James Gairdner and John Horace Round

“ The representation of the earlier Percys had passed away through the daughters of Earl Thomas, beheaded in 1572, but his earldom of Northumberland (created anew for him in 1557) had passed to his brother Henry, under a special remainder, and appears to have become extinct in 1670, though persistently claimed by James Percy, “the trunk-maker.” The last earl's daughter Elizabeth, a great heiress, was mother by Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset, of Algernon, 7th duke, who was summoned (in error) as Lord Percy in 1722 and created earl of Northumberland in 1749. ”

“ Two sons of this last earl succeeded one another, and the title then devolved, for want of male issue, on the lineal descendants of Sir Gilbert Talbot of Grafton in Worcestershire, third son of John, the 2nd earl. But the old baronies of Talbot, Strange of Blackmere, and Furnival had passed away in 1616 to the daughters of the 7th earl, of whom the youngest married Thomas (Howard) earl of Arundel, whose descendant, the duke of Norfolk, has the valuable Furnival estates. ”

“ By it was brought into the family the great Petworth estate in Sussex, which Josceline had obtained from his sister, who was holding Arundel and its fief. His son Richard (c. 1170–1244) and Richard’s nephew William (c. 1183–1245) were among the barons who rose in arms against John, but the latter made his peace with Henry III., and had his lands restored to him. Richard de Percy was one of the twenty five barons appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Carta. ”

“ Then succeeded a nephew, who was created Viscount and Earl Talbot, and assumed by royal licence the surname of Chetwynd before Talbot, from his mother.
All the titles just mentioned have been united in the line of the Earl Talbot who successfully claimed the Shrewsbury title as the 18th earl, the earldom of Shrewsbury (1442) being now the oldest existing that is not merged in a higher title. The family seats (Alton Towers and Ingestre Hall) and the chief estates are in Staffordshire. The old badge of the family was a “talbot” or running hound. ”

“ The actual representation in blood of the later Percys (i.e. from 1572) passed in 1865, on the death of the 4th duke, to the dukes of Atholl, who in virtue of it are Lords Percy, under the writ of 1722, the oldest of the family titles now remaining. The ancient London residence of the Percys, Northumberland House, Charing Cross, was removed to make way for Northumberland Avenue. Above it stood the Percy crest, a (blue) lion with stiffly extended tall ”

“ His son George, who succeeded, was the earl to whom the custody of Mary Stuart was committed, his task being rendered all the more difficult for him by the intrigues of his second wife, Bess of Hardwick, the builder of Chatsworth, who had married three husbands before her union with him. ”

“ The 1st earl of Northumberland, father of the famous Hotspur, Sir Henry Percy (q. v.) , was killed at Bramham Moor in 1408, while in arms against the king, and his title and estates were forfeited. But, by an act no less gracious than politic, Henry V. restored them in 1414 to this earl's grandson, Henry (1394-1455) , then a prisoner with the Scots, whose l1berat1on he had no difficulty in procuring from the duke of Albany during the time of James I.'s captivity. ”

“ But in 1309 he himself made his position strong in the north of England by purchasing lands from Anthony Bek, bishop of Durham, among which was the honour of Alnwick, the principal seat of the family ever since. ”