The London Gazette and Hereditary Peerages Creations

[marquess]

It occurred to me that there must have been peers who have been
Gazetted as peers or even peerage promotion but who have died before
they patent has passed the Great Seal. To mind comes Fairhaven, of the
first creation and hence the new peerage in 61 with a special
remainder. Also the dormant barony of Gardener, of whom one of the
previous barons was gazetted as a viscount and died before the patent
has passed the Seal. Can anyone give any other instances of this
happening?

Also when was th last time that a patent mentioned illegitimate issue
to be in remainder? The only instance that I can think of would have
been one of Charles II's mistresses receiving a dukedom and here
children by the King having to be specifically metnioned in the patent.

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[Richard R]

Here are some more to add to the list:

1918 – ‘BARONY’ OF FORREST
Sir John Forrest GCMG PC (1847-1918) sometime Premier of Western
Australia. It was announced in 1918 that he was to receive a peerage
in the form of a barony but he died on 3 September 1918, on his way
from Australia to the United Kingdom, before any official notification
was made (ie it was not in The London Gazette) and before Letters
Patent passed the Great Seal. Leigh lists it as a peerage on his
website with the note “No Letters Patent were ever issued and, on his
death, the peerage, if indeed one had ever been created, became
extinct.”
I would argue that no such peerage was ever created. It does not
appear in volume 13 of The Complete Peerage (peers created 1901-38),
nor in any of the annual works on the peerage at that time. Who’s Who
list him as the 1st Baron Forrest cr 1918, but this cannot be taken as
either definitive or official.
A “news in brief” piece in The Times of 8 Feb 1918 states: “The King
has conferred a Barony of the United Kingdom on the Right Hon. Sir
John Forrest PC GCMG, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, in
recognition of his long and distinguished services to the Empire.”
But, in spite of wording the announcement in the past tense, no
official creation had taken place. Had he survived to receive his
peerage, he would have been the first Australian to be so honoured. A
further piece in The Times of 12 February 1918 states: “In connexion
[sic] with the elevation of Sir John Forrest to the peerage, the
Executive Committee of the New South Wales Political Labour League has
passed a resolution expressing its strong resentment at any attempt to
establish a hereditary aristocracy in Australia, adding the hope that
this first Australian lord may prove to be the last.”
In The Times of 15 February 1918, the first item of Imperial and
Foreign News states: “Sir John Forrest, Australian Treasurer, has
ADOPTED [my caps] the title of Baron Forrest of Bunbury”. Note the use
of the word adopted and, again, no reference to any official
publication.
Sir John may have voiced his intention of adopting such a style and
title but no official recognition of this was ever made. The ODNB uses
this to finish their entry on Sir John with “in 1918 he was created
Baron Forrest of Bunbury, the first peerage bestowed on an Australian
politician; but while bound for England to take his seat in the House
of Lords and to seek medical advice, he died at sea on 3 September
1918 off Sierra Leone. He was buried in the Karrakatta cemetery,
Perth.” Although his wife [Margaret Elvire (1844–1929), daughter of
Edward Hamersley of Guildford, Western Australia] survived him,
there’s no official notification of her having ever received or used
the style and title of a wife or widow of a baroness, and she does not
appear as such in any of the standard reference works on the peerage.
There were no children.

1928 – EARLDOM OF CAVE OF RICHMOND
From The London Gazette of 11 May 1928:
Whitehall, May 9, 1928.
The KING has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
the Realm, bearing date the 8th instant, to grant the dignity of a
Countess of the United Kingdom unto Anne Estella Sarah Penfold,
Viscountess Cave, widow of the Right Honourable George, Viscount Cave,
G.C.M.G., by the name, style and title of Countess Cave of Richmond,
and at her decease the dignity of an Earl of the said United Kingdom
to the heirs male of her body lawfully begotten, by the name, style
and title of Earl Cave of Eichmond."
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/33383/pages/3332

This was in right of her husband, the late Viscount Cave, Lord
Chancellor & Speaker of The Lords. “On the day of his death [29 March
1928] his advancement to an earldom was announced, but the patent of
creation had not passed the Great Seal; his widow was therefore
granted by Letters Patent.....” The Complete Peerage, Vol 13
pp287-288.

1943 – VISCOUNTCY OF DAVENTRY
From The London Gazette of 4 May 1943:
Whitehall, May 4, 1943.
The KING has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
the Realm, bearing date the 3rd instant, to confer the dignity of a
Viscounty of the United Kingdom upon Muriel FitzRoy, C.B.E., widow of
the Right Honourable Edward Algernon FitzRoy, late Speaker of the
House of Commons, and the heirs male of her body lawfully begotten, by
the name, style and title of VISCOUNTESS DAVENTRY, of Daventry, in the
County of Northampton.
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36002/pages/2011

This was in right of her husband, the late Speaker of The Commons, who
would have been made Viscount had he survived long enough to receive
the honour.

1979 – LIFE BARONY OF HARDING-DAVIES
From The London Gazette (Supplement) of 26 June 1979:
The Right Honourable John Emerson Harding DAVIES, M.B.E. Formerly
Member of Parliament for the Knutsford Division of Cheshire. Secretary
of State for Trade and Industry 1970-72 ; Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster 1972-74.
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/47888/supplements/1

He died on 4 July 1979 before the patent of creation had passed the
Great Seal.

The Queen granted his widow and children the styles they would have
enjoyed had he survived to receive his barony:
The London Gazette (Supplement) of 25 March 1980:
THE COLLEGE OF ARMS
By Royal Warrant bearing date 27th February 1980 Her Majesty The Queen
has been graciously pleased to ordain and declare that Vera Georgina
Harding-Davies widow of the Right Honourable John Emerson Harding-
Davies, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
deceased, should have hold and enjoy the same style and title to which
she would have been entitled had her husband the said Right Honourable
John Emerson Harding-Davies survived and received from Her Majesty the
title and dignity of a Baron for Life of the United Kingdom and Her
Majesty The Queen has also been most graciously pleased to ordain and
declare that Francis William Harding-Davies and Rosamond Ann wife of
Charles Martin Metherell as children of the said Right Honourable John
Emerson Harding-Davies deceased should have hold and enjoy the same
rank, title, place, preeminence and precedence as if their said father
had survived and received from Her Majesty the title and dignity of a
Baron for Life of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's said Order and
Declaration to be observed and kept and the same to be registered in
Her Majesty's College of Arms.
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/48140/supplements/4617