Earldom of Derwentwater | |
---|---|
Creation date | 1688 |
Created by | James II |
Peerage | Peerage of England |
First holder | Francis Radclyffe |
Last holder | James Radclyffe |
Extinction date | 1716 |
Earl of Derwentwater (pronounced "Durwentwater") was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1688 for Sir Francis Radclyffe, 3rd Baronet. He was made Baron Tyndale, of Tyndale in the County of Northumberland, and Viscount Radclyffe and Langley at the same time, also in the Peerage of England. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl, who married Lady Mary Tudor, daughter of Charles II by his mistress Moll Davis.[1]
Their eldest son, the third Earl, was a prominent Jacobite. In 1716, he was convicted of high treason, attainted and executed on Tower Hill in London. Despite having been stripped of his titles through the attainder, his only son John, titular 4th Earl of Derwentwater, continued to use them. On John's early death in 1731, they were claimed by his uncle, Charles Radclyffe, titular 5th Earl. He was also a Jacobite but managed to escape to France after the 1715 rebellion, where he was secretary to Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"). However, he was captured by British forces in 1746, condemned to death and beheaded. Charles married Charlotte Maria, 3rd Countess of Newburgh. Their eldest son, James, succeeded his mother as 4th Earl of Newburgh and his father as titular 6th Earl of Derwentwater. James's son Anthony succeeded in the titles on his father's death in 1787. The male line died out on his death in 1814, when the Radclyffe titles became technically extinct, and have not been used since; but he was succeeded in the earldom of Newburgh by an Italian kinsman (see Earl of Newburgh for further history of this title). The Baronetcy, of Derwentwater in the County of Cumberland, was created in the Baronetage of England in 1620 for Francis Radclyffe.[2]