PEERAGE
Last updated 22/01/2025
     Date Rank Order Name Born Died  Age
ROSSER
14 Jun 2004 B[L] 1 Richard Andrew Rosser 5 Oct 1944 10 Apr 2024 79
to Created Baron Rosser for life 14 Jun 2004
10 Apr 2024 Peerage extinct on his death
ROSSIE
20 Jun 1831 B 1 George William Fox Kinnaird,9th Lord Kinnaird 14 Apr 1807 7 Jan 1878 70
to     Created Baron Rossie 20 Jun 1831
7 Jan 1878 Peerage extinct on his death
ROSSLYN
21 Apr 1801 E 1 Alexander Wedderburn 13 Feb 1733 2 Jan 1805 71
Created Baron Loughborough 17 Jun
1780 and 31 Oct 1795,and Earl of
Rosslyn 21 Apr 1801
For details of the special remainder included in the
creation of the Earldom,see the note at the foot
of this page
MP for Ayr Burghs 1761-1768, Richmond 1768-1769,
Bishops Castle 1770-1774 and 1778-1780 and
Okehampton 1774-1778.
Attorney General 1778-1780. Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas 1780-1792. Lord
Chancellor 1793-1801.  PC 1780
On his death the Barony of 1780 became
extinct,but the other titles passed to -
2 Jan 1805 2 Sir James St.Clair-Erskine,6th baronet 1762 18 Jan 1837 74
MP for Castle Rising 1782-1784, Morpeth
1784-1796 and Kirkaldy Burghs 1796-1805.
Lord Lieutenant Fife 1828-1837. Lord Privy
Seal 1829-1830. Lord President of the
Council 1834-1835.  PC 1829
18 Jan 1837 3 James Alexander St.Clair-Erskine 15 Feb 1802 16 Jun 1866 64
MP for Dysart Burghs 1830-1831 and
Great Grimsby 1831-1832.  PC 1841
16 Jun 1866 4 Francis Robert St.Clair-Erskine 2 Mar 1833 6 Sep 1890 57
PC 1886
6 Sep 1890 5 James Francis Harry St.Clair-Erskine 16 Mar 1869 10 Aug 1939 70
For information on the death of his son and heir,
Francis Edward Scudamore St.Clair-Erskine,styled
Lord Loughborough,see the note at the foot 
of this page
10 Aug 1939 6 Anthony Hugh Francis Harry St.Clair-
Erskine 18 May 1917 22 Nov 1977 60
22 Nov 1977 7 Peter St.Clair-Erskine  [Elected hereditary 31 Mar 1958
peer 1999-]
ROSSMORE
19 Oct 1796 B[I] 1 Robert Cuninghame 18 Apr 1726 6 Aug 1801
Created Baron Rossmore 19 Oct 1796
For details of the special remainder included 
in the creation of this peerage,see the note
at the foot of this page
MP for East Grinstead 1788-1789  PC [I] 1782
For further information on this peer, see the
note at the foot of this page.
6 Aug 1801 2 Warner William Westenra 14 Oct 1765 10 Aug 1842 76
7 Jul 1838 B 1 Created Baron Rossmore [UK] 7 Jul 1838
MP for Monaghan 1800-1801. Lord Lieutenant
Monaghan 1831-1842
10 Aug 1842 3 Henry Robert Westenra 24 Aug 1792 1 Dec 1860 68
2 MP for Monaghan 1818-1830, 1831-1832,1834
and 1835-1842  Lord Lieutenant Monaghan 
1843-1858
1 Dec 1860 4 Henry Cairnes Westenra 14 Nov 1851 28 Mar 1874 22
3
28 Mar 1874 5 Derrick Warner William Westenra 7 Feb 1853 31 Jan 1921 67
4 Lord Lieutenant Monaghan 1897-1921
For further information on this peer,see the
note at the foot of this page
31 Jan 1921 6 William Westenra 12 Jul 1892 17 Oct 1958 66
5
17 Oct 1958 7 William Warner Westenra 14 Feb 1931 4 May 2021 90
6
4 May 2021 8 Benedict William Westenra 6 Mar 1983
 7
ROTHERHAM
18 Jul 1910 B 1 Sir William Henry Holland,1st baronet 15 Dec 1849 26 Dec 1927 78
Created Baron Rotherham 18 Jul 1910
MP for Salford North 1892-1895 and 
Rotherham 1899-1910
26 Dec 1927 2 Stuart Lund Holland 25 Oct 1876 24 Jan 1950 73
to     Peerage extinct on his death
24 Jan 1950
ROTHERMERE
17 May 1919 V 1 Sir Harold Sidney Harmsworth,1st baronet 26 Apr 1868 26 Nov 1940 72
Created Baron Rothermere 17 Jan 1914
and Viscount Rothermere 17 May 1919
Minister for Air 1917-1918. PC 1917
26 Nov 1940 2 Esmond Cecil Harmsworth 29 May 1898 12 Jul 1978
MP for Isle of Thanet 1919-1929
12 Jul 1978 3 Vere Harold Esmond Harmsworth 27 Aug 1925 1 Sep 1998 73
1 Sep 1998 4 Harold Jonathan Esmond Vere Harmsworth 3 Dec 1967
ROTHERWICK
5 Jul 1939 B 1 Sir Herbert Robin Cayzer,1st baronet 23 Jul 1881 16 Mar 1958 76
Created Baron Rotherwick 5 Jul 1939
MP for Portsmouth South 1918-1922 and
1923-1939
16 Mar 1958 2 Herbert Robin Cayzer 5 Dec 1912 11 Jun 1996 83
11 Jun 1996 3 Herbert Robin Cayzer  [Elected hereditary peer 12 Mar 1954
1999-]
ROTHES
For further information on this peerage, see 
the note at the foot of this page
1457 E[S] 1 George Leslie c 1490
Created Lord Leslie 1445 and Earl of
Rothes 1457
c 1490 2 George Leslie Mar 1513
Mar 1513 3 William Leslie 9 Sep 1513
9 Sep 1513 4 George Leslie 28 Nov 1558
28 Nov 1558 5 Andrew Leslie 1611
1611 6 John Leslie 1600 23 Aug 1641 41
23 Aug 1641 7 John Leslie 1630 27 Jul 1681 51
29 May 1680 D[S] 1 Created Lord Auchmotie and
to     Caskieberry,Viscount of Lugtoun,Earl
27 Jul 1681 of Leslie,Marquess of Ballinbriech
and Duke of Rothes 29 May 1680
Lord High Treasurer [S] 1663-1667. Lord
Chancellor [s] 1667-1681
On his death the creations of 1680 became 
extinct,whilst the Earldom passed to -
27 Jul 1681 8 Margaret Hamilton 20 Aug 1700
20 Aug 1700 9 John Leslie 21 Aug 1679 9 May 1722 42
Lord Lieutenant Fifeshire,Kinross and
Aberdeen
9 May 1722 10 John Leslie c 1698 10 Dec 1767
KT 1753  PC [I] 1756
10 Dec 1767 11 John Leslie 19 Oct 1744 18 Jul 1773 28
18 Jul 1773 12 Jane Elizabeth Evelyn 5 May 1750 2 Jun 1810 60
2 Jun 1810 13 George William Evelyn-Leslie 28 Mar 1768 11 Feb 1817 48
11 Feb 1817 14 Henrietta Anne Leslie 26 Mar 1790 30 Jan 1819 28
30 Jan 1819 15 George William Evelyn Leslie 8 Nov 1809 10 Mar 1841 31
10 Mar 1841 16 George William Evelyn Leslie 4 Feb 1835 2 Jan 1859 23
2 Jan 1859 17 Henrietta Anderson Morshead 
Waldegrave-Leslie 6 Feb 1832 10 Feb 1886 54
10 Feb 1886 18 Mary Elizabeth Haworth-Leslie 9 Jul 1811 19 Sep 1893 82
19 Sep 1893 19 Norman Evelyn Leslie 15 Jul 1877 29 Mar 1927 49
29 Mar 1927 20 Malcolm George Dyer Edwardes Leslie 8 Feb 1902 17 May 1975 73
17 May 1975 21 Ian Lionel Malcolm Leslie 10 May 1932 15 Apr 2005 72
15 Apr 2005 22 James Malcolm David Leslie 4 Jun 1958
ROTHESAY
28 Apr 1398 D[S] 1 David Stewart 1378 26 Mar 1402 23
to     Created Duke of Rothesay 28 Apr 1398
26 Mar 1402 Eldest son of Robert III of Scotland
On his death the peerage reverted to the
Crown
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
1402 D[S] 1 James Stewart    Jul 1394 21 Feb 1437 42
to     Created Duke of Rothesay 1402
4 Apr 1406 Third son of Robert III of Scotland
He succeeded to the throne of Scotland
as James I when the peerage merged with
the Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
16 Oct 1430 D[S] 1 James Stewart 16 Oct 1430 3 Aug 1460 29
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
21 Feb 1437 First son of James I of Scotland
He succeeded to the throne of Scotland
as James II when the peerage merged with
the Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
20 Jul 1451 D[S] 1 James Stewart 20 Jul 1451 11 Jun 1488 36
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
3 Aug 1460 First son of James II of Scotland
He succeeded to the throne of Scotland
as James III when the peerage merged with
the Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
17 Mar 1473 D[S] 1 James Stewart 17 Mar 1473 9 Sep 1513 40
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
11 Jun 1488 First son of James III of Scotland
He succeeded to the throne of Scotland
as James IV when the peerage merged with
the Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
21 Feb 1507 D[S] 1 James Stewart 21 Feb 1507 27 Feb 1508 1
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
27 Feb 1508 First son of James IV of Scotland
On his death the peerage reverted to the
Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
20 Oct 1509 D[S] 1 Arthur Stewart 20 Oct 1509 14 Jul 1510 -  
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
14 Jul 1510 Second son of James IV of Scotland
On his death the peerage reverted to the
Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
15 Apr 1512 D[S] 1 James Stewart 10 Apr 1512 14 Dec 1542 30
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
9 Sep 1513 Third son of James IV of Scotland
He succeeded to the throne of Scotland
as James V when the peerage merged with
the Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
22 May 1540 D[S] 1 James Stewart 22 May 1540 1541 1
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
1541 First son of James V of Scotland
On his death the peerage reverted to the
Crown
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
19 Jun 1566 D[S] 1 James Stewart 19 Jun 1566 27 Mar 1625 58
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
24 Jul 1567 First son of James V of Scotland
He succeeded to the throne of Scotland
as James VI when the peerage merged with
the Crown
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
19 Feb 1594 D[S] Henry Frederick Stewart 19 Feb 1594 6 Nov 1612 18
to     Became Duke of Rothesay at birth
6 Nov 1612 First son of James VI of Scotland
On his death the peerage reverted to the
Crown
Since 1612 the Dukedom of Rothesay 
has followed the Dukedom of 
Cornwall (qv)
ROTHSCHILD
29 Jun 1885 B 1 Sir Nathan Meyer Rothschild,2nd baronet 8 Nov 1840 31 Mar 1915 74
Created Baron Rothschild 29 Jun 1885
MP for Aylesbury 1865-1885. Lord 
Lieutenant Buckingham 1889-1915  PC 1902
31 Mar 1915 2 Lionel Walter Rothschild 8 Feb 1868 27 Aug 1937 69
MP for Aylesbury 1899-1910
27 Aug 1937 3 Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild 31 Oct 1910 20 Mar 1990 79
20 Mar 1990 4 Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild 29 Apr 1936 25 Feb 2024 87
OM 2002
25 Feb 2024 5 Amschel Mayer James Rothschild 12 Jul 1971
ROUNDWAY
30 Jun 1916 B 1 Charles Edward Hungerford Atholl
Colston 16 May 1854 17 Jun 1925 71
Created Baron Roundway 30 Jun 1916
MP for Thormbury 1892-1906
17 Jun 1925 2 Edward Murray Colston 31 Dec 1880 29 Mar 1944 63
to     Peerage extinct on his death
29 Mar 1944
ROUS
14 Jun 1796 B 1 John Rous 30 May 1750 27 Aug 1827 77
Created Baron Rous 14 Jun 1796, and
Viscount Dunwich and Earl of
Stradbroke 18 Jul 1821
See "Stradbroke"
ROWALLAN
27 Jun 1911 B 1 Archibald Cameron Corbett 23 May 1856 19 Mar 1933 76
Created Baron Rowallan 27 Jun 1911
MP for Tradeston 1885-1911
19 Mar 1933 2 Thomas Godfrey Polson Corbett 19 Dec 1895 30 Nov 1977 81
Governor of Tasmania 1959-1963. KT 1957
30 Nov 1977 3 Arthur Cameron Corbett 17 Dec 1919 24 Jun 1993 73
24 Jun 1993 4 John Polson Cameron Corbett 8 Mar 1947
ROWE-BEDDOE
15 Jun 2006 B[L] 1 Sir David Sydney Rowe-Beddoe 19 Dec 1937 15 Nov 2023 85
to Created Baron Rowe-Beddoe for life
15 Nov 2023 15 Jun 2006
Peerage extinct on his death
ROWLANDS
28 Jun 2004 B[L] 1 Edward Rowlands 23 Jan 1940
Created Baron Rowlands for life 28 Jun 2004
MP for Merthyr Tydfil 1972-1983 and Merthyr
Tydfil and Rhymney 1983-2001
ROWLEY
27 May 1966 B[L] 1 Arthur Henderson 27 Aug 1893 28 Aug 1968 75
to     Created Baron Rowley for life 27 May 1966
28 Aug 1968 MP for Cardiff South 1923-1924 and 1929-
1931, Kingswinford 1935-1950 and Rowley
Regis and Tipton 1950-1966. Secretary of
State for Air 1947-1951.  PC 1947
Peerage extinct on his death
ROWTON
6 May 1880 B 1 Montagu William Lowry-Corry 8 Oct 1838 9 Nov 1903 65
to     Created Baron Rowton 6 May 1880
9 Nov 1903 PC 1900
Peerage extinct on his death
ROXBURGHE
18 Sep 1616 E[S] 1 Sir Robert Ker c 1570 18 Jan 1650
Created Lord Roxburghe 29 Dec 1599
and Lord Ker of Cessfurd and 
Cavertoun and Earl of Roxburghe
18 Sep 1616
Lord Privy Seal [S] 1637-1649
18 Jan 1650 2 William Ker 2 Jul 1675
2 Jul 1675 3 Robert Ker c 1658 6 May 1682
For information on the death of this peer,see the
note at the foot of the page containing details of
the Dick baronetcy
6 May 1682 4 Robert Ker c 1677 13 Jul 1696
13 Jul 1696 5 John Ker c 1680 24 Feb 1741
25 Apr 1707 D[S] 1 Created Lord Ker of Cessfurd and
Cavertoun,Viscount of Broxmouth,
Earl of Kelso,Marquess of Bowmont
and Cessfurd and Duke of Roxburghe
25 Apr 1707
Secretary of State for Scotland 1716-1725
PC 1709  KG 1722
24 Feb 1741 2 Robert Ker c 1709 23 Aug 1755
Created Baron Ker and Earl Ker of
Wakefield 24 May 1722
23 Aug 1755 3 John Ker 23 Apr 1740 19 Mar 1804 63
Lord Lieutenant Roxburghe 1794-1804
KT 1768  PC 1796  KG 1801
19 Mar 1804 4 William Bellenden-Ker 20 Oct 1728 22 Oct 1805 77
to     On his death the peerage became dormant
22 Oct 1805
11 May 1812 5 Sir James Innes-Ker,6th baronet 10 Jan 1736 19 Jul 1823 87
19 Jul 1823 6 James Henry Robert Innes-Ker 12 Jul 1816 23 Apr 1879 62
Created Earl Innes 11 Aug 1837
Lord Lieutenant Berwick 1873-1879
KT 1840
23 Apr 1879 7 James Henry Robert Innes-Ker 5 Sep 1839 23 Oct 1892 53
MP for Roxburghshire 1868-1874. Lord
Lieutenant Roxburghe 1884-1892
23 Oct 1892 8 Henry John Innes-Ker 25 Jul 1876 29 Sep 1932 56
Lord Lieutenant Roxburghe 1918-1932. KT 1902
29 Sep 1932 9 George Victor Robert John Innes-Ker 7 Sep 1913 26 Sep 1974 61
26 Sep 1974 10 Guy David Innes-Ker 18 Nov 1954 29 Aug 2019 64
29 Aug 2019 11 Charles Robert George Innes-Ker 1981
ROYALL OF BLAISDON
25 Jun 2004 B[L] 1 Janet Anne Royall 20 Aug 1955
Created Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
for life 25 Jun 2004
PC 2008  Lord President of the Council 2008-2009
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 2009-
ROYDEN
28 Jan 1944 B 1 Sir Thomas Royden,2nd baronet 22 May 1871 6 Nov 1950 79
to     Created Baron Royden 28 Jan 1944
6 Nov 1950 MP for Bootle 1918-1922  CH 1919
Peerage extinct on his death
ROYLE
25 Aug 1964 B[L] 1 Charles Royle 23 Jan 1896 30 Sep 1975 79
to     Created Baron Royle for life 25 Aug 1964
30 Sep 1975 MP for Salford West 1945-1964
Peerage extinct on his death
ROYSTON
2 Apr 1754 V 1 Philip Yorke,1st Baron Hardwicke 1 Dec 1690 6 Mar 1764 73
Created Viscount Royston and Earl of
Hardwicke 2 Apr 1754
See "Hardwicke"
RUFFSIDE
14 Dec 1951 V 1 Douglas Clifton Brown 16 Aug 1879 5 May 1958 78
to     Created Viscount Ruffside 14 Dec 1951
5 May 1958 MP for Hexham 1918-1923 and 1924-1951.
Speaker of the House of Commons 1943-
1951  PC 1941
Peerage extinct on his death
RUGBY
15 Jan 1947 B 1 Sir John Loader Maffey 1 Jul 1877 20 Apr 1969 91
Created Baron Rugby 15 Jan 1947
Governor General of the Sudan 1926-1934
20 Apr 1969 2 Alan Loader Maffey 16 Apr 1913 12 Jan 1990 76
12 Jan 1990 3 Robert Charles Maffey 4 May 1951
RUGLEN
14 Apr 1697 E[S] 1 Lord John Hamilton 26 Jan 1665 3 Dec 1744 79
Created Lord Hillhouse,Viscount
Riccartoun and Earl of Ruglen
14 Apr 1697
He subsequently [1739] succeeded as 3rd
Earl of Selkirk
3 Dec 1744 2 Anne Douglas 5 Apr 1698 21 Apr 1748 50
21 Apr 1748 3 William Douglas,later [1778] 4th Duke of Queensberry 16 Dec 1724 23 Dec 1810 86
to     Peerage extinct on his death
23 Dec 1810
RUNCIE
1 Feb 1991 B[L] 1 Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie 2 Oct 1921 11 Jul 2000 78
to     Created Baron Runcie for life 1 Feb 1991
11 Jul 2000 Archbishop of Canterbury 1980-1991.
PC 1980
Peerage extinct on his death
RUNCIMAN
17 Jan 1933 B 1 Sir Walter Runciman,1st baronet 6 Jul 1847 13 Aug 1937 90
Created Baron Runciman 17 Jan 1933
MP for Hartlepool 1914-1918
On his death he was succeeded by his son,
see below
For further information on this peer,see the
note at the foot of this page
RUNCIMAN OF DOXFORD
   
10 Jun 1937 V 1 Walter Runciman 19 Nov 1870 14 Nov 1949 78
Created Viscount Runciman  of Doxford
10 Jun 1937
MP for Oldham 1899-1900, Dewsbury 1902-
1918, Swansea West 1924-1929 and St.Ives
1929-1937. Financial Secretary to the
Treasury 1907-1908. President of the Board
of Education 1908-1911. President of the
Board of Agriculture 1911-1914. President
of the Board of Trade 1914-1916 and
1931-1937. Lord President of the Council
1938-1939.  PC 1908
Succeeded to the Barony of Runciman 13 Aug 1937
14 Nov 1949 2 Walter Leslie Runciman 26 Aug 1900 1 Sep 1989 89
1 Sep 1989 3 Walter Garrison Runciman 10 Nov 1934 10 Dec  2020 86
10 Dec 2020 4 David Runciman, FBA 1 Mar 1967
RUNCORN
20 Apr 1964 B[L] 1 Dennis Forwood Vosper 2 Jan 1916 20 Jan 1968 52
to     Created Baron Runcorn for life 20 Apr 1964
20 Jan 1968 MP for Runcorn 1950-1964. Minister of
Health 1957. Minister of State,Home Office
1960-1961.  PC 1957
Peerage extinct on his death
RUSHCLIFFE
24 Jan 1935 B 1 Sir Henry Bucknall Betterton,1st baronet 15 Aug 1872 18 Nov 1949 77
to     Created Baron Rushcliffe 24 Jan 1935
18 Nov 1949 MP for Rushcliffe 1918-1934. Minister of
Labour 1931-1934.  PC 1931
Peerage extinct on his death
RUSHOLME
1 Dec 1945 B 1 Robert Alexander Palmer 29 Nov 1890 18 Aug 1977 86
to     Created Baron Rusholme 1 Dec 1945
18 Aug 1977 Peerage extinct on his death
RUSSBOROUGH
8 Sep 1760 V[I] 1 Joseph Leeson 11 Mar 1722 2 Oct 1783 61
Created Baron of Russborough 5 May 
1756, Viscount Russborough 8 Sep 1760
and Earl of Milltown 10 May 1763
See "Milltown"
RUSSELL
9 Mar 1539 B 1 John Russell c 1485 14 Mar 1555
Created Baron Russell 9 Mar 1539
He was subsequently created Earl of
Bedford (qv) in 1550
                     ***************
1 Mar 1553 Francis Russell 1527 28 Jul 1585 58
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of 
Acceleration as Baron Russell 1 Mar 1553
He succeeded as Earl of Bedford (qv) in 1555
                     ***************
Jan 1581 John Russell 1584
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of 
Acceleration as Baron Russell in Jan 1581
He was the son and heir apparent of the 2nd
Earl of Bedford, but died before his father
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
30 Jul 1861 E 1 John Russell 18 Aug 1792 28 May 1878 85
Created Viscount Amberley and Earl
Russell 30 Jul 1861
MP for Tavistock 1813-1820,
Huntingdonshire 1820-1826, Bandon 1826-
1830, Tavistock 1830-1831, Devonshire
1831-1832, Devon South 1832-1835, Stroud
1835-1841 and London 1841-1861. Home
Secretary 1834-1835. Colonial Secretary
1839-1841 and 1855. Prime Minister 1846-
1852 and 1865-1866. Foreign Secretary
1852-1853 and 1859-1865. Lord President
of the Council 1854-1855.  PC 1830  
KG 1862
28 May 1878 2 John Francis Stanley Russell 12 Aug 1865 3 Mar 1931 65
For further information on this peer, see the note
at the foot of this page.
3 Mar 1931 3 Bertrand Arthur William Russell 18 May 1872 2 Feb 1970 97
Nobel Prize for Literature 1950.  OM 1949
2 Feb 1970 4 John Conrad Russell 16 Nov 1921 16 Dec 1987 66
For further information on this peer, see the note
at the foot of this page.
16 Dec 1987 5 Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell  [Elected 15 Apr 1937 14 Oct 2004 67
hereditary peer 1999-2004]
14 Oct 2004 6 Nicholas Lyulph Russell 12 Sep 1968 17 Aug 2014 45
17 Aug 2014 7 John Francis Russell 19 Nov 1971
RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN
7 May 1894 B[L] 1 Sir Charles Russell 10 Nov 1832 10 Aug 1900 67
to     Created Baron Russell of Killowen for life
10 Aug 1900 7 May 1894
MP for Dundalk 1880-1885 and Hackney
South 1885-1894. Attorney General 1886
and 1892-1894. Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
1894. Lord Chief Justice 1894-1900.
PC 1894
Peerage extinct on his death
For information on this peer,see the note at the
foot of this page
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18 Nov 1929 B[L] 1 Francis Xavier Joseph Russell 2 Jul 1867 20 Dec 1946 79
to     Created Baron Russell of Killowen for life
20 Dec 1946 18 Nov 1929
Lord Justice of Appeal 1928-1929. Lord of
Appeal in Ordinary 1929-1946.  PC 1928
Peerage extinct on his death
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
30 Sep 1975 B[L] 1 Sir Charles Ritchie Russell 12 Jan 1908 23 Jun 1986 78
to     Created Baron Russell of Killowen for life
23 Jun 1986 30 Sep 1975
Lord Justice of Appeal 1962-1975. Lord of
Appeal in Ordinary 1975-1982   PC 1962
Peerage extinct on his death
RUSSELL OF LIVERPOOL
9 Oct 1919 B 1 Sir Edward Richard Russell 9 Aug 1834 20 Feb 1920 85
Created Baron Russell of Liverpool
9 Oct 1919
MP for Bridgeton 1885-1887
20 Feb 1920 2 Edward Frederick Langley Russell 10 Apr 1895 8 Apr 1981 85
8 Apr 1981 3 Simon Gordon Jared Russell  [Elected hereditary 30 Aug 1952
peer 2014-]
RUSSELL OF THORNHAUGH
21 Jul 1603 B 1 Sir William Russell c 1558 9 Aug 1613
Created Baron Russell of Thornhaugh
21 Jul 1603
Lord Deputy of Ireland 1594-1597
9 Aug 1613 2 Francis Russell 1593 9 May 1641 57
He succeeded to the Earldom of Bedford (qv)
in 1627 with which title this peerage then
merged and so remains
RUSSELL-JOHNSTON
21 Jul 1997 B[L] 1 Sir (David) Russell Russell-Johnston 28 Jul 1932 27 Jul 2008 75
to     Created Baron Russell-Johnston for life
27 Jul 2008 21 Jul 1997
MP for Inverness 1964-1983 and Inverness,
Nairn and Lochaber 1983-1997
Peerage extinct on his death
RUTHERFORD
10 Jan 1661 B[S] 1 Andrew Rutherford 4 May 1664
Created Lord Rutherford 10 Jan 1661
Later created Earl of Teviot (qv) in 1663
4 May 1664 2 Thomas Rutherford 16 Apr 1668
16 Apr 1668 3 Archibald Rutherford 11 Mar 1685
11 Mar 1685 4 Robert Rutherford 1724
to     On his death the peerage became dormant
1724
RUTHERFORD OF NELSON
22 Jan 1931 B 1 Sir Ernest Rutherford 30 Aug 1871 19 Oct 1937 66
to     Created Baron Rutherford of Nelson
19 Oct 1937 22 Jan 1931
President of the Royal Society 1925-1930.
Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1908.  OM 1925
Peerage extinct on his death
RUTHVEN
29 Jan 1488 B[S] 1 Sir William Ruthven 1528
Created Lord Ruthven 29 Jan 1488
1528 2 William Ruthven 1552
1552 3 Patrick Ruthven c 1520 13 Jun 1566
13 Jun 1566 4 William Ruthven,later [1581] 1st Earl of Gowrie c 1545 28 May 1584
to     He was attainted and the peerages
28 May 1584 forfeited
1586 5 James Ruthven 25 Sep 1575 1588 12
Restored to the peerage 1586
1588 6 John Ruthven,Earl of Gowrie c 1576 5 Aug 1600
to     He was attainted and the peerages forfeited
5 Aug 1600
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Jan 1651 B[S] 1 Sir Thomas Ruthven 6 May 1673
Created Lord Ruthven Jan 1651
6 May 1673 2 David Ruthven Apr 1701
Apr 1701 3 Jean Ruthven Apr 1722
Apr 1722 4 Isobel Ruthven Jun 1732
Jun 1732 5 James Ruthven 3 Jul 1783
3 Jul 1783 6 James Ruthven 16 Dec 1733 27 Dec 1789 56
27 Dec 1789 7 James Ruthven 17 Oct 1777 27 Jul 1853 75
27 Jul 1853 8 Mary Elizabeth Thornton Hore-Ruthven c 1784 13 Feb 1864
13 Feb 1864 9 Walter James Hore-Ruthven 14 Jun 1838 28 Feb 1921 82
He was created Baron Ruthven of Gowrie (qv)
28 Oct 1919
28 Feb 1921 10 Walter Patrick Hore-Ruthven 6 Jun 1870 16 Apr 1956 85
16 Apr 1956 11 Bridget Helen Monckton 27 Jul 1896 17 Apr 1982 85
17 Apr 1982 12 Charles James Ruthven Howard 21 Feb 1923 28 Nov 1994 71
He had previously succeeded as 12th Earl of
Carlisle (qv) in 1963 with which title this peerage
then merged and still remains so
RUTHVEN OF CANBERRA
8 Jan 1945 V 1 Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven VC,1st 6 Jul 1872 2 May 1955 82
Baron Gowrie of Canberra
Created Viscount Ruthven of Canberra and
Earl of Gowrie 8 Jan 1945
See "Gowrie"
RUTHVEN OF ETTRICK
1639 B[S] 1 Patrick Ruthven 2 Feb 1651
to     Created Baron Ruthven of Ettrick
2 Feb 1651 1639, Earl of Forth 27 Mar 1642 and
Earl of Brentford 27 May 1644
Peerages extinct on his death
RUTHVEN OF GOWRIE
28 Oct 1919 B 1 Walter James Hore-Ruthven,9th Lord Ruthven 14 Jun 1838 28 Feb 1921 82
Created Baron Ruthven of Gowrie 28 Oct 1919
28 Feb 1921 2 Walter Patrick Hore-Ruthven,10th Lord Ruthven 6 Jun 1870 16 Apr 1956 85
16 Apr 1956 3 Alexander Patrick Greysteil Ruthven 26 Nov 1939
He had previously (1955) succeeded as the 2nd 
Earl of Gowrie,with which title the barony remains
merged
RUTLAND
25 Feb 1390 E 1 Edward Plantagenet 1373 25 Oct 1415 42
to     Created Earl of Rutland 25 Feb 1390
1 Aug 1402 The Earldom was only valid during the
lifetime of his father and thus became
extinct on his father's death
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18 Jun 1525 E 1 Thomas Manners,13th Lord de Ros by 1492 20 Sep 1543
Created Earl of Rutland 18 Jun 1525
KG 1525
20 Sep 1543 2 Henry Manners 23 Sep 1526 17 Sep 1563 37
Lord Lieutenant Nottingham 1552 and
Rutland 1559. KG 1559
17 Sep 1563 3 Edward Manners 12 Jul 1548 14 Apr 1587 38
Lord Lieutenant Lincoln 1585.  KG 1584
14 Apr 1587 4 John Manners by 1552 24 Feb 1588
24 Feb 1588 5 Roger Manners 6 Oct 1576 26 Jun 1612 35
Lord Lieutenant Lincoln 1603-1612
26 Jun 1612 6 Francis Manners 1578 17 Dec 1632 54
Lord Lieutenant Lincoln 1612.  KG 1616
For further information on the deaths of this peer's
two sons, see the note at the foot of this page
17 Dec 1632 7 George Manners c 1580 29 Mar 1641
MP for Grantham 1604-1611 and 1624-1626
Lord Lieutenant Derbyshire
29 Mar 1641 8 John Manners 10 Jun 1604 29 Sep 1679 75
Lord Lieutenant Leicester 1667-1677
29 Sep 1679 9 John Manners 29 May 1638 10 Jan 1711 72
29 Mar 1703 D 1 Summoned to Parliament as Lord
Manners de Haddon 30 Apr 1679.
Created Marquess of Granby and 
Duke of Rutland 29 Mar 1703
MP for Leicestershire 1661-1679. Lord
Lieutenant Leicester 1677-1687,1689-1703
and 1706-1711
10 Jan 1711 2 John Manners 18 Sep 1676 22 Feb 1721 44
MP for Derbyshire 1701, Leicestershire
1701-1702 and 1710-1711 and Grantham
1705-1711. Lord Lieutenant Rutland 1712-15
and Leicester 1714-1721.  KG 1714
22 Feb 1721 3 John Manners 21 Oct 1696 29 May 1779 82
MP for Rutland 1719-1721. Lord Lieutenant
Leicester 1721-1779. KG 1722  PC 1727 
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1727-1736
29 May 1779 4 Charles Manners 15 Mar 1754 24 Oct 1787 33
MP for Cambridge University 1774-1779.
Lord Privy Seal 1783-1784. Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland 1784-1787. Lord Lieutenant
Leicester 1779-1787. KG 1782  PC 1783
24 Oct 1787 5 John Henry Manners 4 Jan 1778 20 Jan 1857 79
Lord Lieutenant Leicester 1799-1857
KG 1803
20 Jan 1857 6 Charles Cecil John Manners 16 May 1815 4 Mar 1888 72
MP for Stamford 1837-1852 and 
Leicestershire North 1852-1857. Lord
Lieutenant Lincoln 1852-1857 and Leicester
1857-1888.  KG 1867
4 Mar 1888 7 John James Robert Manners 13 Dec 1818 4 Aug 1906 87
MP for Newark 1841-1847, Colchester
1850-1857, Leicestershire North 1857-1885
and Melton 1885-1888. Chief
Commissioner of Works 1852, 1858-1859 
and 1868. Postmaster General 1874-1880
and 1885-1886. Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster 1886-1892. PC 1852  KG 1891
Created Baron Roos of Belvoir 17 Jun 1896
4 Aug 1906 8 Henry John Brinsley Manners 16 Apr 1852 8 May 1925 73
MP for Melton 1888-1895. Lord Lieutenant
Leicester 1900-1925.  KG 1918
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of
Acceleration as Baron Manners of Haddon
6 Jun 1896
8 May 1925 9 John Henry Montagu Manners 21 Sep 1886 22 Apr 1940 53
22 Apr 1940 10 Charles John Robert Manners 28 May 1919 3 Jan 1999 79
3 Jan 1999 11 David Charles Robert Manners 8 May 1959
RYDER OF EATON HASTINGS
15 Jul 1975 B[L] 1 Sir Sydney Thomas Franklin Ryder 16 Sep 1916 12 May 2003 86
to     Created Baron Ryder of Eaton
12 May 2003 Hastings for life 15 Jul 1975
Peerage extinct on his death
RYDER OF WARSAW
31 Jan 1979 B[L] 1 Margaret Susan Cheshire 3 Jul 1924 2 Nov 2000 76
to     Created Baroness Ryder of Warsaw for life
2 Nov 2000 31 Jan 1979
Peerage extinct on her death
RYDER OF WENSUM
22 Nov 1997 B[L] 1 Richard Andrew Ryder 4 Feb 1949
Created Baron Ryder of Wensum for life
22 Nov 1997
MP for Norfolk Mid 1983-1997. Economic
Secretary to the Treasury 1989-1990. Paymaster
General 1990. Parliamentary Secretary to the
Treasury and Chief Whip 1990-1995
PC 1990
The special remainder to the Earldom of Rosslyn
From the "London Gazette" of 14 April 1801 (issue 15355, page 406):-
"The King has been pleased to grant the Dignity of an Earl of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, to the Right Honorable Alexander Lord Loughborough and the Heirs Male of his Body
lawfully begotten, by the Name, Style, and Title of Earl of Rosslyn, in the County of Mid Lothian,
with Remainder to the Heirs Male, lawfully begotten, of the Body of Lady Janet Erskine, 
deceased, Sister to the said Alexander Lord Loughborough, and Widow of Sir Henry Erskine of 
Alva, Baronet."
Francis Edward Scudamore St.Clair-Erskine, styled Baron Loughborough, eldest
son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn (16 Nov 1892-4 Aug 1929)
Lord Loughborough died from injuries sustained in a fall, as reported in the "Manchester Guardian"
of 5 August 1929:-
'Lord Loughborough, eldest son of the Earl of Rosslyn, died in London yesterday morning. Lord
Loughborough, who was 36, had been staying with friends at a house in Holland Street West, 
and early yesterday morning was found lying unconscious in the back garden, in his night
clothes, having fallen from the fourth floor of the house where his bedroom was.
'The police and an ambulance were called, and he was taken to the nearest hospital. The Earl 
of Rosslyn, who was at Horsham, was summoned, and reached his son's bedside before the end.
'The body is lying at St. Mary Abbott's Hospital, Kensington, pending an inquest.
'Miss Violet Macdonald, one of the family living at the house where the tragedy occurred, said
that Lord Loughborough was a friend of long standing. "He often visited us," she said. "Last night
he came with a mutual friend, a doctor. They had had dinner, and Lord Loughborough was to 
spend the week-end with us. We sat down to have a game of cards and played 'rummy.' Our
party, in addition to Lord Loughborough and the doctor, included my aunt and a lady from South
Africa who is visiting her.
"We played until about eleven o'clock, when the doctor left, and when we went upstairs Lord
Loughborough was shown the room in which he was to sleep. It was my mother's room. She is
now in the Highlands. He said he did not want to have it because he felt sure he was putting us
to some inconvenience. We assured him that he was not, but he still persisted that he ought not
to take that room. Eventually we fixed up another room for him, and then we all went to bed."
'Lord Loughborough had not appeared to be very well, and later their doctor friend returned.
"Shortly afterwards came the discovery of the tragedy," continued Miss Macdonald. "The doctor
heard a groan. My aunt and her friend went out into the back, and there found Lord 
Loughborough lying on the crazy paving beneath the window of his room. His room was on the
fourth floor, and he had fallen quite thirty feet. We immediately sent for the police and an 
ambulance, and he was taken to hospital. Apparently there he regained consciousness for a
little before he died.
"It was a terrible shock to us, for he has been such a charming fellow, and we all liked him
immensely. He brought several bags with him as he was going to stay the week-end, and I 
believe he was going on to stay somewhere else after he left us."
'Miss Macdonald's aunt said: "It is a most distressing thing. We were very fond of Lord
Loughborough. About ten o'clock he used the phone to ring someone at Eastbourne, and he 
seemed a little upset when he came back. After the doctor had heard groaning and we went out
into the back we saw Lord Loughborough lying on the crazy pavement. He was still moaning
slightly, and his leg was fractured in two places."
At the subsequent inquest Lord Loughborough was found to have committed suicide while he was
of temporarily unsound mind.
The special remainder to the Barony of Rossmore created in 1796
From the "London Gazette" of 25 October 1796 (issue 13944, page 1017):-
'His Majesty's Royal Letter being received, granting the Dignity of a Baron of this Kingdom [i.e.
Ireland] to the Right Honorable Robert Cuninghame, General in His Majesty's Forces, and the Heirs
Male of his Body lawfully begotten, by the Nmae, Stile and Title of Lord Rossmore, of Monaghan,
with Remainders respectively to Henry Alexander Nathaniel Jones, Esq; William Warner Westenra,
Esq; and Henry Westenra, Esq; Grandsons of Mary Lady Blayney, deceased. Letters Patent are
preparing to be passed under the Great Seal of this Kingdom accordingly.'
Robert Cuninghame, 1st Baron Rossmore
Cuninghame was an army officer who rose to the rank of General and was Commander-in-
Chief in Ireland between 1793 and 1796. In recognition of his services, he was created 
Baron Rossmore in 1796. Because he had no children, the title was granted a special
remainder to his wife's nephews [see previous note]. Cuninghame's death was both sudden
and unexpected.
One of his neighbours was Sir Jonah Barrington, who is best remembered for his book
'Personal Sketches of his Own Times' (3 vols, 1827-1832) which contain vivid portraits
of a number of his contemporaries. These books also contain the following passages:-
'This intimacy at Mount Kennedy [Rossmore's house] gave rise to an occurrence the most
extraordinary and inexplicable of my whole existence………We [Barrington and his wife]
retired to our chamber about twelve, and towards two in the morning I was awakened by
a sound of a very extraordinary nature. I listened; it occurred first at short intervals, it
resembled neither a voice nor an instrument, it was softer than any voice, and wilder than
any music, and seemed to float in the air…..At length I awakened Lady Barrington, who 
heard it as well as myself……We now went to a large window in our bedroom which looked
directly upon a small garden underneath; the sound seemed to ascend from a grass-plot 
immediately below our window. Lady Barrington requested that I call up her maid…….The
sounds lasted for more than half an hour. At last a deep, throbbing sigh seemed to issue
from the spot, and was shortly succeeded by a sharp but low cry, thrice repeated, of
"Rossmore - Rossmore- Rossmore!"…….The maid fled in terror……about a minute after, the
sound died gradually away until all was silent. 
'About seven the ensuing morning a strong rap at my chamber door awakened me…. I went
to the door, when my faithful servant, Lawler, exclaimed on the other side, 'O Lord, sir!'
'What is the matter?' Said I hurriedly. 'O sir!, Lord Rossmore's footman was running past the
door in great haste and he told me that my lord had gone to bed in perfect health, but that
about half-after two this morning his own man, hearing a noise…..went to him and found him
in the agonies of death……'
Barrington then realised that the triple repetition of Rossmore's name had coincided with the
very moment of Rossmore's death.
Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore
Lord Rossmore's recollections were published in 1912 under the title "Things I Can Tell." The
following [edited] review of these recollections appeared in the Hobart "Mercury" on 24 October 
1912:-
'A sheaf of good stories are always worth passing on. The following were gleaned in the smoking-
room of Lord Rossmore, a genial Irish peer, who was just published his "Recollections," or, rather,
some of his recollections, under the title "Things I Can Tell." The whole book leaves one
wondering as to the things Lord Rossmore cannot tell. It may be that they are reserved for a 
future volume. Lord Rossmore was a friend of the late King Edward. Since boyhood he has moved
in what are known as the best circles. If there is little that is edifying in his book, there is much
that is amusing, and little that is harmful. I give a few specimens of its observation and its 
humour as typical of the best type of British sportsman.
'Lord Rossmore tells an amusing Bacchanalian story dating from the time when he was a 
magistrate at Monaghan, and therefore, may be true.
"An old offender was asked - 'You here again?'  'Yes, your honour.'  'What's brought you here?'
'Two policemen, your honour.'  'Come, come, I know that - drunk again, I suppose?'  'Yes, your
honour, both of them.'
'Irish stories naturally predominate in "Things I Can Tell." Here is one which has a topical interest
in these days of accident insurance. It concerns a certain Lady Pilkington. A friend called upon
her ladyship, accompanied by a poodle. Going out, the ladies chanced to meet an old beggar
woman, whose appearance so annoyed the dog that it promptly bit the mendicant, whose howls
and lamentations terrified kind-hearted Lady Pilkington. "Here, my poor woman, here's ten shillings
for you," she said nervously tendering the coin.
'The old woman grabbed it, and then fell on her knees in the middle of the road, and started 
praying for all she was worth, regardless of mud or motors. 
"All people say the lower orders are irreligious and ungrateful," soliloquised her ladyship, who was
quite touched by the exhibition.
'At last the supplications became more and more vehement and curiosity prompted the donor to
inquire what special blessings were being invoked. "What are you praying for?" said she. The old
vagrant stopped and looked at her sympathetic inquirer. "Sure an' I'm askin' the blessed saints to
persuade the crathur to bite me on the other leg," she said.
'Another dog story was told by Consuela, Duchess of Manchester. It relates to the days when
Pasteur was in the height of his fame, and everyone who was bitten by a dog went post haste to
Paris for immediate inoculation.
"'A young American girl burst into the hotel room one day waving a letter in tremendous 
excitement and shouting - Hooray, hooray, ain't it glorious!" "What on earth's the matter?" asked
everybody. "What's glorious?" "I'm just real happy," she cried, doing a dance around the room.
"Here's Poppa been bitten by a mad dog, and we're off to Paris in the morning."
'Lord Rossmore tells the following good story of Sir John Ashley [presumably a misprint for Sir
John Astley (1828-1894), a well-known devotee of the Turf]: "I knew the Mate (Sir John Ashley)
very well, and I remember how he used to tell a story about having his watch stolen at Epsom.
Sir John had a curious habit of speaking about himself as 'Ashley,' and he blended the third 
person singular with the first person in the most unusual way. This is how he used to narrate 
what happened: - 'Ashley went to the Derby, and I'm blessed if Ashley's ticker wasn't stolen from 
him. As it had been given me, and I prized it, I went to the head pick-pocket, with whom I was
acquainted, and said 'See here, they've taken Ashley's ticker.' 'The man blushed. 'Good Lord, you
don't mean it, Sir John?' he stammered. 'Will you have the goodness to just wait 'ere? I'll be back 
in a jiffy.' He was back in three minutes with Ashley's ticker, which he handed over, saying, most 
humbly, as he did so, 'I 'ope, Sir John, you'll accept the apologies of the 'ole fraternity; it was 
quite a mistake, and it was done by a noo beginner.'
 
 
The Rothes peerage
The Leslie family traces its ancestry back to the 11th century when Bartolf or Berthold, a
Hungarian nobleman, accompanied Margaret, the intended wife of King Malcom III of Scotland,
in her travels to Scotland. Malcolm III (who had the sobriquet Canmore, meaning "big-head"
or "long-neck") is traditionally associated with the defeat of Macbeth in Shakespeare's play. 
Margaret was canonised by the Church in 1250.
Bartolf appears to have won great favour from Malcolm III, marrying the King's sister, Beatrix
and being granted extensive lands, particularly around Lesslyn in Aberdeenshire, from whence
the family took its name. Bartolf was also Chamberlain to Queen Margaret, and it is said that
on one occasion, it being his duty to carry the Queen on his own horse whenever she travelled,
they were crossing a swollen stream when the horse stumbled, and the Queen nearly fell off.
She saved herself by grabbing hold of Bartolf's buckle, asking "gin the buckle bide?" ("will the
buckle hold?"). Bartolf implored her to "grip fast." After this incident, Bartolf had two extra
buckles added to his belt. The three buckles have ever since been incorporated into the family's
coat of arms, which also contains the motto "Grip fast."
The 7th Earl was a great favourite of King Charles II, who created him first (and only) Duke of
Rothes in 1680. When the Duke died the following year, Charles II decreed that since the Duke
had died in the service of his King, he should be buried with all the ceremony befitting the 
death of a monarch. Accordingly, the Duke's body was transported, with great ceremony, from
Edinburgh to Fife, at a huge cost. King Charles forgot to pay the bill, and died before it could
be collected from him, and his successor, James II, refused to honour the debt. As a result,
the family was forced to mortgage the estates and spent the next 200 years in paying off the
debt.
The Earldom can descend through the female line, with the result that there have been five
Countesses of Rothes in their own right. 
One of these Countesses was Henrietta Anne Leslie, 14th in line. While a young girl, she fell in
love with George Gwyther, an illiterate gardener employed by her father on his estates. They
married secretly in 1806, when she was only 16, and the marriage remained secret until she
succeeded to her father's titles eleven years later. Her husband changed his surname to Leslie
so as to retain the ancient family name.
Another Countess (although not in her own right) deserves notice. She was Noel Dyer-
Edwardes, who married the 19th Earl of Rothes in 1900. In April 1912, the Countess was aboard
the ill-fated 'Titanic' on its maiden voyage, and after the liner had struck the iceberg, she 
acquitted herself admirably. According to a report in the 'New York Times' of 20 April 1912:-
One able bodied seaman who shipped aboard the Titanic when she left Southampton is tired
and a little listless and subdued from the things he lived through last Monday, but his eyes
light up and his speech becomes animated when you ask him what part the women played in
the trying hours after the Titanic sank.
"There was a woman in my boat as was a woman," he said yesterday, straitening  her honor. 
"She was the Countess of Rothes, and let me tell you about her. I was one of those who were
ordered to man the boats, and my place was in No. 8. There were thirty five of us in that boat,
mostly women, but there were some men along. 
"I was in command, but I had to row, and I wanted someone at the tiller. And I saw the way
she was carrying herself, and I heard the quiet, determined way she spoke to the others, and
I knew she was more of a man than any we had on board. And I put her in command. I put her
at the tiller, and she was at the tiller when the Carpathia came along five hours later."
The Earls of Rothes also hold an unusual hereditary prerogative, in that they hold the right to
remove the sovereign's boots on his return from any state function or ceremony which takes
place in Scotland.
Walter Runciman, 1st Baron Runciman
 
The following biography of Lord Runciman appeared in the September 1965 issue of the
Australian monthly magazine "Parade":-
 
'One foggy day in March 1865, the collier-brig Blake lay becalmed in the North Sea. Usually 
employed on the east coast of England, her master seldom ventured out of sight of land. This 
trip, however, she was bound for Rotterdam and the skipper had no idea how to get there. At
that time, before the Education Act of 1870, illiteracy was common in England and many coastal
captains could scarcely write their own names. When the captain of the Blake admitted he did
not know where they were, nor in which direction Rotterdam might lie, the mate suggested that
the chart might help. Although by no means optimistic, the skipper ordered the 17-year-old
apprentice, Walter Runciman, to bring all the charts he could find. When the lad rummaged out
a ragged chart of the North Sea which obviously hadn't been consulted for years, the shipmaster
became panic-stricken. "There'll be no Rotterdam for us this trip," he proclaimed in despairing
tones. "The bloody rats have eaten Holland."
'Luckily for the Blake, young Runciman, who was studying navigation in his brief moments of
leisure, owned a cheap atlas. With its aid, the advice of the cook who had been to Rotterdam
before, and the captain's combination of experience and instinct, the collier reached her 
destination. But the incident, typical of much North Sea navigation a century ago, stuck in 
Runciman's mind and reinforced his resolution to learn all he could about his trade. It was unlikely
that he would ever command a ship, but if he did, at least he would know where he was going.
His prospects of advancement were so bleak that his mother, who hated the sea, had warned
him that he would either be drowned or finish up in a home for distressed sailors as many of her
relatives had done. But Walter Runciman was indestructible. Nearly 80 adventurous years later
he was still afloat - but in his own luxurious private yacht.
'Among the last of the great independent shipping magnates, he was one of the few who had
climbed every rung of the ladder by their own efforts. Born in Dunbar, Scotland, in 1847, 
Runciman was the son of a schooner captain whose wife had persuaded him to take a coast-
guard's shore job at Cresswell on the coast of Northumberland. His most vivid childhood 
memories were of tremendous storms in the North Sea and of lifeboats putting out to take 
people from ships rolling themselves to pieces in the surf. Although every winter brought such
disasters they had little effect on the youth of the district, where a man who had not been to
sea was scarcely regarded as a man at all.
 
'On his twelfth birthday Runciman left home, trudged along the shore to the port of Blyth and
shipped as cabin boy on the collier-barque Harperley, whose captain was proud of the nickname
"Hellfire Jack." Runciman's mother had told him it was better to be a Russian serf than a sailor,
but the young sailor soon discovered that she had understated the case. Entering or leaving 
port, his place was in the main chains heaving the lead and chanting the soundings. In port he
cooked for the captain and mate, and put up with the consequences if he took too much skin
off the potatoes. It was his job to scull the captain ashore and wait for him, all night if 
necessary, while Hellfire Jack spent a convivial evening in some waterside tavern.
 
'Other work being slack he was sent aloft to tar the stays, a hazardous and acrobatic feat for a
boy of 12. It involved climbing down a rope while holding a tarpot and brush. If he spilled tar on
the deck it meant a rope's-ending from Hellfire Jack. If he fell, the penalty was death. Arduous in
fair weather, the life was almost intolerable during the northern winter when sails and rigging
were stiff with ice and the spray that blew inboard froze on the men's clothing. 
 
The Harperley was mainly employed freighting coal to Scandinavian countries. From the North
Sea came an abrupt transition to the tropics when the Harperley was chartered to take coal to
East Africa and bring back a cargo of guano from the uninhabited Kuria Muria Islands, off the
Arabian Coast [25 miles off the south-east coast of Oman]. No labour being available, the crew
had to load the ship, shovelling the guano into baskets and manhandling it on board. It took
more than a month to fill the holds, by which time heat, dust, bad water, worse food and
incessant toil had put most of the men on the sick list. But Hellfire Jack regarded no man as ill
while he could stand up. Dosing them with lime juice and Epsom salts, he carried on. 
Long before the ship returned to England, Runciman had had enough of the Harperley and her
captain. The climax came when Hellfire Jack knocked him down and blackened both his eyes.
Regarding this as a signal to leave, the boy deserted, laid low for a while and joined the brig
Maid Of Athens. She, too, was a collier, but her master, Captain Davison, though not particularly
competent, was at least goodhearted. One night during heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay the
brig sprang a leak. Leaving the anxious mate in charge on deck, Davison went down to 
investigate. "Slip down behind him, boy," said the mate to Runciman. "If the old man keeps on
swearing we'll be all right. But if he starts to pray we're done for." Fortunately the captain's
language merely became stronger than usual and the Maid of Athens survived.
'Despite everything, Runciman regarded the sea as his vocation and had no desire to give it up
for life ashore. Rated an AB at 18, he began studying for a master's certificate, a seemingly
hopeless task for a boy with practically no education. When he was 20 he spent a month 
cramming with a tutor in London. Finally, after passing the examination, he got a berth as
second mate, on the West India-bound ship Isabella. Formerly a notoriously violent man with a
flow of profanity which startled even his crew, the captain of the Isabella had been converted
by his own steward and swung so far to the opposite extreme that he held revival services on
board. Declaring that he had found salvation, he urged all his men to do the same.
 
'A master mariner at the age of 22, Runciman soon won renown as one of the most able skippers
on the high seas. Many of the sailors of his time refused to admit that the days of sail were 
drawing to an end but to Runciman the signs were clear. In 1877 he said farewell to windjammers
and became captain of the 1750 ton steam freighter Coanwood. In 1885, when Runciman was 
still only 38, his doctor gave him bad tidings. According to the medico, his constitution had been 
undermined by 26 years at sea. But if he came ashore and took things easy he might hope for a 
few more years of life. Up to a point Runciman followed his advice. He came ashore, but instead
of throwing up his hands, he put all his savings into a 1200-ton steamer, the Dudley, which had
been lying in the Tyne River for several years. A composite vessel, she was equipped with both
sails and engines. At once Runciman dispensed with the sails and refitted her with more efficient
engines.
 
'The Dudley's first venture nearly proved ruinous. Securing a cargo for Russia, Runciman 
dispatched her to Archangel. The next thing he heard was that she had run down a Russian ship
and was being detained by the authorities pending the payment of compensation. Scraping 
together all the money he could raise, he sent it to the British vice-consul at Archangel, who
pocketed it and was never heard of again. After drawn-out negotiations conducted through the
British Foreign Office, the Dudley was eventually released, but it was a long time before she 
earned what the vice-consul had made off with. 
'Undeterred by this setback, Runciman battled on. When the trade slump of the late 1880s
reduced the price of ships, he bought several cheaply and established the South Shields 
Steamship Company. He improved conditions for his crews to such a degree that one
embittered competitor asserted that he should be thrown into the sea with a fire bar tied to his
neck before he ruined the business. Although many thought Runciman was headed straight for
bankruptcy, he prospered. When the South Shields line expanded into the Moor Company, the
former cabin boy owned 25 steamers, most of them built to his specifications.
 
'The loyalty of Runciman's officers and crews astonished other shipowners, but he could be 
firm enough when necessary. One such occasion was when a captain bound for South America
returned in record time with his cargo still under hatches. He explained that he had a vision in
which he was warned that if he proceeded any further he would lose the ship. Runciman thought
this was carrying superstition to preposterous lengths. "I had a vision too, captain," he said.
"What's more, it's come true. In my vision, I saw you on the beach with all your dunnage and
that's just where you're going to be."
'By 1914 Runciman, as chairman of both the Moor and the Anchor Lines, controlled more than 140
ships trading to all parts of the world. Reversing the normal order of things he followed his son
into the House of Commons long after the younger Runciman had become a cabinet minister. But
there was nothing orthodox about Runciman. He had gone to sea at the age of 12, became a
famous yachtsman when he was 75 and crowned everything by joining the Royal Naval Volunteer
Reserve when he was 89.
'One of the last magnates of the Victorian era and one of the most genial, he was raised to the
peerage shortly before he died in 1937. The veteran saw an immense panorama of maritime
history during his 90 years. Born before the first clipper took the water, he lived long enough to
be a guest at the launching of the 81,000-ton Queen Mary.'
John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell
Russell was tried in the House of Lords on a charge of bigamy on 18 July 1901. The indictment
read that Russell had married, on 6 February 1890, Mabel Edith Scott, and, while still married to
her, he married on 15 April 1900, at the Riverside Hotel in Reno, Nevada, Molly Cooke, otherwise
known as Molly Somerville. Russell pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to three
months' imprisonment in Holloway.
This was, however, not the first time that Russell had experienced marital difficulties. Within less
than four months, he and Mabel had separated, and in less than a year Mabel filed an action for
judicial separation on the grounds of alleged cruelty. The particulars of the action contained
veiled accusations to the effect that Earl Russell had been guilty of immoral conduct with a Mr.
Herbert Roberts, the head mathematical master at Bath College. It was, however, proved that 
no such immoral conduct had taken place, Russell and Roberts were completely exonerated and
Mabel's petition was denied.
After her defeat, Mabel went to live with her mother, Lady Maria Selina Scott, widow of Sir 
Claude Scott, 4th baronet [1821]. The divorce proceedings were no sooner over than there 
appeared in a disreputable publication called The Hawk an account of an interview with Mabel 
which repeated the accusation of immoral conduct. In 1894, Mabel, who had sought the
separation order in 1891, now filed a petition for restitution of conjugal rights, but Russell 
counter-petitioned claiming that "he was entitled to a judicial separation from his wife who had
made such baseless and terrible charges against him - charges made, defeated, withdrawn, 
apologized for but, as soon as the trial was over, repeated in a newspaper."
In the meantime, Lady Scott embarked upon a campaign to dig up any dirt she could find on Earl
Russell, hiring detectives to do so. Three men were discovered who at one time were in Russell's
employment and who signed false statements regarding Russell's behaviour. These statements
were then circulated by Lady Scott.
In January 1897, Lady Scott and her two remaining co-defendants (the other had died in the
meantime) were found guilty of publishing false, malicious and defamatory libels against Earl
Russell. Each defendant was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment.
Earl Russell was finally divorced from Mabel Scott in 1901. He subsequently married twice more,
both marriages ending in divorce.
John Conrad Russell, 4th Earl Russell
Russell received his early education at his parents' experimental school in Hampshire where there
were no compulsory lessons and where the children were encouraged to express themselves, 
often to the point of rudeness. 
He worked briefly for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, but after the failure of his
marriage to Susan Lindsay (daughter of American poet Vachel Lindsay), he became a recluse. He
occupied himself by writing and crocheting, including a pair of trousers which he crocheted out 
of string; 'It took a long time because I didn't have a pattern. I had to keep trying them on.'
Russell's real claim to fame was, however, his remarkable speeches in the House of Lords, 
especially one classic speech made in 1978, in a debate on the victims of crime. He began by 
proposing that the police should be disbanded and replaced by the Salvation Army, who should 
give lawbreakers cups of tea. All prisons should be abolished as 'kindness and helping people is 
better than punishing them.' When there were rumblings of dissent from his fellow peers, he 
asked them; ''What are you? Soulless robots? The police ought to be totally prevented from 
ever molesting young people at all or ever putting them in gaols and raping them or putting them 
into brothels or sending them out to serve other people sexually against their wills.'
He was by now getting warmed up. He continued, 'Working is wrong, being in any case the 
curse visited by God upon Adam…..upper classes are right and should be restored to vogue…
everybody should become a leisured aristocrat.' Some of his fellow peers were no doubt 
confused when he asserted that 'aristocrats are Marxist. The Lord Chancellor holds the Order of 
Lenin. The fulfilment of industrial life is Tonga and the South Sea Islands and not the satanic 
mills at all. Shops ought to supply goods without payment so that all motive for stealing 
vanishes.'
On Women's Liberation he said that 'Women's Lib would be realised by girls being given a
house of their own at the age of twelve, with three-quarters of the wealth of the State
being given to the girls in houses of their own to support them; so that marriage would be
abolished and a girl could have as many husbands as she liked.' As for Men's Lib; 'The men 
should receive the remaining quarter of the national wealth and can, if they like, live in
communal huts.'
Russell then pointed out that 'Mr Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter are really the same
person. What makes it abundantly clear is the saying of "Little Audrey" who laughed and
laughed because she knew that only God could make a tree.'
While on the subject of religion, 'there should be revolutions throughout Latin America, in
accordance with the wish of His Holiness the Pope. Since the so-called Protestants who govern
Britain are spiritless papal bum-boys, if they cannot take charge of themselves and find the
spirit, the confidence and power to remove British arms and all Protestants from Ulster, they
should find the said confidence and power to remove them…..All soldiers and police throughout
the Northern Hemisphere should disappear. They and their functions are no longer necessary
and are out of date.'
He also advocated that 'naked bathing on beaches or in rivers ought to be universal. Is it not
better to defend the city before it is fallen? Better than to arrive too late and defend only what
would have been, if it had not already gone.'
In summing up, Russell said 'These points are the chief requirements for the future of the 
human race. They should be realised briskly and with discipline. Since the police and bourgeois
bosses are and have been anti-aristocratical, the House of Lords is indisputably Marxist and
inherits the banner of the Red Army of the Soviet Union.'
Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen (creation of 1894)
The following biography of Lord Russell of Killowen appeared in the Australian monthly magazine
"Parade" in its issue for December 1954:-
'There was uproar in the Irish village of Killowen. To add to the menace of starvation in a year of
famine, a fence was being built round land long regarded as the village common. Too poor to pay
for justice, an angry deputation of villagers stalked off to get the advice of young Charlie Russell,
a local lad articled to a solicitor and counted right smart at the law. With the air of a High Court 
Judge, Charlie delivered his verdict. The fence was illegal, he said, and he stumped back to the
village to help knock it down. 
 
'Thus began, in 1849, the notable career of an Irish lad who became one of England's most
distinguished Lord Chief Justices - who at the Bar and on the Bench, in the Commons and the
Lords, was destined to play a leading part in most of the great judicial causes of the next fifty
years. Appropriately enough, upon his elevation to the peerage he chose as his title that of 
"Baron Russell of Killowen." 
'The Russells were an old Catholic family, originally Anglo-Normans, who had settled in Northern
Ireland in the 12th century. Arthur Russell, Lord Russell's father, was a sea captain. As a young
man he had fallen in love with a Margaret Mullan, the daughter of a Belfast merchant, but had
had to give way to a rival. However, on the rival's death he had renewed his suit, this time
successfully, and they were married in 1825, when he bought a brewery and settled down at
Newry, in County Down, where Charles Russell was born on November 10, 1832.
 
'He had three elder sisters and a younger brother, all of whom entered the Church. His mother,
a handsome, clever and strong-willed woman, brought up her ten children (there were also five
from her first marriage) with Spartan discipline and saved them from being spoiled by their
indulgent father. For a time the family was affluent enough to have a country home overlooking
the village of Killowen; but the father died, the family returned to Newry, and Charles was put, at
17, to earning a living and was articled to his step-brother, a solicitor in Newry. Three years 
later, and shortly after his playing Solomon in the affair at Killowen, he transferred his articles
to a solicitor in Belfast, where he was encouraged, after qualifying in 1854, to set up practice
for himself as a solicitor by a Dr. Mulholland, whose wife was an old friend of his mother and
whose daughter Ellen became his sweetheart.
 
'It was a troublous period when strife between the Orange and the Green waxed fierce. Young
Russell had already become known for his interest in the nationalist Young Ireland movement and
it was natural that his first clients would be Catholics involved in court proceedings following
fracases with Orangemen. These cases brought him plenty of notoriety, but little monetary
return, as most of his clients could not afford to pay fees. As a way of earning a living his Belfast
practice was not a success. This, coupled with the thrill he found in the courtroom, compared 
with the monotony of office routine, turned his thoughts to the Bar. He resolved to seek 
admission as a barrister, and enrolled at Trinity College, Dublin, and two years later went to 
London to enter Lincoln's Inn. 
 
'In 1858, when he passed his last examination, he returned to Ulster, married Ellen, and brought
her to London, where they set up in a small house in Earl's Court. He had himself assigned to the
northern circuit, and his uncle, Dr. Russell, president of Maynooth College, gave him introductions
to some wealthy Irish merchants and a leading solicitor in Liverpool. This gave him a start - and a 
start was all he needed.
'He was handicapped by a temper which he was not always able to control, and, curiously 
enough, by a lack of fluency. But he made up for these defects by remarkable strength of
personality. He was a big, well-built young man with a strong, striking face and a rich voice which
never quite lost its native brogue. From his first appearance in the Passage Court - on whose
procedure he published a book which became an authority - he did not look back, and for ten 
years his earnings averaged £3000 a year. In 1872, after two unsuccessful applications, he "took
silk," and immediately entered the front rank of Q.C.s.
'Although his name was one to conjure with in Liverpool he was as yet unknown in London. But a 
a judicial appointment left a gap in the small elite group who were the "leaders" of the Bar, and
London's solicitors were looking for a new giant. In Russell they found him. By sheer determination
he forged ahead, overtaking one rival after another, and for the next 20 years the history of the
common-law Bar was the history of Charles Russell. He was in practically every case of any
magnitude. From 1872 to 1882 he earned £10,000 a year, for the next decade £16,000 a year 
and in 1893, the year before his translation to the Bench, his fees book showed an income of
£32,000.
'He was as painstaking in the smallest matters as in the most important. "I am a fool," he often
told friends, "to knock myself out over a twopenny-halfpenny dispute," but immediately he would
again be wearing himself out over some trivial brief. From a lad he had taken a keen interest in
politics, and in Liverpool he had published a pamphlet on the Irish workhouses. It resulted in 
several major reforms, and won him considerable support among the Irish liberals, In 1880 he
entered the Commons as a Liberal member for the Irish borough of Dundalk, which he had already
contested twice unsuccessfully [in 1868 and 1874]. He was offered a judgeship, but declined it,
his ambition being, he told friends, to become the first Catholic Attorney-General since the 
Reformation. This ambition he achieved in 1886 in Gladstone's cabinet, being awarded a knight-
hood at the same time.
 
'In the same year he figured in the famous case of Lord Campbell's suit for a divorce citing the
Duke of Marlborough as a co-respondent. Russell, for Lady Campbell, cross-petitioned. Both
petitions were dismissed, but for Russell the case was a personal triumph. In the 1885 elections
he had transferred to a Liverpool constituency [not correct - he transferred to Hackney South,
a London constituency.] That election gave Parnell, the Home Rule leader, virtual control of the
House. Russell had not been an advocate of a separate Irish Parliament, believing that Home Rule
should come gradually through land reform and a grant of local government - "from the bottom
rather than the top." 
'He now swung behind Parnell, both in and out of Parliament, and stumped the country vigorously
campaigning for the cause of Home Rule. The bill was defeated, and the Liberals were routed in
the ensuing elections; but Russell retained his seat. The next year a commission was appointed 
to enquire into allegations against Parnell and his party [made] by The Times. Russell, who held
a retainer for the Times, returned it and appeared as leading counsel for Parnell. By brilliant and
relentless cross-examination he forced an admission from The Times' main witness that an alleged
letter of Parnell's, on which they had relied, was a forgery. The commission found on some points
for and on some against the Irish members, but on the main issues Russell scored victories. His
masterly summing-up speech is of historic interest as a survey of the Irish problem from the view-
point of an Irish Liberal.
'In 1889 he was engaged in another cause celebre, the murder trial of Mrs. Maybrick. Assured of
her innocence, Russell took her conviction to heart and with typical persistence he did not cease
until her [his - she lived on until 1941] death 10 years later to try to prove that there had been
a miscarriage of justice.
'Gladstone meanwhile had marked him out for the Chancellorship, the one office in England, apart
from the Crown, which was - and still is ­ closed to Catholics. Gladstone tried to have the law 
altered but failed. [This situation continued until 1974, although, given that the Lord Chancellor
has a number of ecclesiastical functions and, as a Catholic would therefore be conflicted when
making decisions relating to the Church of England, it remains the law that if a Catholic is 
appointed as Lord Chancellor, his ecclesiastical functions may be temporarily transferred to the 
Prime Minister or another minister.] However, in May, 1894, there was a vacancy as a Lord of
Appeal and Russell was appointed, being also given a life barony as Lord Russell of Killowen. A
month later, on the death of Lord Coleridge, he was made Lord Chief Justice.
'He was one of the notable exceptions to the supposed rule that great advocates seldom make 
good judges. He was at his greatest on the Bench. Painstaking and tolerant, though the old
Russell impatience sometimes broke out, he bent his powerful intellect in a determined effort to
unravel the truth. He was no respecter of persons, and junior counsel were given the same
considerate attention as veteran Q.C.s. He was popular with the Bar, and lawyers vied to have
their actions tried by him. He made a strong bid to introduce a sadly lacking system of 
co-ordinated legal education. 
 
'In 1896 he presided over the famous Jameson Raid Trial. A force led by Jameson had raided the
South African Republic, been captured and handed over to British authorities and charged with
invading a friendly state in violation of the Foreign Enlistment Act. It was a test of the Chief
Justice's resolve that justice, however unpopular, must be done, and of his sense of public duty.
After his summing up the jury returned the only verdict possible on the evidence: Guilty. In the
same year he was invited to deliver the annual address to the American Bar Association on the
subject of "International Arbitration." In 1899 he sat as one of the arbitrators in a dispute
between England and Venezuela. 
'In August, 1900, when on the Northern Circuit, he was suddenly taken ill. What was thought to
have been a successful operation was performed, but at 3 a.m., on the following morning,
August 10, he died. His death came as a surprise to the nation, for at the age of 67 he was as
mentally and physically active as at any time in his career. His life had been one of intense 
action. Outside his public life and his strenuous work on Bench and Bar he had devoted himself
to the interests of his large family. One major activity in his later years was a campaign to rid
commercial life of the prevalent corruption, and he was responsible for the eventual introduction
of legislation making illegal the acceptance of secret commissions.'
 
                                           *****************
 
Sir Charles was the first of three successive generations of English legal giants, each of whom
was raised to the peerage as Lord Russell of Killowen. His son, Francis Xavier Joseph Russell, was
created Lord Russell of Killowen in 1929 when he was made a Lord of Appeal. In turn, his son
Charles Ritchie Russell, was also created a peer as Lord Russell of Killowen when he was 
appointed a Lord of Appeal in 1975.
The deaths of the two sons of Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland
In "Burke's Peerage," under the entry for Francis Manners, the 6th Earl of Rutland, the reader
will see that the Earl had two sons, both of whom 'died an infant from alleged witchcraft.' The
following account is taken from "Anecdotes of the Aristocracy" by J. Bernard Burke (Henry
Colburn, London, 1849)
In the church of Bottisford is the sepochal chapel of the Rutland family; and among the stately
tombs is that of Francis Manners, Earl of Rutland, his Countess, and their two sons, Henry and
Francis, which attracts more than ordinary attention, from the story attached to it in the 
church books. We give the extract………..
"When the Rt. Hon. Sir Francis Manners succeeded his brother, Roger, in the Earldom of Rutland
[in 1612], and took possession of Belvoir [pronounced 'Beaver'] Castle, and of the estates 
belonging to the earldom, he took such honourable measures in the courses of his life, that he
that he neither discharged servants, nor denied the access of the poor; but making strangers
welcome, did all the good offices of a noble lord, by which he got the love and good will of the
country, his noble Countess being of the same noble disposition. So that Belvoir Castle was a
continual place of entertainment, especially to neighbours, where Joan Flower and her daughter
were not only relieved at the first, but Joan was also admitted char-woman, and her daughter
Margaret as a continual dweller in the castle, looking to the poultry abroad, and in the wash-
-house at home; and thus they continued until found guilty of some misdemeanour, which was
discovered to the lady. The first complaint against Joan Flower, the mother, was, that she was
a monstrous malicious woman, full of oaths, curses, and irreligious imprecations, and, as far as
appeared, a plain atheist; as for Margaret, she was frequently accused of going from the castle
and carrying provisions away in unreasonable quantities, and returning in such unseasonable 
hours, that they could not but conjecture at some mischief amongst them; and that their extra-
ordinary expenses tended both to rob their lady, and served also to maintain some debauched 
and idle company which frequented Joan Flower's house. In some time, the Countess misliking 
her (Joan's) daughter, Margaret, and discovering some indecencies in her life, and the neglect 
of her business, discharged her from lying any more in the castle, yet gave her forty shillings, a 
bolster, and a mattress of wool, commanding her to go home. But at last these wretched
women became so malicious and revengeful, that the Earl's family were sensible of their wicked 
dispositions; for, first, his eldest son Henry, Lord Ross, was taken sick after a strange manner, 
and in a little time died; and after Francis, Lord Ross, was severely tortured and tormented by 
them with a strange sickness, which caused his death. Also, and presently after, the Lady 
Catherine [the two boys' step-sister and later Baroness de Ros in her own right and Duchess of 
Buckingham] was set upon by their devilish practices, and very frequently in danger of her life, 
in strange and unusual fits, and, as they confessed, both the Earl and his Countess were so 
bewitched, that they should have no more children. In a little time after, they were appreh-
ended and carried into Lincoln gaol, after due examination before sufficient justices and discreet 
magistrates. Joan Flower, before her conviction, called for bread and butter, and wished it
might never go through her [i.e. that she would choke on it], if she were guilty of the matter
she was accused of; and, upon mumbling of it in her mouth, she never spake more, but fell 
down, and died as she was carried to Lincoln Gaol, being extremely tormented both in soul and 
body and was buried at Ancaster."
'The examination of Margaret Flower, the 22nd of January, 1618.
"She confessed that about four years since, her mother sent her for the right hand glove of 
Henry Lord Ross, and afterwards her mother bid her go again to the castle of Belvoir, and bring 
down the other glove, or some other thing of Henry Lord Ross; and when she asked her for
what, her mother answered, To hurt my Lord Ross. Upon which she brought down the glove, 
and gave it to her mother, who stroked Rutterkin, her cat (the Imp) with it, after it was dipped 
in hot water, and, so, pricked it often; after which Henry Lord Ross fell sick, and soon after 
died. She further said, that, finding a glove about two or three years since of Francis Lord Ross, 
she gave it to her mother, who put it into hot water, and afterwards took it out, and rubbed it 
on Rutterkin (the Imp), and bid him go upwards, and afterwards buried it the yard, and said 'a 
mischief light on him, but he will mend again.' She further confessed that her mother and 
her[self] and her sister agreed together to bewitch the Earl and his lady, that they might have
no more children, and being asked the cause of this malice and ill-will, she said, that about four
years since, the Countess, taking a dislike to her, gave her forty shillings, a bolster, and a 
mattress, and bid her be at home, and come no more to dwell at the castle; which she not only
took ill, but grudged it in her heart very much, swearing to be revenged upon her; on which her
mother took wool out of the mattress, and a pair of gloves which were given her by Mr. 
Vovason, and put them into warm water, mingling them with some blood, and stirring it together;
then she took them out of the water, and rubbed them on the belly of Rutterkin, saying 'the
lord and lady would have children, but it would be long first.' She further confessed, that by her
mother's command, she brought to her a piece of a handkerchief of the Lady Catherine, the
Earl's daughter, and her mother put it into hot water, and then, taking it out, rubbed it upon
Rutterkin, bidding him 'fly and go;' whereupon Rutterkin whined and cried 'Mew.' upon which the
said Rutterkin had no more power of the Lady Catherine to hurt her.
"Margaret Flower, and Phillis [in some sources, Philippa] Flower, the daughters of Jane Flower, 
were executed [by being burnt at the stake] at Lincoln, for witchcraft, March 12, 1618.
"Whoever reads this history should consider the ignorance and dark superstition of those times;
but certainly these women were vile, abandoned wretches, to pretend to do such wicked things.
" 'Seek ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor wizards, nor unto witches that peep and
that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God?' - Isaiah viii 19."
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