Earl of Devonshire

“ There is a Duke of Devonshire and an Earl of Devon, as there is a Duke of Buckingham and an Earl of Buckinghamshire. Titles of this sort could not obviously have co-existed while earls and dukes had authority over the counties from which they were called. It may be observed that the dukes of Devonshire, though they can show some four centuries of descent, are of a quite modern nobility compared with the Courtnays, whose chief bears the humbler title of Earl of Devon. The earl indeed represents an imperial line. ”

“ Her’s was a change of conditions that, perhaps, never fell to any one woman before or since: to be four times a creditable and happy wife, and to rise by every husband to greater wealth and higher honours; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in absolute power and plenty. She built three of the most elegant seats that were ever raised by one person in the same county—Chatsworth, Hardwick, and Oldcoates; all transmitted entire to the first Duke of Devonshire. The Countess died in 1607, aged 87. She bequeathed all her estates to her son William, Earl of Devonshire ”

“ IN treating of Devonshire Characters, I have had to put aside the chief Worthies and those Devonians famous in history, as George Duke of Albemarle, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Coleridges, Sir Stafford Northcote, first Earl of Iddesleigh, and many another; and to content myself with those who lie on a lower plane. ”

“ Devonshire was far away, roads few and poor in Saxon England, travel slow and wearisome, and the king had no taste for the journey to the castle of [Pg 36] Olgar of Devon. Nor did he deem it wise to declare his intention till he made sure that the maiden was to his liking. He, therefore, spoke of his purpose to Earl Athelwold, his favorite, whom he bade to pay a visit, on some pretence, to Earl Olgar of Devonshire, to see his renowned daughter, and to bring to the court a certain account concerning her beauty. ”

“ It is to be feared that now this question “des jupons” will never be definitely settled.
On the successful issue of his claim, William, ninth Earl of Devon, both at Powderham, in London, and in Paris, maintained a state which, however worthy of the vast domains appertaining to his great ancestors, yet cast a heavy burden on the mere moderate appanage inherited by himself, with the inevitable result that the estates were encumbered and the successor to the title seriously embarrassed. ”

“ From the Latin Devisæ, denoting the point where the old Roman road passed into the district of the Celts.
Devon. After a Celtic tribe, the Damnonii.
Devonshire House. The town house of the Duke of Devonshire.
Devonshire Square. From the mansion of William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire, who died here in 1628.
Diamond King. The late Mr Alfred Beit, the South African financier, whose wealth rivalled that of the Rothschilds.
Dickey. A shirt front, which often has to do duty for a clean shirt. So called from the German decken, to hide.
Diddler. A schemer, an artful dodger. ”

“ Two months, however, before arrangements were completed the plot was betrayed by Edward Courtenay [q. v.] , earl of Devonshire. On 26 Jan. 1554 the duke and his brothers, Thomas and John [q. v.] , fled with fifty men-at-arms to his own estates in Leicestershire and Warwickshire. ”

“ Between 1603 and 1606 the absentee Lord Lieutenant advised the Privy Council on Irish affairs; and, by correspondence with his subordinates, loosely governed Ireland. He befriended Hugh O’Neill, and his death left the Earl without a protector at Court, where Chichester sought to instil poison against the Ulster lords, in order to forfeit their territories for his own benefit. Devonshire had, a few months before his death, gone through a form of marriage with Lady Rich, greatly to the King’s displeasure. ”

“ His death, by poison, occurred in France in 1262, and the inheritance of the Earls of Devon and Lords of Plympton descended to Isabella de Redvers, the wife of the Earl of Albemarle, who styled herself Countess of Devon. Their only issue was a daughter, Aveline, who married the Earl of Lancaster, and she dying in 1293, without issue, Hugh Lord Courtenay, next heir to Isabella, Countess of Devon, and lineally descended from John Courtenay, Lord of Okehampton, who married the daughter of Sir William de Redvers, became ninth Earl. ”

“ CAVENDISH, GEORGIANA, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806) , eldest daughter of John, first earl Spencer, was born 9 June 1757. She married in June 1774 the fifth duke of Devonshire, who was regarded as the ‘first match’ in England, and his wife became the reigning queen of society. She set the fashion in dress, and introduced a simple and graceful style to supersede the ridiculous hoop. ”

“ It was proposed to place Courtenay, the young Earl of Devon, who had long been a prisoner in the Tower, at the head of the Reformed party, and if Mary would not consent to marry him, to assassinate Arundel and Paget, the advocates of the Spanish match; to marry Elizabeth to Courtenay, and raise the standard of rebellion in Devonshire. It appears from the despatches of Noailles that the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane Grey, was in this conspiracy. ”

“ Our politics are all at a stand. The Duke of Devonshire's death, I concluded, would make the ministry all powerful, all triumphant, and all insolent. It does not appear to have done so. They are, I believe, extremely ill among themselves, and not better in their affairs foreign or domestic. The cider counties have instructed their members to join the minority. The house of Yorke seems to have laid aside their coldness and irresolution, and to look towards opposition. The unpopularity of the court is very great indeed—still I shall not be surprised if they maintain their ground a little longer. ”

“ In spite of the determination, boldness and assurance with which the plot had been laid, the conspirators were mistaken in the measure of the national discontent. Even the Devonshire men, supposed to be staunch adherents of Courtenay’s house, were apathetic, and when it became apparent that the young Earl would fail to come himself and lead them, their last spark of enthusiasm died out. The Earl of Bedford, who was sent against them, took a few of the leaders prisoners, Carew with some of his companions escaping to France. ”

“ He had gone to Whitehall to pay his duty, and had there been insulted by a man named Colepepper, one of a set of bravoes who invested the perlieus of the court, and who attempted to curry favour with the government by affronting members of the opposition. The King himself expressed great indignation at the manner in which one of his most distinguished peers had been treated under the royal roof; and Devonshire was pacified by an intimation that the offender should never again be admitted into the palace. The interdict, however, was soon taken off. The Earl's resentment revived. ”

“ In the time of Baldwin de Rivers, second Earl of Devon and Lord of Plympton, the castle was the scene of events which strikingly illustrate the then unsettled state of the country, and the insubordination of even the most privileged class. Baldwin de Rivers was considered one of the richest and bravest men of the age; but having with some other nobles rebelled against King Stephen, on account, it is said, of the king refusing to confer certain honours on them, he fortified himself in his castle at Exeter, where he was besieged by the monarch ”

“ She was the wealthiest heiress in Devonshire, and the Earl of Suffolk schemed to obtain her for his third son, Sir Thomas Howard. She was not only rich, but beautiful. Her father had been a remarkably handsome man, and Lord Clarendon, long after this date, speaks of her as "having been of extraordinary beauty." But she balked all schemers by running away with Thomas Darcy, a young man of her own age, son of Lord Darcy, of Chiche, afterwards Earl Rivers. ”

“ Some of the servants do say that the Earl of Leicester be now visiting the Duke of Devonshire; and some also do say that his Lordship be fond of disguises in his gallantry. They do also say that the queen is in love with him, and that he must disguise himself when he woos elsewhere, or she be's famously jealous. It would be a pretty mess the master has brought us all into should Tom-Tom prove to be my lord Earl of Leicester. We'd all hang and to hell."
"Bess, that tongue of yours will cost you your head one of these good times," I remarked, while I rubbed my face with the towel. ”

“ I., i. 168; against Somerset, iv. 55; secured by Prince Maurice for Charles I., vi. 13; rising in, under Monmouth, vii. 9 Devonshire, William Cavendish, fourth Earl of (see Cavendish) , vii. 28; signs the invitation to William III., 35; prepares for a rising, 37; heads the rising in the Midlands, 41 Devonshire, Thomas Courtenay, fifth Earl of, iii. 69 Devonshire, Thomas Courtenay, sixth Earl of, ii. 80 Devon, Edward Courtenay, Earl of, iv. 78 D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, iv. 5; v. 72 D'Eyvill, John, ii. ”

“ Yet, far away in the West Country, beneath the oaks of Powderham, while the elder branches dropped or were 56snapped off, the descendants of Sir Philip Courtenay, youngest son of Hugh, second Earl of Devon, lived and thrived, gaining among their own people a love and devotion which has endured the strain of centuries and the many vicissitudes of fortune. ”

“ Edward Baldwin died in 1891, and was succeeded by his uncle, Henry Hugh, thirteenth Earl and Rector of Powderham, who married Lady Anna Maria Leslie, sister to the eleventh Earl of Rothes. By her, whose charity and simple-minded goodness of heart made her universally beloved, he had two sons—Henry Reginald, Lord Courtenay, who married Lady Evelyn Pepys, youngest daughter of the first Earl of Cottenham, predeceasing his father in 1898; and Hugh Leslie, who is still living. Lord Devon died in February, 1904, at the ripe age of 93, having survived his beloved wife by seven years. ”

“ The embarrassments which these ventures charged upon the property were, moreover, in no way lightened by the successor to the title, Edward Baldwin, twelfth Earl, whose expenditure as M.P. for East Devon and for the City of Exeter, as well as his fondness for sport in many branches, added costly burdens to an already overweighted exchequer. ”

“ Edward, 53–55. ” Edward Baldwin, 12th Earl of Devon, 61. ” Henry, 80. ” Henry Hugh, 13th Earl of Devon, 61, 89. ” Henry Reginald, Lord, 61. ” John, 50. ” Lord, 260. ” Made Viscount, 57. ” Peter, Bishop of Exeter, 56, 183. ” Philip, 49. ” Sir Hugh, 49, 180. ” Sir William, 51. ” Sir William of Powderham, 56, 122, 172. ” Thomas, 80. ” William, 9th Earl of Devon, 59. ” William, 10th Earl of Devon, 59. ” William Reginald, 11th Earl of Devon, 60. Courtneie, Sir Peter, Sheriff of Exeter, 83. Coverdale, Myles, 77. ” translator of the Bible, 169. Crediton, town of, 6, 83. Crockern Tor Parliament, 9. ”

“ The late Duke of Argyll once said of him at a public meeting: "Oh, gentlemen, what a comfort it is to have a leader who says what he means and means you to understand what he says." Here in a nutshell was the quality which the country most admired in the Duke of Devonshire. They always knew exactly what he stood for, and whether he was a Unionist or a Home-ruler, a Free-trader or a Protectionist. ”

“ This seeing, cries the king to his guards without delay,
Call Devonshire down! take the dead man away!
'No,' says brave Devonshire, 'I've fought him as a man;
Since he's dead, I will keep the trophies I have won.
For he fought me in your armour, while I fought him bare,
And the same you must win back, my liege, if ever you them wear.
'God bless the Church of England! may it prosper on each hand,
And also every poor man now starving in this land. ”

“ But the point to be mentioned is that our delightfully remote cottage belonged to a gentleman through whom—although we never met or knew each other—I came to realise my dream of some day seeing Devonshire. I often wish I had known him; for by all accounts he was a rare and original person.
In the oldest of our old times, the pre-gold times, when these lands were being "taken up" by a gallant set of young men, cadets of what we call "good" British families, he had been a pioneer squatter. ”

“ The Duke of Devonshire, though inferior in parts even to Lord Rockingham, must have had the precedence of him in Administration; and being diffident, timid, decent, and fond of court, no man would have been more alarmed at the violent and obnoxious counsels of his brother John. The latter would undoubtedly have enjoyed much credit with the Duke; but as men govern others by humouring their tempers, not by driving them into contrary extremes, I question whether Devonshire would not94 oftener have checked than have been impelled by Lord John’s visions. ”

“ Above all things, its position has made Devonshire a native land of heroes. Very few other counties have produced so many men of mark, so many men of enterprise [8] and daring. Certainly no other has played a greater part in the expansion of England. From Devonshire came not only some of the most distinguished seamen of the Golden Age of Elizabeth, some of the most skilful and daring of her naval captains, but some of the earliest and most famous of our explorers ”

“ William Lilly, the astrologer, refers to him when he says: “Have we another Red Fox like Sir R. G. acting his close devotions to do our Army mischief? Let’s be wary!”
Sir Richard being now in high favour with the King made petition to be given his wife’s estates in Devonshire, on the ground that her continued residence in [Pg 204] London made her a rebel. The King, with monstrous injustice, granted what was asked, and at once—a fortnight after his having marched out of London—he arrived in Tavistock, with powers from the King to take possession of all his wife’s estates. ”