PEERAGE
Last updated 22/12/2017
Date Rank Order Name Born Died  Age
QUARENDON
5 Jun 1674 V 1 Edward Henry Lee c 1656 14 Jul 1716
Created Baron of Spelsbury,Viscount
Quarendon and Earl of the City of
Lichfield 5 Jun 1674
See "Lichfield"                            
QUEENBOROUGH
18 Jan 1918 B 1 Almeric Hugh Paget 14 Mar 1861 22 Sep 1949 88
to     Created Baron Queenborough
22 Sep 1949 18 Jan 1918
MP for Cambridge 1910-1917
Peerage extinct on his death
QUEENSBERRY
13 Jun 1633 E[S] 1 William Douglas 8 Mar 1640
Created Lord Douglas of Hawick and
Viscount of Drumlanrig 1 Apr 1628,and
Lord Douglas of Hawick,Viscount of
Drumlanrig and Earl of Queensberry
13 Jun 1633
8 Mar 1640 2 James Douglas 1671
1671 3 William Douglas 1637 28 Mar 1695 57
11 Feb 1682 M[S] 1 Created Lord Douglas of Kinmont,
3 Nov 1684 D[S] 1 Viscount of Nith,Torthorwald and
Ross,Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar
and Marquess of Queensberry
11 Feb 1682,and Lord Douglas of
Kinmont,Viscount of Nith,Torthorwald 
and Ross,Earl of Drumlanrig and
Sanquhar,Marquess of Dumfriesshire
and Duke of Queensberry 3 Nov 1684
High Treasurer [S] 1682-1686  PC 1685
28 Mar 1695 2 James Douglas 18 Sep 1662 6 Jul 1711 48
  KG 1701  PC 1708
He was created Duke of Dover (qv) in 1707.
On his death the Marquessate passed to
James Douglas (see next entry)
6 Jul 1711 3 Charles Douglas  (also 2nd Duke of Dover) 24 Nov 1698 22 Oct 1778 79
Created Lord Douglas,Viscount of
Tiberris and Earl of Solway
17 Jun 1707
Lord Lieutenant Dumfries and Kircudbright
1721.  PC 1726
He succeeded to the Marquessate in 1715.
On his death the creations of 1707 became
extinct
22 Oct 1778 4 William Douglas 16 Dec 1724 23 Dec 1810 86
Created Baron Douglas of Amesbury
21 Aug 1786
KT 1763. Lord Lieutenant Dumfries 
1794-1810
For further information on this peer, see the
note at the foot of this page.
On his death the Marquessate passed to his
cousin (see below) and the Dukedom
passed to -
23 Dec 1810   5 Henry Scott 2 Sep 1746 11 Jan 1812 65
He had previously succeeded to the Dukedom
of Buccleuch (qv) in 1751 with which title this
peerage became united and still remains so
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
11 Feb 1682 M[S] 1 William Douglas,3rd Earl of Queensberry 1637 28 Mar 1695 57
Created Marquess of Queensberry
      11 Feb 1682
28 Mar 1695 2 James Douglas,2nd Duke of Queensberry 18 Sep 1662 6 Jul 1711 48
6 Jul 1711 3 James Douglas 2 Nov 1697 17 Feb 1715 17
For further information on this peer, see the
note at the foot of this page.
17 Feb 1715 4 Charles Douglas,3rd Duke of Queensberry 24 Nov 1698 22 Oct 1778 79
22 Oct 1778 5 William Douglas,4th Duke of Queensberry 16 Dec 1724 23 Dec 1810 86
23 Dec 1810 6 Sir Charles Douglas,5th baronet Mar 1777 3 Dec 1837 60
KT 1821. Lord Lieutenant Dumfries
1819-1837
3 Dec 1837 7 John Douglas 1779 19 Dec 1856 77
Lord Lieutenant Dumfries 1837-1856
19 Dec 1856 8 Archibald William Douglas 18 Apr 1818 6 Aug 1858 40
MP for Dumfries 1847-1856.  PC 1853
Lord Lieutenant Dumfries 1856-1858
For further information on this peer, see the
note at the foot of this page.
6 Aug 1858 9 John Sholto Douglas 20 Jul 1844 31 Jan 1900 55
31 Jan 1900 10 Percy Sholto Douglas 13 Oct 1868 1 Aug 1920 51
For further information on this peer, see the
note at the foot of this page.
1 Aug 1920 11 Francis Archibald Kelhead Douglas 17 Jan 1896 27 Apr 1954 58
27 Apr 1954 12 David Harrington Angus Douglas 19 Dec 1929
QUENINGTON
22 Feb 1915 V 1 Michael Edward Hicks-Beach 23 Oct 1837 30 Apr 1916 78
Created Viscount Quenington and
Earl St.Aldwyn 22 Feb 1915
See "St.Aldwyn"
QUIBELL
7 Jul 1945 B 1 David John Kinsley Quibell 21 Dec 1879 16 Apr 1962 82
to     Created Baron Quibell 7 Jul 1945
16 Apr 1962 MP for Brigg 1929-1931 and 1935-1945
Peerage extinct on his death
QUICKSWOOD
25 Jan 1941 B 1 Lord Hugh Richard Heathcote 
to     Gascoyne-Cecil 14 Oct 1869 10 Dec 1956 87
10 Dec 1956 Created Baron Quickswood 25 Jan 1941
MP for Greenwich 1895-1906 and Oxford
University 1910-1937.  PC 1918
Peerage extinct on his death
For further information on this peer, see the note
at the foot of this page.
QUIN
30 May 2006 B[L] 1 Joyce Gwendolen Quin 26 Nov 1944
Created Baroness Quin for life 30 May 2006
MP for Gateshead East 1987-1997 and Gateshead
East and Washington West 1997-2005. PC 1998
Minister of State Home Office 1997-1998. Minister
of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1998-
1999. Minister of State Agriculture Fisheries and
Food 1999-2001
QUINTON
7 Feb 1983 B[L] 1 Anthony Meredith Quinton 25 Mar 1925 19 Jun 2010 85
to     Created Baron Quinton for life 7 Feb 1983
19 Jun 2010 Peerage extinct on his death
QUIRK
12 Jul 1994 B[L] 1 Charles Randolph Quirk 12 Jul 1920 20 Dec 2017 97
to     Created Baron Quirk for life 12 Jul 1994
20 Dec 2017 Peerage extinct on his death
James Douglas,3rd Marquess of Queensberry
In 1684, William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Queensberry, had been created Duke of Queensberry,
together with a whole raft of subsidiary titles. On his death in 1695, he was succeeded by his
son, James Douglas, 2nd Marquess and 2nd Duke of Queensberry. The second Duke's eldest 
son, William, died an infant in 1696, leaving his second son, James, as heir to the titles.
At a very young age it became apparent that James was a dangerous imbecile. He was,
however, next in line to the titles until, in 1706, his father arranged for a novodamus [i.e. a
re-granting] of his titles that had been created in 1684, but with remainder to his third son,
Charles, thus bypassing the second son, James. However, this novodamus did not affect the
Marquessate of Queensberry, which had been created in 1682. As a result, when the 2nd Duke
died in 1711, the title of Duke of Queensberry passed to Charles, while the Marquessate was
inherited by James.
The wisdom of obtaining the novodamus became apparent in 1707, when James, who was aged
only nine, was found to be a homicidal maniac. Although he had been kept locked up during his
childhood, in 1707 he managed to escape, after being left unattended when his keepers took
themselves off to view the riots in Edinburgh that had been caused by the Act of Union. He 
took advantage of their absence by slaughtering a young kitchen scullion, whom he then
proceeded to place on a spit and roast, before beginning to eat him until he was discovered.
Not surprisingly, for the rest of his short life, James was known as 'the cannibalistic Earl.' [At
the time, his courtesy title was Earl of Drumlanrig] He died in February 1715, at the age of 17.
 
William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry  ['Old Q']
Queensberry was the son of William Douglas, 2nd Earl of March of the 1697 creation and Ann
Hamilton, nee Douglas, Countess of Ruglen in her own right. He was only six when his father 
died and he grew up wild, with no use for education, longing only for the day when he could 
throw himself into the world of fashion and gambling, and in particular, the world of the Turf.
By the time he was 21, he had put together a small but excellent stud. In his first racing 
season, he saddled up only three horses, but they all won. Eventually, Queensberry earned the 
reputation as the finest judge of horseflesh in the land. Not only did he run his own horses, but
he rode them as well, becoming a first-rate jockey.
When the Jockey Club acquired the Newmarket estate, he purchased a mansion overlooking the
course from which he could watch the form of rival horses and so increase his chances of
winning. He is credited with being the first owner to have his jockeys 'ride to orders'. His 
favourite jockey, Dick Goodison, was always riding to orders whenever Queensberry's inveterate
enemy, the Duke of  Bedford, had an entry in a race. His orders were to beat Bedford's horse 
at all costs. After one of these races, Bedford's jockey, Chifney, accused Goodison of 
deliberately crossing into his path and slashed Goodison across the face with his whip. 
Queensberry suggested that the two jockeys should fight it out in the ring at the end of the 
racing season, and immediately wagered 10,000 guineas on his jockey. For the rest of the 
season, Goodison was trained by a professional bare-knuckle pugilist. Queensberry increased 
his bets to £25,000 and cleaned up when Goodison battered Chifney into bloody defeat. When 
a gang tried to bribe one of his jockeys, Queensberry told the lad to accept the bribe, and 
then rode the horse himself to win, after accepting all the bets laid by the gang.
Queensberry's strong suit was making unusual bets. Gamblers tumbled over each other to
take him on when he bet he could have a letter conveyed 50 miles in an hour - two and half
times quicker than anyone had ever travelled. After taking all the bets, Queensberry spaced a 
team of 20 cricketers in a half-mile circle, gave them a cricket ball with the letter sewn inside
and had them throw it from hand to hand around the circle. He won his bet with minutes to 
spare. Another time, when heavy coaches could only lumber along at little more than five miles
an hour, he bet that he could produce four horses that would draw a four-wheeled carriage 
and a man at 19 miles an hour. Again, the gamblers rushed to take him, and again he won, by
designing a light skeleton chassis with no body and the seat slung on leather straps. The 
horses completed the course with seven minutes to spare.
Although he had little expectation of ever succeeding to the Dukedom of Queensberry, two 
timely deaths cleared his path. The heir to the Dukedom was found shot dead in his coach, 
presumably a suicide. The next heir died shortly afterwards. Thus in 1778, the Dukedom fell into 
his lap. He did, however, lose one of his positions - he had been Lord of the Bedchamber to
George III and, when the King first became insane, Queensberry had bet that he would not 
recover; when he did, the King was understandably put out with Queensberry and he had to go
to the Continent until the King's anger subsided. On another occasion, Queensberry bet a man 
named Pigot that Pigot's father would die before a certain other old man. Unknown to either 
party, Pigot senior had died before the bet was made and the younger Pigot refused to honour 
his debt on the principle that, as his horse was scratched, all bets were off. Queensberry took 
Pigot to court and won.
The other major aspect of Queensberry's career was as a womanizer. He started this career
with an Italian countess who, rumour had it, had been deserted by her husband. His next love
was an exquisite 15-year-old opera star known as 'the Zamparini', followed by two further 
opera stars, 'the Rena' and 'the Tondino'. While these were willing game, some of his other 
romantic adventures would have placed him in prison today. He virtually kidnapped a West End 
seamstress, who was in love with a naval officer. Queensberry broke up her romance by bribing
his way into her room when she was not there and sitting in the window in his nightshirt, so
that when the naval officer passed, he supposed she had fallen for Queensberry's charms and
dropped her. When the officer failed to keep their next tryst, the girl was heartbroken and
Queensberry, on the pretext of taking her to meet her lover, had her conveyed to one of his
mansions where a sleeping draught in a glass of wine is said to have helped him achieve his
wicked way with her.
The passion of his life was the Marchesa Fagniani. Report says that he disputed the paternity
of her daughter with his friend George Selwyn [MP for Ludgershall 1747-1754 and Gloucester
1754-1780] and settled it by the toss of a coin. When the Marchesa later married the Earl of
Yarmouth, Queensberry wantonly denuded his Scottish estates of timber so that he could leave
her a substantial amount of money. Such an action incensed Robert Burns, who savagely
attacked Queensberry in a number of poems.
At age 80, he was intimate with a Mrs Billington, from whom he declared he was taking 'singing 
lessons', while at 85 he was madly in love with a dusky beauty known as 'the Hottentot Venus.'
It is difficult to believe that his female companions were attracted to him physically. He was by
no means handsome, having a close resemblance to 'Mr. Punch'.  Robert Raikes, founder of the
Sunday School Movement, described him as 'a little sharp-looking man, very irritable, who 
swore like ten thousand troopers, used rouge, took snuff and was alternatively generous and
mean, tolerant and petulant, chivalrous and vain.'
Archibald William Douglas, 8th Marquess of Queensberry
The following article is from 'The Times' of 10 August 1858.
'The sad news reached this town [Dumfries] today [7 August] that the Marquis of Queensberry
had, on the preceding afternoon, shot himself by accident in the grounds around his seat at
Kinmount, where he had arrived on the 5th inst. from London. The intelligence proved too true;
and the dreadful occurrence, as far as we have learnt, took place under the following circum-
stances.
'His Lordship was noticed to be in excellent spirits as well as health since his arrival from the
South, and, before going out yesterday, he indulged in a little characteristic pleasantry with his
eldest daughter; the Marchioness and other members of the family being at Moffat. He
mentioned that he was going out to shoot rabbits, and asked his daughter to accompany him; 
but she having stated that she had to go to a neighbouring railway station, to receive her
mother on returning home, his Lordship, taking his gun, went out alone, about 2 o'clock p.m.
'The Marquis was observed by some men working in the grounds to shoot a crow, and they
afterwards heard several shots. The last shot they heard was about half-past 3 o'clock, and at
4 his Lordship's cousins, Mr Johnstone Douglas, of Lockerbie, and that gentleman's brother, 
who have been residing at Glen Stuart, came to the men, inquiring if they had seen his 
Lordship, and were directed by them towards the place where he had been last seen going. 
The two gentlemen proceeded a little further down the grounds, and were overwhelmed with
horror on discovering the body of his Lordship prostrate on the earth and covered with blood. 
Life was found to be quite extinct, and the limbs were beginning to stiffen. A gunshot wound 
pierced the left breast through the back in a slanting direction - the death-wound, doubtless, 
of the unfortunate young nobleman, and through which the life blood had flowed by which he
was covered.
'The gun, a double-barrelled one, was found lying by his side, one of the barrels empty; and it 
is supposed that when loading the emptied barrel the piece had unexpectedly gone off and 
caused instant death. The body was borne back to Kinmount amid the wailings of the
household, thus so suddenly deprived of its chief and head. The lamentable occurrence has 
caused general sorrow in the district, where his Lordship was highly popular.'
                                             *******************
Unfortunately, violent death and scandal seemed to stalk the members of the Douglas family 
during the second half of the 19th century.
The 8th Marquess was succeeded by his eldest son John Sholto Douglas, who merits a
separate note of his own. Of the two other sons of the 8th Marquess….
Lord Francis William Bouverie Douglas was a member of the expedition which first conquered
the Matterhorn on 14 July 1865. On the descent however, four of the party, including Lord
Francis, fell 1400m to their deaths. He was only 18 at the time and his body was never found.
Lord James Edward Sholto Douglas committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor in
the North Western Hotel at Euston Station in London on 5 May 1891. Contemporary reports
state that Lord James suffered from bouts of depression - one report states that 'his lordship
travelled from Ireland last night , and acted so strangely on the steamer, that the London and
North Western railway officials ordered a man to accompany him from Holyhead to Euston.'
Lord James had previously appeared in court in June 1887, charged with breaching an order of
the court and his own personal undertaking to cease 'stalking' a wealthy young lady named 
Mabel Edith Scott.
The 9th Marquess' eldest son, created Baron Kelhead in 1893, was killed by a gunshot in
October 1894. See the note under the Barony of Kelhead for further details. The sister of the 
9th Marquess, Lady Florence Dixie (and twin sister of Lord James), created a sensation in April 
1883 when she claimed she had been kidnapped by Irish agitators - see under the Dixie 
baronetcy for further details.
Percy Sholto Douglas, 10th Marquess of Queensberry
Queensberry was in court in 1914 after he ran amok in a rural hotel. The following report 
appeared in 'The Times' on 30 July 1914:-
'Remarkable scenes at a village hotel in Essex were described in an action for trespass and
breach of contract against Lord Queensberry, at the Middlesex Sheriff's Court yesterday. The
plaintiffs were John William Phillips, the licensee of the Hoy Hotel, South Benfleet, and his
wife, Anne Phillips. Mr. F. Newbolt appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr. D. Figur defended. The
jury assessed the damages against the defendant at £150 inclusive. 
Mr. Newbolt said that the defendant did not dispute that by reason of his acts certain trespass
had been committed and damage caused the innkeeper and his wife. Their household goods
had been destroyed and injured to the amount of £13 12s., and there was no dispute as to 
that. The damage which was disputed was in regard to what the plaintiff and his wife had
suffered by what Mr. Newbolt described as "trespass of a most extraordinary and aggravated
character - almost without parallel." 
 
"The tale I have to unfold is a most remarkable one," continued Mr. Newbolt. "On Sunday, May
10, a gentleman and a lady, whom the plaintiffs took to be husband and wife, came as ordinary
visitors to the hotel. They asked for supper and a room just as any other couple would ask for
a room. The lady had some tea, and the gentleman, whom we now know as the Marquess of
Queensberry, had four bottles of beer. At an early hour they retired to bed, and later Mr. and 
Mrs. Phillips closed the house in the ordinary course of business and went to bed. It is not
necessary, of course, for me to remind you that when you take rooms at a hotel you are
required to observe the ordinary rules of decent conduct and are obliged to confine yourself
to those parts of the house which are public to all guests, and for a man, be he a commoner
or anyone else, to force his way into the bedroom of a married couple keeping the hotel with
such violence as to hurl a chair across the bedroom calls for the strongest condemnation. This
is what the marquess did.
"At 4 o'clock in the morning, dressed only in his vest, he forced his way into their bedroom
while they were in bed together. With such violence did he force his way into the room that a
chair inside the door was hurled across the room and smashed a toilet set. Then the defendant
rushed out, dashed downstairs, broke open the house door, smashed the windows of the
billiard room, and destroyed bottles and glasses. Covered with blood, he then rushed, clad only
in his vest, along the street. The lady with him, who was no more his wife than she was 
anybody else's wife, came out of her bedroom in a state of considerable alarm. The defendant
had to be arrested by a constable, and was then taken back to the hotel and forcibly dressed,
then taken to a hospital, from which his friends subsequently removed him.
'Mr. Newbolt went on to explain that in order to enable the young woman who had 
accompanied the defendant to return to London, the plaintiffs had lent her a small sum of 
money. Eventually Lord Queensberry came to his senses and thought there would be something
to pay, at any rate for the glass, and so he sent a friend to pay that damage - a friend with
a foreign name, who gave a cheque for £10. On being presented that cheque was dishonoured.
Detailing the actual damage Mr. Newbolt said that the defendant, after rushing out and before
being captured by the police, returned to the bedroom, got into the bed he had occupied, then
after spoiling the sheets with bloodstains from cuts on his hands and arms, he got into the
other bed, spoiling that in the same way. As a result of his conduct Mrs. Phillips and her 
daughter had suffered considerably from nerves.
'The male plaintiff, in evidence supporting the foregoing statement, said the defendant began
to say something about his brother, but he could not tell what it was. He rambled a lot. The
witness told the defendant if he did not clear out of the bedroom he would "shoot" him out.
The defendant then dashed downstairs, knocking over boxes of bottles, glasses and siphons,
and putting his fist through the windows of the billiard room. 
'Asked what opinion he had formed of the defendant when he dashed into his bedroom the
witness replied, "I considered he was 'up the pole.' " (Laughter.) The Under-Sheriff - "Do you
mean he had been drinking?" The witness said the defendant had only four bottles of beer in
his house. He said he was the Marquess of Queensberry, but the witness thought perhaps he
had been taking a part in a sketch. His behaviour was like that of a character in one of
Karno's sketches. (Laughter.)
'Asked if the marquess made a second attempt to enter the house before he was captured by
the constable, the witness said he did not, adding, "I was behind the door with a poker, and 
if he had tried to come in he would not be where he is now. I don't see him here, and I don't
know where he is." In further evidence witness said that the defendant was afterwards taken
into the hotel, where it took three men to forcibly dress him. He was afterwards taken to
Rochford Workhouse Infirmary.
'In cross-examination, witness said that the defendant was not drunk at the time. He seemed
to be getting over a drinking bout, and had a bad attack of "D[elerium] T[remen]'s."
'Police-constable Monk, who effected the capture, stated that the defendant was taken to
the workhouse infirmary and placed in the mental detention ward.
'For the defence a Russian witness, who had on the defendant's behalf given the plaintiffs a
cheque for £10, stated that the cheque was subsequently stopped and was not dishonoured.
The reason he stopped it was, he said, because plaintiffs had written defendant asking for
further compensation for damage.
'Mr. Figur contended that the cheque for £10 was accepted in settlement of the matter until
the plaintiffs discovered the real identity of the defendant. When they found that he was
the Marquess of Queensberry they said it was not enough and endeavoured to get a more
substantial sum. On behalf of his client every effort had, he said, been made to make just
reparation, but the other side had sought publicity in the endeavour to make more out of
it than they were really entitled to.
'In answer to the Under-Sheriff, Mr. Figur said the defendant was an undischarged bankrupt.
As stated, the jury assessed the inclusive damages at £150.'
Lord Hugh Richard Heathcote Gascoyne-Cecil, Baron Quickswood
Note that, correctly pronounced, Cecil rhymes with "thistle".
Lord Hugh was the fifth son of the third Marquess of Salisbury, three-times Prime Minister
under Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. He held unconventional views that he adhered to 
throughout his life. One of these was that gentlemen didn't grow beards. Once, when he met
his cousin Algernon Cecil, Lord Hugh asked why Algernon was wearing one. "Our Lord wore a
beard", Algernon reminded him. "Our Lord wasn't a gentleman", replied Lord Hugh. 
As MP for Greenwich between 1895 and 1906, he was fanatical in opposing any attempt to
pass the Deceased Wife's Sister Marriage Act. Previously, it was forbidden for a man to marry
the sister of his deceased wife. Lord Hugh frustrated all attempts to reform this situation,
denouncing any such marriage as "an act of sexual vice as immoral as concubinage." When he
discovered that his brother Robert's next-door neighbour in Sussex had married his deceased
wife's sister, he persuaded Robert to ostracize him. The neighbour took his revenge by planting
a line of trees along the boundaries of his estate, thereby shutting off Cecil's view of the
South Downs. In any event, Lord Hugh failed in his crusade and the Deceased Wife's Sister
Marriage Act was passed in 1907.
During this early part of his life, Lord Hugh was leader of a group known as 'the Hughligans',
a group of privileged young Tory MPs who were critical of their own party's leadership. Winston
Churchill was a member for a short time, and Lord Hugh was best man at Churchill's wedding to
Clementine Hozier in 1908.
Another of Lord Hugh's beliefs was that Sussex was infested with poisonous snakes. He advised
residents 'not to sit in the garden unless on a very high chair. I have been told that snakes find
the sound of the human voice disagreeable, so you must talk loudly all the time - reciting
poetry perhaps.'
In 1936, Lord Hugh became Provost of Eton College. This enabled him to indulge in another
hobby-horse, being his lifelong contempt for schoolmasters. During World War II, Eton's
headmaster, Claude Elliott, advocated the construction of air-raid shelters for the students,
but Lord Hugh denounced this proposal as smacking of hysteria. In a letter to The Times,
he asked 'would it matter a jot if a theatre full of people were bombed?' He informed Elliott
that, as headmaster, he was responsible for teaching and discipline only, to which Elliott
responded by asking 'How can I possibly teach or discipline the boys if they are dead?'
In the end, the school's governing body voted for shelters and, from then on, Provost and
Headmaster were not on speaking terms. In December 1940, a bomb landed on the head-
master's house, but failed to explode. Lord Hugh went to the house to inspect the damage.
He poked the bomb with his umbrella, shouting "It's dud! It’s a dud!" whereupon the bomb
exploded, but without causing any injuries.
Lord Hugh lived to see his nemesis, Claude Elliott, become Provost of Eton College in 1949.
                                                  ***************
Even more eccentric was Lord Hugh's elder brother, Lord William Gascoyne-Cecil (1863-1936).
He, too, sat in the House of Lords as Bishop of Exeter between 1916 and 1936. Nicknamed
'Fish' by his family, he married Lady Florence Bootle-Wilbraham, daughter of the first Earl of
Lathom. She was invariably known as 'Fluffy.'
Fluffy seems to have been the more social of the pair, and Lord William usually relied on her to
carry him through social events. Sometimes, he would fall deeply asleep. On one occasion, 
when making a courtesy call on important new members of his flock, Fluffy decided that the
visit had lasted an acceptable time. 'Well', she said to their hostess, 'we must be going now.
We only dropped in to say "How do you do?' ". Lord William, waking with a start, heard only the 
last words. He jumped up and held out his hand. 'How do you do?" he said. He followed his wife
to the front door and, thinking that they had just arrived, he wiped his shoes on the mat,
returned to the drawing room, sat down and promptly fell asleep again.
Lord William was equally eccentric at both his home and in church. He kept a supply of 
crumpets to feed to the rats and a supply of powdered copper sulphate, which he would throw 
into the fireplace to turn the flames green. Once, while donning his robes in the vestry before a 
service, he held a handkerchief between his teeth, but forgot to return it to his pocket and 
proceeded to the altar with the handkerchief still hanging from his mouth.
When at home, Lord William would have nothing to do with money, but, when he and his family
(he had seven children) went abroad, he wore a money belt in order to defeat pickpockets.
Unfortunately, he often tied the belt on upside-down, resulting in the loss of all of his money
and tickets. The family regularly went to southern France, often by bicycle. His cycling uniform
was a pair of yellow glasses and a brown silk suit, topped by a broad-brimmed hat. Because he
believed that the colour red prevented sunburn, the children were dressed in red, dresses for
the girls and shirts for the boys.
When he became Bishop of Exeter, he refused to live in the Bishop's Palace, preferring to travel
to work by bicycle from a small house outside the city. The bicycle was painted orange so that
he could recognize it when it was parked among other bicycles. Even this did not prevent him
from making mistakes. On one occasion, he discovered when he was halfway home that he was
riding a woman's bicycle, painted black. He immediately pedalled back to Exeter, apologised to
its owner and, raising his hat, climbed back on to the black bicycle and pedalled away.
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