Peerage of Ireland

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The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.^[1] The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. As of 2016, there were 136 titles in the Peerage of Ireland extant: two dukedoms, ten marquessates, 43 earldoms, 29 viscountcies, and 52 baronies. The Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland continues to exercise jurisdiction over the Peerage of Ireland, including those peers whose titles derive from places located in what is now the Republic of Ireland.^[2] However Article 40.2 of the Irish Constitution forbids the state conferring titles of nobility and a citizen may not accept titles of nobility or honour except with the prior approval of the Government.^[3]

History

William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster.

A handful of titles in the peerage of Ireland date from the Middle Ages. Before 1801, Irish peers were those who had the right to sit in the Irish House of Lords, but after the Union in 1801, they elected just twenty-eight representative peers to the House of Lords at Westminster.^[4]

Both before and after the Union, Irish peerages were often used as a way of creating peerages which did not grant a seat in the English House of Lords and so allowed the grantee (such as Clive of India) to sit in the House of Commons in London. As a consequence, many Irish peers had little or no connection to Ireland, and indeed the names of some Irish peerages refer to places in Great Britain (for example, the Earldom of Mexborough refers to a place in England and the Ranfurly refers to a village in Scotland). Irish peerages continued to be created for almost a century after the Union, although the treaty of Union placed restrictions on their numbers: three needed to become extinct before a new peerage could be granted, until there were only one hundred Irish peers – a condition still not achieved. There was a spate of creations of Irish peerages from 1797 onward, mostly peerages of higher ranks for existing Irish peers, as part of the negotiation of the Act of Union; this ended in the first week of January 1801, but the restrictions of the Act were not applied to the last few peers. Irish peerages were created in the early nineteenth century at least as often as the Act permitted, but the pace then slowed.

The last two individuals to be granted Irish peerages were the promotion of the Marquess of Abercorn (a peerage of Great Britain) to be Duke of Abercorn in the Irish Peerage when he became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1868, and the granting of the Curzon of Kedleston barony to George Curzon when he became Viceroy of India in 1898. Peers of Ireland have precedence below peers of England, Scotland, and Great Britain of the same rank, and above peers of the United Kingdom of the same rank; but Irish peers created after 1801 yield to United Kingdom peers of earlier creation. Accordingly, the Duke of Abercorn (the junior Duke in the Peerage of Ireland) ranks between the Duke of Sutherland and the Duke of Westminster (both dukes in the Peerage of the United Kingdom).

When one of the Irish representative peers died, the Irish Peerage met to elect his replacement; but the officers required to arrange this were abolished as part of the creation of the Irish Free State. The existing representative peers kept their seats in the House of Lords, but they have not been replaced. Since the death of Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey in 1961, none remains. The right of the Irish Peerage to elect Representatives was abolished by statute in 1971.

Extant Irish peerages

In the following table of the Peerage of Ireland as it currently stands,^[5] each peer's highest titles in each of the other peerages (if any) are also listed. Irish peers possessed of titles in any of the other peerages (except Scotland, which only got the right to an automatic seat in 1963, with the Peerage Act 1963) had automatic seats in the House of Lords until 1999.

Dukes

Marquesses

Earls

Viscounts

Barons

In Ireland, barony may also refer to an obsolete political subdivision of a county. There is no connection between such a barony and the noble title of baron.

See also

• List of Irish representative peers
• Irish nobility, which distinguishes three groups of Irish nobility, the other two being:
  • Gaelic nobility of Ireland
  • Hiberno-Normans

References

External links

• Courthope, William (editor) (1838). Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: 22nd edition. London. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
• Lodge, John; Archdall, Mervyn (1789). The Peerage of Ireland: Volume I. Dublin: James Moore. 
• Lodge, John; Archdall, Mervyn (1789). The Peerage of Ireland: Volume II. Dublin: James Moore. 
• Kimber, Edward (1768). The Peerage of Ireland: Volume II. London: J Alman. 

Kingdom of Ireland
History	Timeline of Irish history History of Ireland (1536–1691) History of Ireland (1691–1801)
General and events	Lordship of Ireland British Empire Poynings' Law Crown of Ireland Act 1542 Tudor conquest of Ireland New English Surrender and regrant Protestantism Desmond Rebellions Plantations of Ireland (Ulster) Nine Years' War (Flight of the Earls) Penal Laws Irish Rebellion of 1641 Irish Confederate Wars Wars of the Three Kingdoms Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (Settlement and Barbadosed) Williamite–Jacobite War (Wild Geese) Popery Act Constitution of 1782 Irish Rebellion of 1798 Acts of Union 1800 United Kingdom
Gaelic conquests	Tuadhmhumhain (1543) Uí Echach (1543) Loígis (1543) Uí Failghe (1550) Uí Díarmata (1574) Clann Aodha Buidhe (1574) Magh Luirg (1585) Airgíalla (1585) Iar Connacht (1589) Umhaill (1593) Deasmhumhain (1596) Laigin (1603) Bréifne Uí Ruairc (1605) Cairbrigh (1606) Tír Chonaill (1607) Tír Eoghain (1607) Fear Manach (1607) Uí Catháin (1607) Bréifne Uí Raghallaigh (1607) Uí Maine (1611)
Politics and society	Dublin Castle administration Parliament of Ireland (Irish House of Lords and Irish House of Commons) Privy Council of Ireland Four Courts (King's Bench, Exchequer, Chancery and Common Pleas) Court of Castle Chamber Peerage of Ireland Church of Ireland Grand Lodge of Ireland Trinity College, Dublin Order of St Patrick Jacobites Whigs Tories Irish Patriots Defenders Orangism United Irishmen
Monarchs and rulers	Henry VIII (1542–47) Edward VI (1547–53) Lady Jane Grey (1553; disputed) Mary I (1553–58) & Philip jure uxoris (1554–58) Elizabeth I (1558–1603) James I (1603–25) Charles I (1625–49) Commonwealth (1649–53) Oliver Cromwell (1653–58) Richard Cromwell (1658–59) Commonwealth (1659–60) Charles II (1660–85) James II (1685–91) William III (1689–1702) & Mary II (1689–94) Anne (1702–14) George I (1714–27) George II (1727–60) George III (1760–1800)

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