User:Proteus/Duke of Hamilton

Sir James Hamilton was created Lord Hamilton on 3 July 1445.

James, 2nd Lord Hamilton, was created Earl of Arran on 8 August 1503. He was succeeded by James, 2nd Earl of Arran and 3rd Lord Hamilton, and he was then succeeded by the insane James, 3rd Earl of Arran and 4th Lord Hamilton.

John Hamilton (apparently styled Lord Hamilton) was created Marquess of Hamilton, Earl of Arran and Lord Aven on 17 April 1599. He was succeeded by James, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran (1599) and 2nd Lord Aven. This James also became 4th Earl of Arran (1503) and 5th Lord Hamilton on the death of his uncle in 1609.

He was also created Lord Aberbrothwick or Lord Arbroath on 5th May 1608 and Earl of Cambridge and Baron Innerdale (in the Peerage of England) on 16 June 1619.

James, 3rd Marquess of Hamilton, 5th Earl of Arran (1503), 3rd Earl of Arran (1599), 6th Lord Hamilton, 3rd Lord Aven and 2nd Lord Aberbrothwick, in the Peerage of Scotland, and 2nd Earl of Cambridge and 2nd Baron Innerdale, in the Peerage of England, was created Duke of Hamilton, Marquess of Clydesdale, Earl of Arran and Cambridge and Lord Avon and Innerdale on 12 April 1643 (with a special remainder).

His brother, William Hamilton, was created Earl of Lanark and Lord Machaneschyre and Polmont on 31 March 1639. He then succeeded as 2nd Duke of Hamilton, 4th Marquess of Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Clydesdale, 6th Earl of Arran (1503), 4th Earl of Arran (1599), 2nd Earl of Arran and Cambridge, 7th Lord Hamilton, 4th Lord Aven, 3rd Lord Aberbrothwick and 2nd Lord Avon and Innerdale, in the Peerage of Scotland, and 3rd Earl of Cambridge and 3rd Baron Innerdale, in the Peerage of England.

On his death, all the titles not created at the same time as the Dukedom (i.e. the Marquessate of Hamilton, both (1503 and 1599) Earldoms of Arran, the Earldoms of Lanark and Cambridge, the Lordships of Hamilton, Aven, Aberbrothwick, and Machaneschyre and Polmont, and the Barony of Innerdale) became extinct or dormant. Lady Anne Hamilton, daughter of the 1st Duke, succeeded as 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, 3rd Marchioness of Clydesdale, 3rd Countess of Arran and Cambridge and 3rd Lady Avon and Innerdale.

She surrendered her titles on 15 June 1661 and had a regrant of "the combined titles of her father and uncle", possibly thereby becoming (in addition to the titles she inherited) 5th Marchioness of Hamilton, 7th Countess of Arran (1503), 5th Countess of Arran (1599), 2nd Countess of Lanark, 8th Lady Hamilton, 5th Lady Aven, 4th Lady Aberbrothwick and 2nd Lady Polmont and Machaneschyre, all in the Peerage of Scotland.

She again surrendered her titles on 9 July 1698 and the next day her son was created Duke of Hamilton, Marquess of Clydesdale, Earl of Arran, Lanark and Cambridge and Lord Aven, Polmont, Machanshyre and Innerdale. Presumably this was a regrant - certainly of the Dukedom of Hamilton, the Marquessate of Clydesdale, the Earldom of Lanark and the Lordship of Polmont and Machaneschyre, presumably of the Earldom of Arran and Cambridge and the Lordship of Avon and Innerdale, and possibly of the Earldoms of Arran (1503 and 1599) and the Lordship of Aven. The Earldom of Cambridge and the Barony of Innerdale, being English titles, are not amenable to regrant and so must have remained extinct.

The Marquessate and Lordship of Hamilton and the Lordship of Aberbrothwick have definitely disappeared, and it would be odd if titles surrendered were not regranted, so perhaps the sensible view is that the 1661 regrant related only to the Dukedom of Hamilton, the Earldom of Lanark, and the titles created at the same time as them, and that the Earldoms of Arran and the Lordship of Aven were not included. (Certainly there's no apparent proof that they were included.)

This would leave the 4th Duke as 4th Duke of Hamilton, 4th Marquess of Clydesdale, 3rd Earl of Lanark, 4th Earl of Arran and Cambridge, 3rd Lord Machaneschyre/Machanshyre and Polmont, and 4th Lord Avon/Aven and Innerdale.

He was created Duke of Brandon and Baron Dutton (in the Peerage of Great Britain) on 11 September 1711.

The titles were inherited successively by the 5th, 6th and 7th Dukes (2nd, 3rd and 4th Dukes of Brandon), the last of whom succeeded the 1st Duke of Douglas as 4th Marquess of Douglas (1633), 14th Earl of Angus (1389), 4th Earl of Angus (1633) and 4th Lord of Abernethy and Jedburgh Forest (1633).

Accordingly, the 16th Duke is:

16th Duke of Hamilton (1643)
13th Duke of Brandon (1711)
13th Marquess of Douglas (1633)
16th Marquess of Clydesdale (1643)
23rd Earl of Angus (1389)
13th Earl of Angus (1633)
15th Earl of Lanark (1639)
16th Earl of Arran and Cambridge (1643)
13th Lord of Abernethy and Jedburgh Forest (1633)
15th Lord Machanshyre and Polmont (1639)
16th Lord Aven and Innerdale (1643)
13th Baron Dutton (1711)

The Marquisate, and Lordship of Parliament of Hamilton, are currently held by the Duke of Abercorn, as heir male of the house of Hamilton, as those titles were specifically subject to male primogiture.

The regrant of title insofar as the Cambridge and Innerdale, and certainly Lanark, titles were made during a considerable period of flux in Scots/English/British society when the situation was far more fluid than the stratified form of the late 18th/19thcs. (cf. the regrant of the title Duc de Chatelherault to the 12 Duke of Hamilton in the late 19thc, a similar period in France)

Whatever the case, King Billy saw fit to reaffirm Duchess Anne's eldest son in her ancestral titles alongside of those of his Douglas father. Those titles were reaffirmed by him before the treaty of 1707, and therefore are subject to the rules of the different realms of Scotland and England. He was reaffirmed in his English titles, by a Dutch King in London in 1698.

The fact that the 4th Duke was refused entry to the House of Lords under his English title in 1707 was a scandal, and was exacerbated by his political enemies, both in Scotland and England, and was only surmounted by his allies in government by granting him the Brandon/Dutton title as a political 'bodge'.

The regrant did not create a new "Earldom of Arran and Cambridge", or a new "Lordship of Aven and Innerdale", that is just obtuse, especially coinsidering the last. A Scottish Lordship of Parliament combined with an English Barony?

Further, the dates that you, or Balfour Paul for what it's worth, quote for regrants etc. just show the 'normal' machinations to ensure legal succession to property within a particular family. Take the two Earl of Mars as an example. Brendandh (talk) 01:15, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

How could he be "reaffirmed" in his English titles when he (and his mother) didn't hold any? Even Balfour Paul confirms that they were extinct. He would have required a new creation, under letters patent, which is the only method by which an English earldom can be created. And it wasn't the regrant that created an Earldom of Arran and Cambridge - it was the 1643 creation of the Dukedom of Hamilton (see Balfour Paul volume 4 p 377 for the titles created along with that Dukedom). If you think that's "obtuse", then it's Balfour Paul being obtuse, not me, as it's him who says it happened. Proteus (Talk) 11:14, 25 February 2011 (UTC)