THE EARLS OF NOTTINGHAM
In 1138 Robert De FERRERS, Earl of Ferrers, was created Earl of Derby, for his valiant conduct at the battle of Northallerton, in which William PEVEREL (the second or third) also greatly distinguished himself as the commander of a large division. His death is reputed to have occurred in 1154. He was succeeded by his son Robert De FERRERS the second, who styles himself in one of his charters "Comes Junior de FERRERES," and in another, dated 1141, "Robertus Junior, Comes de Nottingham." It has, therefore, been a matter of doubt whether he or his father was the first Earl of Nottingham. The confusion has arisen from both being named Robert, and both fighting gallantly in the cause of Stephen. Robert the second, however, is the first and only de FERRERS who uses the title of the Earl of Nottingham. William PEVEREL, junior, the reputed prisoner of the Earl of Chester, is said to have had a daughter named Margaret married to an Earl of FERRERS, who in her right became heir to a considerable portion of the PEVEREL property, or was made so on the disinheritance of her father, and inconsequence abandoned the old family arms and took those of PEVEREL. A plea roll of the twenty-fifth Of Henry III, proves that some Earl of FERRERS assumed a right of heirship to William PEVEREL, but never hints that it was in right of his wife, nor even makes any mention of Margaret. The Earl of FERRERS is therein stated to have made himself heir of the aforesaid William PEVEREL, and to have intruded himself into the same inheritance "during the war between the king and his barons." The first William, Earl of FERRERS, married Agnes, daughter of Hugh RIVELISC, and sister and co-heiress of Ranulph BLUNDWILLE, the last earl of that line, and consequently he might fairly found his pretensions to the rest of the lands of William PEVEREL upon the gift of the whole fee to Ranulph GERNONS, his wife's grandfather. Unable to prove the marriage of Margaret PEVEREL to the Earl of FERRERS, some genealogists have invented one, or rather two, by making William the son and heir of Robert, Earl of Nottingham, succeed his father in 1165, then coolly killing him in 1172, resuscitating the father as a third Robert for seventeen years, and afterwards performing the same kind office for his son William, merely to kill him again at the siege of Acre in 1190. Dr. DEERING introduces the latter into the list of the Earl of Nottingham, and with some curious particulars. "William de FERRERS," says the doctor, "Earl of FERRERS and Derby, certified the second of Henry II., the knight's fees he then held to be seventy-nine in number. He confirmed his ancestors' grants to the monks of Tutbury, and was a benefactor to the Knights Hospitallers. He was married to Margaret, daughter and heir of William PEVEREL, whose grandfather was natural son to William the Conquerer, the marriage rites of him and his countess were performed by Thomas a BECKET, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Canterbury." He died the nineteenth of Henry II., 1172, and was succeeded by his son, Robert de FERRERS, Earl of FERRERS and Derby, as heir to his father, and Earl of Nottingham, as derived by his mother, who died the same year and month as his father. MILLES prolongs the lives of this wonderful pair to the twenty-second of Henry III., 1247, by which time, supposing the rest of the story to be true, they must both have been upwards of a hundred ! Dr. DEERING has, in common with DUGDALE and other genealogists, made four Earls of FERRERS out of two, and three Earls of Nottingham out of one. Henry doesn not seem to have recognised the creation of Robert de FERRERS, Earl of Nottingham, by Stephen, and in the war which ensued between the king and his son, Henry the younger, Robert de FERRERS took part with the rebellious prince, and assaulting Nottingham Castle, drove the royal garrison and governor out of it, plundered the town, which was burned for the second time, and distributed the spoil among his soldiers. He died in 1162.
JOHN PLANTAGENET
, fourth son of Henry II., was created Earl of Nottingham by his brother, Richard I. In his expedition to the Holy Land Richard was accompanied by William and Walkeline, sons of Robert, Earl of Nottingham. The former had succeeded to the earldom of FERRERS, but not to that of Derby or Nottingham, which earldoms were bestowed by Richard I., on his brother John. According to some authorities, John was the first Earl of Nottingham, the creation of Robert de FERRERS by Stephen being unacknowledged.Others do not even admit John's title to be more than nominal.The earldom must have essayed in the crown on John's accession in 1199, and lain dormant from that day till the reign of Richard II., who, at his coronation in 1377, bestowed it on….
LORD JOHN MOWBRAY
, he being the first person, who BANKS, to whom the title of Earl of Nottingham was really granted. He was engaged in the Scottish wars, and died and was buried in London, in the sixth year of Richard's reign. He died at the early age of eighteen, leaving no issue: his wife was Elizabeth SEGRAVE.THOMAS MOWBRAY
, his brother was in the seventeenth year of his age created earl the following year. He accompanied the king in the Scottish and Irish wars; was constituted by charter Earl MARSHAL of England; married first, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John, Lord STRANGE of Bleckmere, who died without issue - afterwards Elizabeth, one of the daughters of the Earl of Arundel; was created Duke of Norfolk in 1397; and was finally, after all these favors, banished from England. He died in Venice in September of the first year of Henry IV.THOMAS MOWBRAY
, Earl of MARSHAL of England, his son, was very young on coming to the title: he joined in the conspiracy of SCROOPE, Archbishop of York, against the king, and was executed at York in 1405. He married Constance, daughter of the Duke of Exeter.JOHN MOWBRAY, Earl MARSHAL
, his son, by some historians called his brother, fought faithfully for both Henry V., and Henry VI., in the wars in France and Normandy; for his loyalty the title of Duke of Norfolk was restored to him. He died in October, 1432. He married Katherine, daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland.JOHN, LORD MOWBRAY
, his son, was sent by Henry VI., to effect a treaty of peace with the French king; was justice itinerant of the king's forests south of the Trent; made pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem; and had planned several more when his designs were frustrated by the hand of death in 1461. His wife was Eleonora, daughter of William BOUCHIER, Earl Eve in Normandy.JOHN, LORD MOWBRAY
, his son, created Earl Warren and Surrey, died in Norfolk in 1475. He married Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, by who he had one daughter, Anne, who was married to……RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK
, second son of Edward IV.; this young prince was murdered along with his hapless brother Henry by the ambitious Duke of Gloucester.WILLIAM BERKELEY,
son of Isabel, one of the daughters of Thomas MOWBRAY, Duke of Norfolk, by her second husband James, Lord BERKELEY. Created Earl of Nottingham by Richard III., he subsequently espoused the cause of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, who afterwards constituted him Earl Marshal of England and a marquess. He married three wives, but died without issue in the seventh year of HEnry VII.The title of Earl of Nottingham now lay dormant till it was bestowed upon….
HENRY FITZROY
, an illegitimate son of Henry VIII., who died without issue the 24th of July 1536.CHARLES, LORD HOWARD
, lord chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth and lieutenant of the fleet sent against the Spanish Armada, was created Earl of Nottingham by her majesty in the thirty-ninth year of her reign. He married Katherine, daughter of Lord HUNSDEN.CHARLES HOWARD
, his son, married three wives, but had issue only by the last of them, Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Murray.CHARLES HOWARD
, his son, died without issue, and the earldom became extinct in 1681, the barony which belonged to the lords of the town till PEVEREL was ousted by Henry II., descending to Francis HOWARD, of Great Buckham, in Surrey.HENEAGE FINCH
, Baron FINCH of Daventry, was created Earl of Nottingham in 1681 by Charles II., but he died the year following. He married the daughter of Daniel HARVEY, esquire, a merchant of London, and had a numerous familyDANIEL FINCH
, the eldest son, succeeded to the title. Shortly afterwards the earldom of Winchelsea came to him as heir to his great-grandmother, the first countess, and the title of Nottingham merged in the older creation of Winchelsea. He died in 1730.The subsequent Earls of Winchelsea and Nottingham have been
DANIEL FINCH, died August, 1769; GEORGE FINCH, his nephew, the ninth Earl of Winchelsea; and GEORGE WILLIAM FINCH HATTON, his cousin, born 1791, who succeeded to the earldom in 1826.
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