Earl of Melfort

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The titles of Earl of Melfort and Lord Drummond of Gillestoun were created in the Peerage of Scotland 14 April 1685 for John Drummond, second son of James Drummond, 3rd Earl of Perth, with remainder to the heirs male of his body by his second marriage (to Euphemia Wallace), failing whom to the heirs male of his body whatsoever. He was further created, 12 August 1686, Earl of Melfort, Viscount of Forth and Lord Drummond of Riccartoun, Castlemains and Gilstoun, also in the Jacobite peerage of Scotland, and with a similar remainder. A supporter of James II and VII, he escaped to France 16 December 1688, and by the exiled monarch was further created Baron Cleworth in the Jacobite peerage of England 7 August 1689 and Duke of Melfort, Marquess of Forth, Earl of Isla and Burtisland, Viscount of Rickerton and Lord Castlemains and Galston in the Peerage of Scotland 17 April 1692, all with a similar remainder to the 1685 viscountcy. The 1st Earl and titular 1st Duke of Melfort was outlawed by the de facto régime in Britain, 23 July 1694, and attainted by Act of Parliament 2 July 1695, when his honours became forfeit. In 1701, after the death of James II and VII, the Duke of Melfort was granted the honours and precedence of a French peer by Louis XIV. John and his descendants used the title "Duc de Melfort" in France, but this was a French translation of their Jacobite Scottish dukedom and not a French dukedom.

On 2 July 1800 the 4th Duke of Melfort succeeded as heir male of the attainted Earldom of Perth and titular 9th Duke of Perth, Marquess of Drummond, Earl of Stobhall, Viscount of Cargill and Lord Concraig on the death of his second cousin once removed, James Drummond, Lord Perth and Baron Drummond of Stobhall (a descendant of the 1st Earl and Duke of Melfort from his first marriage, to Sophie Maitland). In 1841 the 6th Duke of Melfort established his right before the Conseil d'Etat and the Tribunal de la Seine to the French titles of Duc de Melfort, Comte de Lussan and Baron de Valrose (his great-grandfather the 2nd Duke of Melfort had been married in 1707 to Marie Gabrielle d'Audebert, widow of the Duke of Albemarle and only daughter of Jean d'Audebert, Comte de Lussan). The titular 6th Duke of Melfort proved his descent from the 1st Earl of Melfort in 1848, and by a reversal of his ancestors' attainder, 28 June 1853, became 5th Earl of Perth and Lord Drummond of Stobhall, Earl of Melfort, Viscount of Forth and Lord Drummond of Riccartoun, Castlemains and Gilstoun, Viscount of Melfort and Lord Drummond of Gillestoun and Lord Drummond of Cargill. He died 28 February 1902, when the Melfort titles became dormant or extinct and the Perth titles passed to the Viscount of Strathallan.