Declined Marquisates and Earldoms.

[marquess]

Spencer, Elgin, Portsmouth, Harewood and Clarendon all declined being made a marquess.

It would be nice if this group could make a comprehensive list and the reasons why these honours were declined.

Portsmouth, felt that he wasn't worthy of the honour. 

The Prince of Teck thought it was a rather absurd British title.

Harewood thought that they died out too quickly.

With the exception of Teck, I believe that had these marquisates  been accepted; they would all now be extant.

Earldoms

Clarendon, something to do with not wanting his sons to become to elevated.

Wikepedia has a list, but I don't belive it to be comprehensive or entirely accurate. For example it is lists Addington declining the eardom of Banbury, when the Complete Peerage says that it was Reading. 

[BREMENMURRAY]

Prince Adolphus of Teck became Marquess of Cambridge

[S. S.]

George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), Declined a Marquessate. “after the congress of Paris, pleading insufficient means to support the dignity” (ODNB).

Henry Addington, later 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757-1844). Declined Earldom of Banbury. “Addington had no wish to return to office; but he was equally embarrassed by George III’s offer on 9 May 1804 of the earldom of Banbury and a pension of £4,000 for his wife. He declined these and other offers. ‘Why is Mr Addington too proud to accept a proof of friendship from the King?’ wrote the monarch to ‘the best friend he has in the world’. All that Addington, who shunned such a label, would agree to accept was the tenancy of White Lodge and the gift of a copy of the royal portrait. There were reports of the King’s willingness to admit his best friend’s want of calibre as minister, but George III’s continued cordiality to Addington was noted with apprehension by Pitt’s friends and the King certainly set himself the task of reconciling Addington and Pitt—their estrangement was undoubtedly the greatest private loss Addington had incurred in obeying the royal command in 1801” (History of Parliament Online).

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965). Declined a Dukedom (sometime said to be Dukedom of London). “On 5 April 1955, after entertaining the queen and the duke of Edinburgh to dinner at 10 Downing Street, he tendered his resignation. The queen offered him a dukedom but Churchill remained an MP until 1964, sometimes voting in parliamentary divisions, but never again speaking in the house… After stepping down as prime minister Churchill refused the offer of a dukedom, though he was tempted for a while by the prospect of becoming duke of London” (ODNB)”.

Benjamin Disraeli, later 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881). Declined a Marquessate and Dukedom. “The queen offered him a marquessate or dukedom, which he refused; he and Salisbury accepted the KG” (ODNB).

Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863). Declined a Dukedom. “However, his experience and reputation for fair-mindedness enabled him, in the years after Wellington's death, to fill the duke's role as leading constitutional adviser to the crown. In September 1857 Palmerston conveyed the queen's offer of a dukedom, and it was widely regretted that modesty and an unwillingness to exchange 'that name which has now been mine for so many years, & with which my publick character such as it is has become identified' (BL, Bowood MSS, Lans. 3/42/72) led him to decline the honour” (ODNB).

Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830-1903). Declined a Dukedom. See Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion (2003), 330; “Dukedom for Salisbury Expected”, The New York Times, 3 Sept 1901; “It is true that the Marquis of Salisbury might have been a Duke if he had not regarded his marquisate as a prouder title than a new dukedom could furnish” (“The Point of View: American Style”, Scribner’s Magazine, xxviii, no 124 (1910).

Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (1854-1921). Declined a Dukedom. Since he could not afford the lavish lifestyle expected (Daughters of Empire (1st edn, 2013), 4).

Maria Fitzherbert, mistress and later cancelled wife of the future George IV (1756-1837). Declined a Dukedom. See George IV (2001), 39 by E. A. Smith.

John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (1835-1910). Declined a Marquessate. “On leaving office Spencer was offered a marquessate by Gladstone, but after  consulting Granville and Hartington refused it. He was now free to pursue his hobbies, rifle shooting and fox-hunting” (ODNB).

Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, later 1st Earl of Athlone (1874-1957). Declined a Marquessate. Reportedly on account of it not sounding British-enough.

Henry Ulick Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood (1846-1929). Declined a Marquessate. Reportedly in the belief they tended to become extinct quicker. 

S.S.

[malcolm davies]

Some additional comments:

Insufficient means to support enhanced dignity:

Clarendon income £3,741 in 1882 (Bateman)

Winston Churchill- No landed income to speak of,retirement funded by writing

Disraeli-not in Bateman

Lansdowne-£62,025,but heavily indebted-net income less than a third of this (Kerry:Lansdowne the Last Great Whig).

Salisbury-£33,413.Only Montrose,St Albans and Wellington amongst the Dukes had lesser income than this.The present Marquess is quite well off,thanks to his landholdings in London near Leicester Sq which are far more valuable now than they were in 1882.

Battenberg-reliant on German income.

Spencer-£46,764

Hardwood-£38,118 to which should be added the Clanricarde estates inherited by his son of £24,358.

Other reasons

Athlone-entitlement to promotion occurred after the death of his only son,a haemophiliac.He would not have been offered the Marquessate of Athlone, as by then it was in the Irish republic.

[BREMENMURRAY]

Ireland remained a monarchy until after the coronation of George VI in 1937.The Irish Free State was in effect a realm country

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Two more from The Complete Peerage:


1. "GEORGE (BRYDGES) , BARON CHANDOS OF SUDELEY... (1620-1655)... He is said to have been offered the Earldom of Newbury, accordingly, but to have declined it till more peaceful times."

2. John Rolle, of Stevenstone, father of Henry Rolle, who was created a Baron in 1748, "...is said to have declined an Earldom offered to him by the last ministry of Queen Anne. [" Ex. inform. Hen. Dom. Rolle," as quoted in Collins. ]"

[malcolm davies]

Bremen,

             The Earl of Athlone’s suitability for a promotion would have arisen on his retirement from the Governor Generalsgip of Canada which was in 1946.

[BREMENMURRAY]

The earlier post referred to the death of his son in 1928.However during the years between 1937 and 1948 George VI  remained legally King of Ireland even though there was also a President

[S. S.]

I don't think picking an Irish place for a peerage title would have gone down well with the republican sentiments in Ireland in general... 

S.S.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

The Complete Peerage says that not only was Chandos offered the earldom of Newbury, but so was Charles, Lord Gerard [later, Earl of Macclesfield].


An additional one from The Complete Peerage:

Arthur French, whose son was created a Baron in 1839, is said to have been offered an earldom as a bribe to support the Union.

[S. S.]

If someone had subscription access to the History of the Irish Parliament's online website, we can pinpoint with a source Arthur French senior's apparent offer of an earldom. 

S.S.

[Paul Theroff]

I didn't know that there was subscription access. They have more available than they have online for free?


The footnote gives three sources:

1. Wakefield, Account of Ireland, ii. 308

https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Account_of_Ireland_Statistical_and_Po/rvY9AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

This source doesn't seem to mention the offer of a peerage.

2.

J. Wilson, Biog. Index (1808), 512

I was unable to find the correct volume available online.


3.Cornwallis Corresp. iii. 50.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Upo9AAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

Nothing here but a footnote saying exactly what the History of Parliament says, but with no sources listed.

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[S. S.]

Paul, I am not talking about the History of Parliament Online (HoP), which covers English and later British House of Commons and House of Lords Members (albeit the online website does not list the lords quite yet since they are not done transcribing other Commons entries etc online), but the History of the Irish Parliament Online, which exclusively covers the entire membership of the Irish Parliament (https://www.ancestryireland.com/research-projects/history-of-the-irish-parliament-online/) and is unrelated to the aforementioned first website and publishers. 

Arthur French MP(Ir (d 1820) and his entry in HoP does not cover it since he probably received the offer during his tenure as an MP(Ir), so HoP won't have a mention of it. The work is quite strict on who to include and not for such things so it won't include minutiae relating to his time as an MP(Ir).

S.S.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

There is a seemingly well researched article at:

https://irishnative.wordpress.com/articles/defreyne-family/

"...shortly after his father died the younger Arthur was offered an Earldom in exchange for his support of the Act of Union in 1800. The offer was rejected with the statement ‘The independence of Ireland must always be with us a most favourite object.’ "

There is a footnote citing " “List of those voting against the Union”, Walker Hibernian Magazine,1, February 1800, page 126." but I canot find the 1800 edition online.



This may be of interest to some:

The Cornwallis Correspondence, cited earlier, includes a long list of new Irish peerages created, and other peerage promotions granted, during the short viceroyalty of Cornwallis.
 see pages 318ff at:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Upo9AAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

[marquess]

One of the Viscounts Dillion rejected an earldom at around the time of the Union,  stating that he preferred to be head of the viscounts, rather than be a junior earl and behind men who had received peerages; but weren't quite gentlemen.

[Observer]

There was one earl, perhaps already mentioned above or perhaps not, who mentioned as a reason for his having refused a peerage of a higher rank the fact that it would have advanced his sons from 'Hons' to 'Lords' and made it even harder for him to convince them that they needed to bestir themselves and earn a living. 

Also, Robert Boothby was offered either an hereditary peerage or one of the then new-fangled life peerages and he chose to be one of the first of the new.

[marquess]

I read today in an 1803 book on the life of the  Earl Howe, that the latter declined a marquisate when dinning on board the Queen Charlotte with George IIII; after the victory of the Glorious 1st of June. Howe joked that the chosen title should be marquess of Torbay. The author of this extremely rare book was Manson who personally knew the victorious admiral.