The Peerage of Ireland

[Henry W]

As we all know Ireland merged with the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1801 to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland.  The separate Peerage of Ireland did not disappear and several titles were granted in it throughout the 19th century, subject to certain conditions; the following is taken from Wikipedia:

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 (exclusive of those who held any peerage of Great Britain subsisting at the time of the union, or of the United Kingdom created since the union)– a condition still not achieved

I believe this is a correct interpretation of Article IV of the Act of Union 1800

I question whether or not the condition has been achieved, and I think it might have been.  I count only 68 peers who hold only peerages in the Peerage of Ireland. Obviously it is now inconceivable that the Crown would create new peerages in the Peerage of Ireland, so it is an academic point.

There are likely to be the following movements in this number in the next few decades:

Likely new "only Ireland" peers:  

Viscount Powerscourt (when Baron Powerscourt (UK) likely becomes extinct on the death of the current Viscount)

Earl of Clancarty (when Viscount Clancarty / Baron Trench (both UK) likely become extinct on the death of the current Earl) - not sure if the heir to the Earldom found by members of this group is acknowledged by the published sources yet.

Likely losses of "only Ireland" peers:

Earl of Westmeath

Earl of Norbury

Viscount Southwell

Baron ffrench

Baron Clanmorris

One might also add Baron Trimlestown to this list - no heir is known, but the title is so ancient it may not be possible to definitively prove extinction.

[colinp]

Very interesting- I wasn’t aware of the restrictions on creating peers of Ireland after the Union

Do we know how many Irish peers there were on 1 Jan 1801 without English/GB peerages?

Has there been an Irish peer who only held an additional Scots peerage thus entitling him to become either a Scottish or Irish representative peer?

[Al]

Its slips my mind but there is a peer with titles from E/S/I & GB iirc. Though one of them is a baronetcy. Someone will know.

[Al]

Earl of Verulam is the one I was thinking of but he gained his Scottish title after he already have a right to sit in the HoL

[Henry W]

All held by one person:

Duke of Abercorn (Ireland, 1868) - had older Irish titles dating back to 1617

Marquess of Abercorn (GB, 1790)

Earl of Abercorn (Scotland, 1606) - had an older Lordship dating back to 1587

and many others in those three peerages, as well as an Irish baronetcy.

[colinp]

As a matter of interest why was the Marquess of Abercorn created a duke in the peerage of Ireland rather than the UK?

[colinp]

CLANCARTY - Debrett's doesn't list any heirs and as presented would suggest that all the peerages will become extinct with the death of the present peer without  male issue

On Monday, 29 July 2019 22:01:38 UTC+1, Henry W wrote:

[Henry W]

He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time - it may have been felt that it was preferable for his highest title to be in that peerage.

[Henry W]

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/Peerage-News/J-id_4ZdSJE

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/peerage-news/Cz6P9KmWeqQ

This was discussed before at some length, and there seems to be strong evidence that there are collaterals descended from the first Earl. Whether they have intention to, or could successfully, prove a claim is another matter.

[Al]

Sometimes they gave an Irish title to those they didn';t want to give more prestigious UK titles. Its possible though I have no idea.