formally notify the Home Office. | ||||||
| Initialled M.E.R[eed] | ||||||
| Finally, immediately following the submission to the Attorney General above, there is a letter | ||||||
| from Reed to the Under-Secretary of State at the Home office, dated 22 June 1949, which | ||||||
| reads:- | ||||||
| Sir, | ||||||
| I have submitted to the Attorney-General the papers accompanying your letter of 5th | ||||||
| September 1940, respecting the claim of Mr. Frederick James Siddartha Affleck to the Baronetcy | ||||||
| of Affleck of Dalham Hall. | ||||||
| I am directed to inform you that in the Attorney-General's opinion, the claimant cannot succeed | ||||||
| to the Baronetcy. | ||||||
| I am, Sir | ||||||
| Your obedient Servant | ||||||
| M E Reed | ||||||
| In summary therefore, both Frederick James Siddartha Affleck and his younger brother Dalham | ||||||
| Robert Affleck were born before the marriage of their parents. However, their parents subsequ- | ||||||
| ently married a short time prior to the death of the 8th baronet, and, under the laws of | ||||||
| Queensland, the two sons became legitimated when this marriage took place. However, this | ||||||
| legitimation did not extend to the succession to incorporeal hereditaments (i.e. the baronetcy) | ||||||
| and as a result, there being no other heirs, the baronetcy had become extinct on the death of | ||||||
| the 8th baronet. | ||||||
| ******************** | ||||||
| Readers who have followed the story so far will, no doubt, have noticed references to the | ||||||
| Affleck brothers' criminal records (Paragraph 4 in Eagleton's note and paragraph 23 of Reed's | ||||||
| note). Given that the Affleck family lived in Queensland, I searched the Australian newspapers | ||||||
| for mention of Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, and found that he (and his younger brother) | ||||||
| were indeed 'wrong 'uns.' Four articles referring to them were published in the Melbourne 'Argus' | ||||||
| between 1937 and 1939, as follows (all four articles refer to the events as having occurred | ||||||
| in Brisbane):- | ||||||
| 25 November 1937 - | ||||||
| 'After a brief retirement a jury to-day brought in a verdict of guilty on all charges of | ||||||
| conspiracy and blackmail against Dalham Robert Affleck, aged 31 years, labourer, Frederick | ||||||
| James Affleck, aged 32 years, labourer, and Ernest Barker, aged 39 years, grocer. They | ||||||
| were remanded until December 2 for sentence. | ||||||
| 'The charges arose out of incidents in a flat at New Farm [a suburb of Brisbane], when John | ||||||
| Wilson, a young lad employed in a city store, was enticed to a flat and assaulted. While | ||||||
| unconscious he was photographed. Defendants then used the photographs in an endeavour | ||||||
| to extort money from Wilson. | ||||||
| 'The Crown Prosecutor, addressing the jury, said that Wilson was in a serious condition in | ||||||
| hospital with a bullet wound in his chest. "If the boy should die defendants would be morally | ||||||
| guilty of murder," he said. | ||||||
| 'His Honour, in remanding them for sentence, said he regarded the crime as extremely | ||||||
| serious. The maximum penalty was life imprisonment; although he did not intend to impose | ||||||
| that sentence.' | ||||||
| 3 December 1937 - | ||||||
| 'Dalham Roger Affleck, aged 31 years, labourer, and Frederick James Affleck, aged 30 years | ||||||
| [sic for 32], labourer, were each sentenced in the Criminal Court to-day to four years' | ||||||
| imprisonment, with hard labour on charges that they threatened to extort money from John | ||||||
| Frank Wilson by accusing him of gross indecency; that they demanded money with intent | ||||||
| to steal; threatened to use violence and use or publish, a photograph of an act of | ||||||
| indecency. | ||||||
| 'Ernest Barker, aged 39 years, grocer, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard | ||||||
| labour on similar charges, sentence being suspended on his entering into a bond of £100 and | ||||||
| one surety of £100……..' | ||||||
| 31 July 1939 - | ||||||
| 'Sir Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, ninth baronet of Dalham Hall, succeeded to the title | ||||||
| while in Boggo road gaol, Brisbane. He and his brother, Dalham Robert Affleck, will spend | ||||||
| nearly three more years in gaol as the result of a sentence for robbery and blackmail | ||||||
| committed in Brisbane last year. | ||||||
| 'His father, the eighth baronet, Sir Frederick Danby James Affleck, died in Brisbane last | ||||||
| week, and was buried in the Toowong Cemetery. | ||||||
| 'In an interview in the gaol, the new baronet, who is aged 34 years, said he hoped to go | ||||||
| to England to take up the title when he was free. He also hopes to become an author. | ||||||
| 'The late Sir Frederick Affleck had lived in Queensland since the [1880s], and was aged 83 | ||||||
| years when he died. He had farms in the Wide Bay district. In 1903 he was the licensee | ||||||
| of the National Hotel, Brisbane. There is no estate accompanying the title.' | ||||||
| 9 August 1939 - | ||||||
| 'Sir Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, aged 34 years, ninth baronet of Dalham Hall, Suffolk, | ||||||
| England lost an appeal in the Criminal Appeal Court to-day against his conviction on | ||||||
| November 24, 1937 on a charge of having in company robber a youth of a letter and two | ||||||
| receipts. Affleck was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on this charge. He is also | ||||||
| serving sentences for conspiracy and blackmail. He recently succeeded to the title while | ||||||
| in gaol.' | ||||||
| **************** | ||||||
| After I posted my initial draft of this note on the pages of a newsgroup of which I am a | ||||||
| member, a fellow member advised me to have a look at a book entitled "Sunshine and | ||||||
| rainbows: the development of gay and lesbian culture in Queensland" [Thanks, Richard!] | ||||||
| This book was written by Professor Clive Moore of the University of Queensland, and | ||||||
| Professor Moore has kindly granted me permission to quote the relevant section of his | ||||||
| book in this note, as follows:- | ||||||
| '…..Boggo Road prison in Brisbane was Queensland's main jail for several decades. It has | ||||||
| housed many illustrious inmates, even the occasional Knight of the realm, but probably | ||||||
| only one Baronet, Sir Frederick James Siddartha Affleck, 9th Baronet, of Dalham, County | ||||||
| Suffolk, England. The 'camera blackmailers' case, as it became known, rocked Brisbane | ||||||
| in 1937, when a Brunswick Street apartment building, still standing today, became infamous | ||||||
| as a centre of a gay pornography and blackmail racket. | ||||||
| 'The Honourable Sid Affleck first came to the attention of the Queensland police in late | ||||||
| 1937 when he and his brother Dalham, with Ernest Barker, were charged with conspiring to, | ||||||
| and actually blackmailing John W. They had threatened to accuse John W., a blond twenty- | ||||||
| one year old shop assistant of Penny's Department Store in nearby Fortitude Valley, of | ||||||
| committing an act of gross indecency. One evening in early September, Dalham Affleck met | ||||||
| John W on his way to All Saints Church, luring him back to his flat in the Avalon building | ||||||
| in Brunswick Street 'to see some eastern articles.' Once there, Dalham Affleck king-hit | ||||||
| John W, knocking him out. The young man claimed to have regained consciousness to find | ||||||
| himself lying on a bed wearing only his singlet, with the two Affleck brothers going through | ||||||
| his belongings. While their victim was unconscious, the Afflecks had photographed him | ||||||
| committing 'gross indecency,' presumably oral sex, with Dalham Affleck. When the police | ||||||
| raided the flat in November they found a camera concealed in the wardrobe, focussed on | ||||||
| the bed, along with negatives and photos of other young men in similar positions. In | ||||||
| evidence the Afflecks admitted running a club for 'jaded business men who desired to come | ||||||
| there for a play-around and be photographed in the nude. We have never demanded money | ||||||
| from any of them and I can call them to prove it.' During the Affleck's tenancy, Flat G in the | ||||||
| Avalon building seems to have become a gay brothel, the brothers providing themselves or | ||||||
| other young men for sexual services for well-to-do business men, and indulging in a bit of | ||||||
| blackmail on the side. | ||||||
| 'The Afflecks wanted to blackmail John W, suggesting that he steal money from his | ||||||
| employers to pay them. A week after the incident John W was so distressed that, in a state | ||||||
| of nervous collapse, he had to consult his doctor. This was because the Afflecks had | ||||||
| visited him at work, attempting further intimidation. John W, wisely, then told Pennys' | ||||||
| manager of the plot. The police became involved, providing John W with marked pound | ||||||
| notes to give to the Afflecks. On 21 September Detective 'Nobby' Clark went to the flat, | ||||||
| finding Dalham Affleck and the marked notes. Later, when his younger brother [sic - should | ||||||
| be older brother] and Barker returned from the movies, the detective took possession of a | ||||||
| series of negatives 'of Brisbane residents in indecent and revolting positions in the nude. | ||||||
| And, with one lone exceptional female of the species, the figures were all males.' | ||||||
| 'Only one of the negatives showed John W and Dalham Affleck, but Dalham featured in | ||||||
| most of them. Mr. Justice Macrossan spoke to the jury on the nature of the photo including | ||||||
| John W, instructing them to place no stigma on the young man's character, despite the | ||||||
| Affleck's protestations that their young victim led them on……John W was not available to | ||||||
| give evidence in the November trial because he had attempted to commit suicide by | ||||||
| shooting himself on the day of the Court proceedings. | ||||||
| 'Dalham and Sid Affleck were each sentenced to four years' imprisonment with hard labour. | ||||||
| Barker, who developed the photographs, received a suspended sentence of two years with | ||||||
| hard labour. In 1939 their request for the right of appeal to the Full Court was refused and | ||||||
| they remained incarcerated in Boggo Road Prison, where in July 1939 the Honourable Sid | ||||||
| inherited his father's title. | ||||||
| 'Born in the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum in 1905 and educated in Crow's Nest on the Darling | ||||||
| Downs where his parents had a farm, Sid Affleck moved to Sydney in 1925. Soon involved | ||||||
| in the criminal underworld, he was convicted of breaking and entering houses and carrying | ||||||
| an unlicensed gun. Declared an habitual criminal in 1932 when he was sent to prison for | ||||||
| another three years, he was released 'on licence' in April 1937, returning to Brisbane. His | ||||||
| brother Dalham also ran foul of the law in Sydney, moving back to Brisbane where he | ||||||
| established a school of dramatic art, and wrote and produced several plays, including radio | ||||||
| plays. The brothers also ran a florist's shop in the city. Dalham was described by the | ||||||
| Sunday Mail as a man of considerable talents, who, 'when in funds, was one of the best- | ||||||
| dressed and smartest looking men to be seen in Queen Street.' | ||||||
| 'Presumably their return had something to do with the health of their eighty-three-year-old | ||||||
| father Sir Frederick Danby James Affleck. The title dated back to the eighteenth century | ||||||
| but most of the wealth and the family seat, Dalham Hall, had left the family before Sid and | ||||||
| Dalham's father settled in Queensland. The Afflecks claim to have been defrauded of | ||||||
| £400,000 by a crooked solicitor early in the twentieth century, which was always brought | ||||||
| up by Sid Affleck to explain his antisocial ways. Sid's father had never expected to inherit | ||||||
| the title, but did so when his cousin died childless in 1919. The 8th baronet had lived in | ||||||
| Queensland since the 1880s………..in his later years he lived at Dunwich on Stradbroke Island | ||||||
| in Moreton Bay, then in old age moved to another coastal area, Scarborough, in 1937, a | ||||||
| pathetic, blind and poverty-stricken figure, further humiliated by his sons' misdeeds in | ||||||
| Brunswick Street. | ||||||
| 'The 9th baronet and his brother were released from Boggo Road Prison in 1941 but Sir Sid | ||||||
| managed to return for another six months almost immediately when he was apprehended | ||||||
| for stealing a man's belongings from the Salvation Army's Peoples' Palace in the city. His | ||||||
| grieving mother was interviewed by Truth in December 1941, after Sid had resumed his | ||||||
| residence in prison. It is not often that a mother has to confront having given birth to | ||||||
| two criminals who turned to gay pornography and prostitution for a living. She spoke of the | ||||||
| 'curse of the Afflecks,' supposed to have been visited on the family over generations. | ||||||
| '…….the Affleck brothers disappear from view in 1941. The title is no longer current, | ||||||
| indicating presumably that the 9th baronet never married and that there were no cousins | ||||||
| to whom it could pass. Today, the Avalon apartments in Brunswick Street remain in good | ||||||
| repair, the street-corner now a well-known haunt for prostitutes, both male and female. | ||||||
| One cannot help thinking that if Sid and Dalham had still been living there they would | ||||||
| have had a hand in organising their activities.' | ||||||
| The statement that the Affleck brothers disappear after 1941 is not strictly correct. On | ||||||
| 22 November 1941, the 'Sydney Morning Herald' reported that "Frederick James Affleck, | ||||||
| 35, labourer, eldest son of the ninth [sic] baronet of Dalham, County Suffolk, was sentenced | ||||||
| in the Police Court [in Brisbane] today to six months' imprisonment on a charge of having | ||||||
| stolen clothing worth £16. Detective Sergeant Harold said that Affleck's father died at | ||||||
| Brisbane in 1939, It was not known whether Affleck succeeded to the title, but he claimed | ||||||
| he had." He was again in trouble in 1943 - the Broken Hill 'Barrier Miner' of 5 May 1943 | ||||||
| reported that "Frederick James Affleck, stated to be the ninth baronet of Dalham Hall, | ||||||
| England, or in line for the baronetcy, was sentenced to three months' gaol in the [Brisbane] | ||||||
| Summons Court on a charge of selling sly-grog. Two privates of the United States Provost | ||||||
| Corps gave evidence that they bought two bottles of wine for 30s from Affleck in a city lane." | ||||||
| I understand that Siddartha Affleck died in 1975 and was buried at the Mt. Gravatt | ||||||
| Cemetery. I have no information on the date of death of Dalham Affleck. Given their sexual | ||||||
| proclivities, I initially assumed that neither of the brothers ever married, but I have been | ||||||
| advised by my correspondent Michael Andrews-Reading that Dalham Affleck married a woman | ||||||
| named Mary Reeding in Queensland in 1928. Unfortunately Michael has been unable to discover | ||||||
| any further details. In addition, it seems that Dalham Affleck contracted another marriage in | ||||||
| 1942 with a Rita Sheppeard. As a result, there exists the possibility that either, or both, of | ||||||
| Dalham's marriages produced a son, who would, but for the law relating to incorporeal heredit- | ||||||
| aments, have become entitled to the baronetcy, assuming he outlived his father. | ||||||
| The Agnew baronets created in 1629 | ||||||
| The following history of the Agnew family was published in "The Scotsman" on 19 September | ||||||
| 1900:- | ||||||
| 'There is a delightful old legend belonging to the north of France which explains in a most satis- | ||||||
| factory way the derivation of the Norman and Scottish surname of Agnew. The old story runs | ||||||
| as follows. Among the Norsemen who conquered Northern France, and gave birth to that terribly | ||||||
| active race which made itself for centuries such a thorn in the side of Western Europe, was an | ||||||
| old Thane who settled near Bayeux. Both he and his wife were now well stricken in years, and | ||||||
| childless, and their desire was for a son. Their prayer was heard, and twin boys came home to | ||||||
| the childless house. The old couple rejoiced with great joy; but soon their joy was turned into | ||||||
| mourning, for the boys sickened, and both died on the same day. While the bodies were lying | ||||||
| unburied, a stranger arrived at their house, and the old couple laid aside their grief to do the | ||||||
| duties of hospitality to their visitor. In thus entertaining a stranger, they ministered to an angel | ||||||
| unawares. The guest was the holy Saint Martin of Tours, who, being shown to the guest- | ||||||
| chamber when night came, took water and consecrated it, and going to the room where the | ||||||
| bodies lay, sprinkled them with the holy water, and then left the house. When the next morning | ||||||
| the old Thane came to bury his dead, he found the boys alive and well. The children hence- | ||||||
| forward bore the names of "Agneaux" - Lambs of God. The date of the miracle is not given - it | ||||||
| would perhaps spoil a miracle to have too exact a date attached to it; but the truth of the | ||||||
| event cannot be questioned, for do not the descendants of these "Heavenly Twins" still hold in | ||||||
| the Bocages [i.e. the wooded countryside characteristic of northern France, with small, | ||||||
| irregular shaped fields and many hedges and copses] of Normandy the same land which the old | ||||||
| Norse Thane won for himself, and are there not Agnews in France, and England, and Ireland, | ||||||
| and Scotland - in fact, wherever the Normans have entered in and possessed the land? | ||||||
| 'The descendants of the old Thane multiplied in numbers, and added to their possessions in | ||||||
| Normandy, and when in the course of centuries the iron-handed Duke William led his Normans | ||||||
| across the Channel to the conquest of England, there were found among his knights more than | ||||||
| one of the cadets of the family of Agneaux. To one was given lands at Redenhall, in Norfolk; | ||||||
| another was settled in Hertfordshire; in the course of years the old name was corrupted to de | ||||||
| Aignell. The Hertfordshire branch of the stock did not prosper, and when John de Aignell grew | ||||||
| to manhood about the middle of the fourteenth century, he found that the land which his | ||||||
| forebears had acquired at the Conquest had all melted away. He was a pushing young fellow, | ||||||
| so he got together a small body of retainers, and set out in search of fortune. Scotland was | ||||||
| then in a chronic state of unrest; or rather it was further down than usual, for David II was | ||||||
| on the throne, and he was an incapable. To Edinburgh, therefore, went Aignell with his little | ||||||
| band of followers, seeing a likelihood of employment. The King welcomed the Knight, and | ||||||
| desiring to strengthen the Royal power in far-off Galloway, sent Aignell there, making him | ||||||
| keeper of the Royal Castle of Lochnaw, on the western shore of Wigtownshire, looking across | ||||||
| the Irish Channel to County Antrim. Here, then, John de Aignell settled down about 1365, as | ||||||
| the King's representative, and in the course of time the family name was softened, adopting | ||||||
| the French pronunciation again, and was spelt Agnew. | ||||||
| 'The story of the family is a very pleasant one to think of, for the Agnews, as a race, have had | ||||||
| the faculty - not too common in Scotland - of keeping in sympathy with the mass of the people | ||||||
| in politics and religion, while holding their own among their fellow Barons. In the fifteenth | ||||||
| century, the Agnew of his time tried to uphold the Royal Authority against the power which the | ||||||
| Black Douglas exercised from Threave Castle, but was overpowered, and for a time driven from | ||||||
| Lochnaw. When in the long run the King prevailed, he rewarded Agnew by making him Hereditary | ||||||
| Sheriff of Wigtownshire, an office which remained in the family from 1451 to 1747, when | ||||||
| hereditary jurisdictions were abolished in Scotland. Next century was a dark one for Scotland, | ||||||
| and the Agnews took their share in the fighting which went on. The Sheriff of the time of James | ||||||
| IV led the levies of Galloway to Flodden, and returned so badly wounded that he died in a few | ||||||
| days; his son was one of the many Galloway men who were slain in the terrible defeat of the | ||||||
| Scots on Pinkie Cleuch; the grandson adopted the Reformation, but like Galloway men as a | ||||||
| whole supported Queen Mary, fought for her at Langside [1568], and formed one of her escort | ||||||
| when she galloped after that crushing defeat from Glasgow to the shores of the Solway. | ||||||
| 'Under Mary's son [i.e. James I of England], a baronetcy was conferred on the Agnew family. | ||||||
| [It was actually conferred in the reign of Charles I]. In the seventeenth century the Agnews | ||||||
| were Presbyterians, and like their neighbours "Westlan' Whigs." Son succeeded father as Sheriff | ||||||
| and as member for Wigtownshire in the Scottish Parliament. One took part in the famous | ||||||
| Parliament of 1638, which defied Charles I; a cadet of the house was in the Presbyterian army | ||||||
| which defeated Montrose at Philiphaugh [13 September 1645]; when Cromwell had overpowered | ||||||
| the Scots, Agnew was for a time deprived of his Sheriffship, and an English lawyer appointed | ||||||
| in his place. But the darkest day for the family came with the Restoration. Lochnaw had to | ||||||
| pay a heavy fine; and matters went from bad to worse with the Agnews, as well as with | ||||||
| Galloway as a whole, where the King's ecclesiastical policy was fully developed. Galloway was | ||||||
| stubbornly Presbyterian, and had to be coerced; the Sheriff sided with the people and not with | ||||||
| the Crown, so he was deposed, and Claverhouse [i.e. John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee] was | ||||||
| appointed in his place in 1682. | ||||||
| 'The memory of these years - it is still known as the "killing time" - is very vivid to this day all | ||||||
| over the western shires. The family was driven from Lochnaw, and the house was plundered. | ||||||
| But better times came to the Agnews with the Revolution; for Presbyterianism was re- | ||||||
| established, and their relatives and good neighbours the Dalrymples of Stair were among the | ||||||
| most powerful men in Scotland. The outstanding figure among the Agnews during the eighteenth | ||||||
| century was General Sir Andrew Agnew [see next note], the last who held the position of | ||||||
| Hereditary Sheriff; his long life extended from 1687 to 1771. As a young man he was present at | ||||||
| Marlborough's great victory of Ramillies [23 May 1706]; he commanded the Scottish Fusiliers at | ||||||
| Dettingen in 1743; and when that regiment was recalled to join the Duke of Cumberland's army | ||||||
| which gathered to resist Prince Charlie, Agnew came to Scotland with it, and commanded the | ||||||
| detachment which defended Blair Castle against Lord George Murray - one of the most pictur- | ||||||
| esque episodes in the campaign. The Rebellion cost the Lochnaw family the loss of the | ||||||
| Hereditary Sheriffship, which they had held for three centuries, for the Government saw that | ||||||
| it was absolutely necessary to sweep away all hereditary jurisdictions, and friends who had | ||||||
| stood by the Government had to suffer as well as those who had used their power against it. | ||||||
| 'During the present century the estate of Lochnaw and the title have been held by three Sir | ||||||
| Andrew Agnews. The grandfather of the present Baronet was well known in Scotland as one of | ||||||
| "the heroes of the Disruption," and in Parliament, where he sat for Wigtownshire, as the | ||||||
| promoter of Sabbatarian legislation. In his own district he was beloved as a kind proprietor, and | ||||||
| a deeply religious man. His son, who succeeded in 1849, was also well known and widely | ||||||
| respected. He served his own county - Wigtownshire - in Parliament from 1856 to 1868, and | ||||||
| died in 1892.' | ||||||
| Sir Andrew Agnew, 5th baronet of Lochnaw | ||||||
| The saying "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes" is often, but wrongly, attributed | ||||||
| to a number of men, and in particular the American General William Prescott, who were present | ||||||
| at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. But the phrase was recorded 32 years earlier, as is shown | ||||||
| in a letter to 'The Times' of 15 January 2003:- | ||||||
| 'At Dettingen, Flanders, on June 27, 1743, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw | ||||||
| (5th baronet) gave to the men of his regiment, the 21st of Foot, an order from which this | ||||||
| saying is derived. A man of spirit even for the times, he had earlier in the day replied to a | ||||||
| brigade order that "the scoundrels will never have the impudence to attack the Scots | ||||||
| Fusiliers", but they did. | ||||||
| 'Formed in square, the Scots Fusiliers held a steady fire rolling along their line and kept off | ||||||
| the advancing French infantry. Sir Andrew, a resourceful and experienced officer, hade in | ||||||
| training practised a novel battle drill with the men in his square should they be attacked by | ||||||
| cavalry. | ||||||
| 'At last, the opportunity to spring this trap appeared when the square was attacked by | ||||||
| enemy cuirassiers. Instead of employing the orthodox tactic of seeing them off by standing | ||||||
| firm and taking the charge on muskets and pikes, Sir Andrew gave orders that as the cavalry | ||||||
| approached the front line the two centre companies should divide from the centre and fall | ||||||
| back from the outer markers. This novel approach allowed the cavalry to charge through a line | ||||||
| with the Fusiliers facing inwards. At this point Sir Andrew gave the command: | ||||||
| "Dinna fire till ye can see the whites o' their e'en....if ye dinna kill them they'll kill you." The | ||||||
| French, as they rode through this lane of soldiers, were subjected to a withering crossfire | ||||||
| and destroyed. | ||||||
| 'Later in the day King George II, who commanded the Army but was a little out of his | ||||||
| depth, rode up and said: "So, Sir Andrew, I hear the cuirassiers rode through your regiment | ||||||
| today." | ||||||
| "Ou, ay, yer Majestee," was the reply, "but they dinna get oot again." | ||||||
| The Battle of Dettingen was the last occasion when an English sovereign personally led his | ||||||
| troops into battle. | ||||||
| Sir Fulque Melville Gerard Noel Agnew, 10th baronet of Lochnaw | ||||||
| The following report appeared in 'The Scotsman' of 3 October 1929. I have retained their | ||||||
| spelling of the baronet's name of "Fulke" rather than the "Fulque" which is to be found in | ||||||
| baronetage reference works. | ||||||
| 'When Sir Fulke Agnew arrives this month in Scotland, "finis" will be written to an interesting | ||||||
| chapter in an interesting career. A year ago, he was a sergeant of the United States Marines | ||||||
| in Shanghai; to-day he is a Baronet. | ||||||
| 'Sir Fulke, who was educated at Harrow, was born in 1900. When his course at Harrow was | ||||||
| finished he did not, contrary to the wishes of his family, enter the College at Sandhurst but | ||||||
| enlisted in the Army as a common private. As a private he served in France and Egypt, | ||||||
| ultimately serving in India on the frontier, for which campaign he was awarded the service | ||||||
| medal. | ||||||
| 'At the conclusion of his service he decided to go to Mexico, but even this common voyage was | ||||||
| not made in the orthodox manner, for he crossed the Atlantic in a 130-foot yacht. When trouble | ||||||
| arose in Mexico he went to the United States, and from there to Alaska, returning later to | ||||||
| California, where he saw service as a cavalryman, and wrestled with steers as a cowpuncher | ||||||
| 'Then came the trouble in the Far East, and Mr. Agnew, as he then was, decided that the best | ||||||
| method of seeing things for himself would be to join the United States Marines. Unfortunately | ||||||
| for his hopes, he was drafted to the Philippines, a full year elapsing before he reached | ||||||
| Shanghai. It was at Shanghai that he first received intimation of his fortune, but for a year, | ||||||
| while the legal formalities were being completed, he continued to serve as a sergeant in | ||||||
| the Intelligence Department.' | ||||||
| The Ainslie baronetcy created in 1804 | ||||||
| Firstly, this baronetcy was created with a special remainder, as follows:- | ||||||
| From the "London Gazette" of 9 October 1804 (issue 15744, page 1266):- | ||||||
| 'The King has been pleased to grant the Dignity of a Baronet of the United Kingdom of Great | ||||||
| Britain and Ireland unto Sir Robert Ainslie, of Great Torrington, in the County of Lincoln, Knight, | ||||||
| late His Majesty's Ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully | ||||||
| begotten, with Remainder to Robert Sharpe Ainslie, of Market Stainton, in the said County of | ||||||
| Lincoln, Esq; Nephew of the said Sir Robert Ainslie, and Son of General George Ainslie, | ||||||
| deceased, and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully begotten.' | ||||||
| My friend Nicholas Kingsley is the author of a blog at http://www.landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/ | ||||||
| which presents the results of many years of research into the land-owning families of the British | ||||||
| Isles. Nick has very kindly allowed me to reprint the following selection of his blog which deals | ||||||
| with the fate of the Ainslie baronetcy after the death of the 2nd baronet in 1858. If you are | ||||||
| interested in the history of the land-owning families of Great Britain, then Nick's blog should | ||||||
| become one of your favourite websites. | ||||||
| 'The mystery of the disappearing baronetcy revolves around the character and circumstances | ||||||
| of Sir Robert Sharp Ainslie. Despite having a conventional upbringing and becoming rather | ||||||
| briefly a diplomat and an MP, Sir Robert seems to have been an obsessively private person: he | ||||||
| supplied no information about his family to the compilers of baronetage publications and was | ||||||
| inconsistent in his use of his title during his lifetime; at his death he requested that his grave | ||||||
| should not be marked in any way. It has usually been reported that he died without surviving | ||||||
| male heirs, and thus that the family baronetcy expired with him, but research has shown that | ||||||
| actually left three surviving sons and four daughters, born to Robert Sharpe and Elizabeth | ||||||
| Ainslie between 1804 and 1825. I have traced baptisms for most of these children in London | ||||||
| parish registers, and the entries give no hint that they were illegitimate, but there is no trace | ||||||
| of a marriage between the parents. No trace, that is, until 1835, when Robert Sharpe Ainslie - | ||||||
| no mention of the baronetcy - and Elizabeth Wanger were quietly married in the unlikely | ||||||
| setting of Bethnal Green. The reason his sons did not inherit the baronetcy is thus explained: | ||||||
| under English law they were and remained illegitimate. But how did this situation develop? | ||||||
| It seems probable that Elizabeth was originally a mistress, probably of lower social status, | ||||||
| but their children were all acknowledged and they lived together as a family, so why did he | ||||||
| wait so long to regularise their union? The fact that when a marriage did take place it was | ||||||
| seemingly in a rather clandestine service at Bethnal Green also suggests that there may have | ||||||
| been an element of deception involved. Had Sir Robert allowed the world to assume that a | ||||||
| marriage to Elizabeth had taken place before the birth of his children? And if so, were his | ||||||
| children - mostly young adults at the time of the marriage - aware of their circumstances? | ||||||
| We shall probably never know the answers to these questions, but what is clear is that Sir | ||||||
| Robert must have been a complex and rather self-centred man, whose choices robbed his | ||||||
| family of the status which was rightfully theirs. | ||||||
| 'The sons were George Ainslie (1804-75) and Robert Ainslie (1812-95) who both entered | ||||||
| the church, and Charles Ainslie (1816/21-1863) of Rowntree Cottage, Edmonton, who became | ||||||
| an architect; a fourth son, Henry Ainslie (c 1813-57) became mentally incapacitated after a | ||||||
| period in the Army. A sermon of George's which survives from the late 1830s suggests that | ||||||
| he possessed an exceptional humility and found himself inadequate to the emotional demands | ||||||
| on a clergyman working with the urban poor; he may have had a breakdown in 1854 and | ||||||
| thereafter never held a benefice, but worked as assistant secretary of the Church Building | ||||||
| Society and the Additional Curates Society. | ||||||
| 'Canon Robert Ainslie (1812-95) pursued a more orthodox clerical career, retiring as vicar of | ||||||
| Grimsby and a minor canon of Lincoln Cathedral in 1879, and moving to live with his unmarried | ||||||
| sisters at Rolls Farm, Chingford, which remained in the family until the death of Elizabeth | ||||||
| Ainslie (1818-1901). Elizabeth clearly saw her death as marking the end of the family line, but | ||||||
| she did in fact have a nephew, Shirley Robert Ainslie, who continued the family name until his | ||||||
| own early death in 1907. | ||||||
| 'As a coda to this story, it may be noted that following the death of Sir Robert Sharpe Ainslie | ||||||
| in 1858 his first cousin once removed, Col. Henry Francis Ainslie, a gifted amateur artist who | ||||||
| recorded his travels in the army in a series of watercolours, lost no time in petitioning the | ||||||
| Queen and the Prime Minister for the revival of the baronetcy in their [his?] favour, but the | ||||||
| appeals were unsuccessful and the baronetcy was allowed to lapse.' | ||||||
| Sir Stephen Charles de Lancey Aitchison, 3rd baronet | ||||||
| Sir Stephen died from gunshot wounds on 12 May 1958. The following reports appeared in | ||||||
| 'The Times' :- | ||||||
| 14 May 1958 (with a dateline of Berwick-on-Tweed, May 13) :- | ||||||
| ""Sir Stephen Charles de Lancey Aitchison, aged 35, managing director of the grocery firm of | ||||||
| Walter Willson Ltd., was found dead from gunshot wounds in woods near the family home at | ||||||
| Coupland Castle, Wooler, Northumberland last night after he had gone out shooting. It is | ||||||
| thought that his gun went off when he stumbled over tree roots or in trying to cross a trench. | ||||||
| An inquest is to be held tomorrow............. | ||||||
| 16 May 1958:- | ||||||
| 'Shena, Lady Aitchison, of Coupland Castle, Wooler, Northumberland, at an inquest at Wooler | ||||||
| yesterday, said that her son, Sir Stephen de Lancey Aitchison, aged 35, who was found shot | ||||||
| near his home on Monday night, had "lost his children and his home," but had vowed he would | ||||||
| never take his life, particularly because of his religious beliefs. | ||||||
| 'Mr H.J. Percy, the Coroner, recorded a verdict that there was insufficient evidence to enable | ||||||
| him to determine how the shooting occurred. The cause of death was head injuries caused by | ||||||
| a gunshot wound. | ||||||
| 'Lady Aitchison said that her son had taken a flat in Newcastle upon Tyne, but had never | ||||||
| moved into it. His home was with her. On the day of his death he was normal and cheerful. | ||||||
| 'The Coroner - Do you know if he had any mental or physical troubles? - His marriage and home | ||||||
| were broken up. There was a divorce pending; I have nothing to say on that. He had lost his | ||||||
| children and his home - is that not enough to upset anyone? | ||||||
| Thomas Brewis, the gardener, said that Sir Stephen Aitchison had handled guns since he was | ||||||
| a boy. The gun, a 12-bore which he would have used to shoot pigeons or ducks, was lying | ||||||
| slightly under his legs and the right barrel had been fired. | ||||||
| 'Dr. A.N. Bousfield said that Sir Stephen Aitchison suffered from spasms of nervous tension. "We | ||||||
| did not discuss it, but we both knew that his domestic affairs were the cause," he added. "He | ||||||
| never said he would take his own life." | ||||||
| Sir John William Hamilton Anson, 2nd baronet | ||||||
| Sir John Anson, together with twelve other men, women and children, was killed in a | ||||||
| railway accident at Wigan on 2 August 1873. The following summary of the accident is | ||||||
| taken from contemporary newspapers and from L.T.C. Rolt's fascinating book "Red for | ||||||
| Danger: A History of Railway Accidents and Railway Safety" (John Lane, London, 1955). | ||||||
| The train, commonly known as the 'Tourist Special,' left Euston for Scotland at 8 p.m. | ||||||
| on the night of 2 August 1873. It was drawn by two locomotives and by the time it | ||||||
| left Crewe the train consisted of 25 carriages, many of them coaches belonging to | ||||||
| wealthy families, including a coach reserved for Sir John Anson. | ||||||
| As the train was running through Wigan station at about 1.20 a.m., the driver noticed | ||||||
| that sparks were flying from the rear carriages. Fearing that part of his train had become | ||||||
| detached, he applied his brakes, bringing the train to a gradual stop. | ||||||
| The down platform at Wigan was an island platform, with a set of facing points leading | ||||||
| to a loop around the back of the platform. The first fifteen carriages had passed safely | ||||||
| over these facing points, but the sixteenth carriage, which was occupied by Lady | ||||||
| Florence Leveson Gower and a companion, was derailed, together with all carriages | ||||||
| that were travelling behind it. Some of the carriages had run up the ramp at the end | ||||||
| of the platform, including that which contained Sir John Anson, which stood upon its | ||||||
| roof on the platform, with five bodies, including that of Sir John and his valet, scattered | ||||||
| around it. | ||||||
| In all, thirteen passengers were killed and thirty injured. At the subsequent public | ||||||
| inquiry into the disaster, the facing points were minutely examined, but no defect in | ||||||
| them was ever established. Many surviving passengers did, however, commented that | ||||||
| they had been alarmed several times during their journey about the speed of the train, | ||||||
| which had caused the carriages to rock and sway. The inquiry accepted that the | ||||||
| train was probably travelling too fast, with the result that one of the carriages had | ||||||
| jumped the points, dragging all the other carriages with it. No satisfactory explanation | ||||||
| was, however, ever advanced, and the cause of the Wigan crash remains a matter of | ||||||
| speculation. | ||||||
| In June 1875, the Anson family successfully sued the London and North-Western Railway | ||||||
| for compensation, but I have been unable to find what damages were awarded to them. | ||||||
| Sir Denis George William Anson, 4th baronet | ||||||
| Sir Denis succeeded to the title in June 1914, but he wasn't to enjoy it for long, since he | ||||||
| drowned in the Thames a month later. | ||||||
| The following account of his death and the subsequent inquest are taken from the Adelaide | ||||||
| 'Advertiser' of 10 August 1914:- | ||||||
| 'The tragic deaths of the young baronet, Sir Denis Anson and Mr. William Mitchell, who were | ||||||
| drowned in the Thames in the early hours of last Friday morning [3 July], were, it seems, | ||||||
| brought about by sheer folly born of natural high spirits, stimulated by champagne. Sir Denis, | ||||||
| who was only 26 [25] years of age, was the son of the late Mr. Frederick Arthur Anson, of | ||||||
| Piraki, New Zealand, and spent the early part of his boyhood in New Zealand. He came to | ||||||
| England to be educated at Eton, and later went to Oxford University. He studied law, and | ||||||
| a short time ago was called to the bar, and began practice in chambers in Mitre Court, | ||||||
| Temple, in the same building where his uncle, the late Sir William Anson, to whose baronetcy | ||||||
| Sir Denis only succeeded about a month ago, had chambers. | ||||||
| 'Sir Denis was the only son of his parents, and the youngest of a family of five. At the time | ||||||
| of the tragedy he was living in Half Union-street with his mother and sister. | ||||||
| 'The tragedy had its origin in one of the now fashionable "midnight picnics" up the river. Sir | ||||||
| Denis Anson was one of a party of 12 or 14 ladies and gentlemen who boarded a steam | ||||||
| launch at Westminster Pier shortly after midnight on Thursday. The party included Count | ||||||
| Constantine Beckendorff, a son of the Russian Ambassador, Miss Iris Tree, daughter of | ||||||
| the famous actor [Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree], the Hon. Kasper Ridley (brother of Viscount | ||||||
| Ridley), Mr. Raymond Asquith (son of the Prime Minister) and Lady Diana Manners, daughter | ||||||
| of the Duke of Rutland, and there were also a number of musicians on board to discourse | ||||||
| sweet music during the trip. The party, it appears, took supper whilst the launch was | ||||||
| making its way up the river to Hampton Court, and nothing untoward happened until the | ||||||
| homeward journey was nearing completion. It seems to have been a very merry party, and | ||||||
| Sir Denis appears to have endeavoured to add to the merriment by what schoolboys term | ||||||
| "playing the goat" - climbing about the superstructure of the launch and the like. Presently, | ||||||
| when the launch was nearing Battersea Bridge Sir Denis announced his intention of diving | ||||||
| overboard, and climbed on to the bridge to do so. Captain White, who was in charge of the | ||||||
| launch, appears to have prevented him carrying out his intention, and to have cautioned | ||||||
| Sir Denis as to his conduct. | ||||||
| 'What actually happened thereafter has produced half a dozen stories, differing materially | ||||||
| in detail, but the main facts are clear. Sir Denis was chaffed by some of his companions | ||||||
| about his threat to dive overboard, and to prove his courage took a header into the river. | ||||||
| The ebb tide was running very fast at the time, and the River Thames at this point is full | ||||||
| of swirls and eddies, against which a strong swimmer in nature's garb would find it almost | ||||||
| useless to struggle. For a man hampered by clothing - even light evening dress, minus | ||||||
| coat - it was courting disaster to do what Sir Denis did, even if his swimming abilities were | ||||||
| above the ordinary. The unfortunate young fellow seems to have realised the fact that he | ||||||
| had over-estimated his powers very quickly, for he called out something which those on the | ||||||
| launch who heard his cries took to be an indication that the baronet was in difficulties. | ||||||
| Bandsman Mitchell was the first to act. Without waiting to remove his clothing he plunged | ||||||
| overboard to the rescue. It was gallant madness, for, clothed was he was, Mitchell could | ||||||
| make no sort of fight against the fast running tide, and was carried away. A few seconds | ||||||
| after Mitchell's plunge there was another splash, and Count Beckendorff had followed | ||||||
| Mitchell's lead. But neither Mitchell nor the Count had gone far before a strangled cry arose | ||||||
| from Sir Denis, and a moment later the waters had closed over his head. That was the last | ||||||
| seen of the young baronet. Meanwhile the launch had been stopped and put about, and a | ||||||
| waterman, who had heard Sir Denis' cry of distress, came upon the scene in a rowing boat. | ||||||
| By that tine, however, poor Mitchell had also disappeared, and Count Beckendorff was in | ||||||
| dire distress, when the waterman came to his rescue and pulled him into the boat. The | ||||||
| Count was in an exhausted condition, and but for the timely arrival of the waterman there | ||||||
| would have been a triple tragedy. As it was, two men lost their lives. The launch and the | ||||||
| rowing-boat cruised about the place where Sir Denis and Mitchell had disappeared for a | ||||||
| long time, but of the two poor fellows not a trace could be found. Mitchell's body was | ||||||
| washed up by the tide near Battersea Bridge on Saturday morning, but several days elapsed | ||||||
| before the mortal remains of Sir Denis Anson were discovered lying beneath a raft of timbers | ||||||
| near Lambeth Bridge, some three miles away from the scene of the tragedy. | ||||||
| 'At the inquest a large amount of attention was paid to the question of Sir Denis' sobriety. | ||||||
| It was admitted that the young baronet had partaken of wine, but it was strenuously | ||||||
| denied by every witness that he was inebriated in any sense of the word. "He was merry and | ||||||
| full of life," said the captain of the launch, but was certainly not intoxicated, in the opinion | ||||||
| of the skipper. And that was the burden of all the witnesses' testimony. Sir Denis was, as | ||||||
| always, full of life and fun, and was the life and soul of the party, but he had not had too | ||||||
| much drink. So the jury found a verdict of accidental death, and added thereto the rider that | ||||||
| they found that Sir Denis was "quite sober, but full of fun." | ||||||
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