| Earldom of Arlington | |
| Creation date | 22 April 1672 |
|---|---|
| Created by | Charles II of England |
| Peerage | Peerage of England |
| First holder | Sir Henry Bennet |
| Present holder | abbeyant between Lady Arlington, Sir Frederick Sebastian Cholmeley and Linda Williams |
| Remainder to | grantee's heirs of the body lawfully begotten |
| Subsidiary titles | Viscount Thetford; Baron Arlington |
Baron Arlington is a title in the Peerage of England. In 1664, it was created for Sir Henry Bennet, younger brother of John Bennet, 1st Baron Ossulston, with a special remainder allowing it to descend to male and female heirs, rather than only male heirs, as was customary with most peerages. In 1672, he was made Earl of Arlington and Viscount Thetford, and was regranted the title of Baron Arlington, with the same special remainder.
The first Earl died without male heirs, so the titles went to his daughter Isabella, Duchess of Grafton. At age four, Isabella was married off to the nine-year old Duke of Grafton, an illegitimate son of King Charles II. After the death of the couple, Charles FitzRoy, their son, came to hold both the Arlington and Grafton titles. The two sets of titles continued united until the death of the ninth Duke in a racecar accident in 1936. The dukedom passed to a cousin, while all of the Arlington titles fell into abeyance between his two sisters, neither of whom petitioned the Sovereign to terminate the abeyance. After the death of the elder sister, her elder daughter Jennifer did petition the Crown, and the abeyance of the barony of Arlington was terminated in her favour. The earldom of Arlington, however, remains abeyant, along with the viscountcy of Thetford. These titles offer one of the few examples of a peerage other than a barony falling into abeyance, another case being that of the earldom of Cromartie in 1893.
The heir apparent is the present holder's elder son, the Hon. Patrick John Dudley Forwood (b. 1967). The heir apparent's heir presumptive is his younger brother, the Hon. James Roland Nelson Forwood (b. 1969).
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