James VI. the next heir, but was soon after granted to the king’s uncle Charles, who died in 1576, leaving an only child, the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stewart.
Two years later the title was granted to Robert Stewart, the king’s grand-uncle, second son of John, the 3rd earl, but he in 1580 exchanged it for that of earl of March. On the same day the earldom of Lennox was given to Esme Stewart, first cousin of the king and grandson of the 3rd earl, he being son of John Stewart (adopted heir of the maréchal d’Aubigny) and his French wife, Anne de la Queulle. In the following year Esme was created duke of Lennox, earl of Darnley, Lord Aubigny, Tarboulton and Dalkeith, and other favours were heaped upon him, but the earl of Ruthven sent him back to France where he died soon after. His elder son, Ludovic, was thereupon summoned to Scotland by James, who invested him with all his father’s honours and estates, and after his accession to the English throne created him Lord Settrington and earl of Richmond (1613), and earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and duke of Richmond (1623), all these titles being in the peerage of England. After holding many appointments the 2nd duke died without issue in 1624, being succeeded in his Scottish titles by his brother Esme, who had already been created earl of March and Lord Clifton of Leighton Bromswold in the peerage of England (1619) and was seigneur d’Aubigny in France. Of his sons, Henry succeeded to Aubigny and died young at Venice; Ludovic, seigneur d’Aubigny, entered the Roman Catholic Church and received a cardinal’s hat just before his death; while the three other younger sons, George, seigneur d’Aubigny, John and Bernard, were all distinguished as royalists in the Civil War. Each met a soldier’s death, George at Edgehill, John at Alresford and Bernard at Rowton Heath. James, the eldest son and 4th duke of Lennox, was created duke of Richmond in 1641, being like his brother a devoted adherent of Charles I.
With the death of his little son Esme, the 5th duke, in 1660, the titles, including that of Richmond, passed to his first cousin Charles, who had already been created Lord Stuart of Newbury and earl of Lichfield, being likewise now seigneur d’Aubigny. Disliked by Charles II., principally because of his marriage with “la belle Stuart”—“the noblest romance and example of a brave lady that ever I read in my life,” writes Pepys—he was sent into exile as ambassador to Denmark, where he was drowned in 1672. His wife had had the Lennox estates granted to her for life, but his only sister Katharine, wife of Henry O’Brien, heir apparent of the 7th earl of Thomond, was served heir to him. Her only daughter, the countess of Clarendon, was mother of Theodosia Hyde, ancestress of the present earls of Darnley.
The Lennox dukedom, being to heirs male, now devolved upon Charles II., who bestowed it with the titles of earl of Darnley and Lord Tarbolton upon one of his bastards, Charles Lennox, son of the celebrated duchess of Portsmouth, he having previously been created duke of Richmond, earl of March and Lord Settrington in the peerage of England. The ancient lands of the Lennox title were also granted to him, but these he sold to the duke of Montrose.
His son Charles, who inherited his grandmother’s French dukedom of Aubigny, was a soldier of distinction, as were the 3rd and 4th dukes. The wife of the last, Lady Charlotte Gordon, as heir of her brother brought the ancient estates of her family to the Lennoxes; the additional name of Gordon being taken by the 5th duke of Richmond and of Lennox on the death of his uncle, the 5th duke of Gordon. In the next generation further honours were granted to the family in the person of the 6th duke, who was rewarded for his great public services with the titles of duke of Gordon and earl of Kinrara in the peerage of the United Kingdom (1876).
See Scots Peerage, vol. v., for excellent accounts of these peerages by the Rev. John Anderson, curator Historical Dept. H.M. Register House; A. Francis Steuart and Francis J. Grant, Rothesay Herald. See also The Lennox by William Fraser.
LENNOX, CHARLOTTE (1720–1804), British writer, daughter
of Colonel James Ramsay, lieutenant-governor of New York,
was born in 1720. She went to London in 1735, and, being left
unprovided for at her father’s death, she began to earn her
living by writing. She made some unsuccessful appearances
on the stage and married in 1748. Samuel Johnson had an
exaggerated admiration for her. “Three such women,” he
said, speaking of Elizabeth Carter, Hannah More and Fanny
Burney, “are not to be found; I know not where to find a
fourth, except Mrs Lennox, who is superior to them all.” Her
chief works are: The Female Quixote; or the Adventures of
Arabella (1752), a novel; Shakespear illustrated; or the novels
and histories on which the plays . . . are founded (1753–1754),
in which she argued that Shakespeare had spoiled the stories
he borrowed for his plots by interpolating unnecessary intrigues
and incidents; The Life of Harriot Stuart (1751), a novel; and
The Sister, a comedy produced at Covent Garden (18th February
1769). This last was withdrawn after the first night, after a
stormy reception, due, said Goldsmith, to the fact that its author
had abused Shakespeare.
LENNOX, MARGARET, Countess of (1515–1578), daughter
of Archibald Douglas, 6th earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor,
daughter of Henry VII. of England and widow of James IV. of
Scotland, was born at Harbottle Castle, Northumberland, on
the 8th of October 1515. On account of her nearness to the
English crown, Lady Margaret Douglas was brought up chiefly
at the English court in close association with the Princess Mary,
who remained her fast friend throughout life. She was high
in Henry VIII.’s favour, but was twice disgraced; first for an
attachment to Lord Thomas Howard, who died in the Tower
in 1537, and again in 1541 for a similar affair with Sir Charles
Howard, brother of Queen Catherine Howard. In 1544 she
married a Scottish exile, Matthew Stewart, 4th earl of Lennox
(1516–1571), who was regent of Scotland in 1570–1571. During
Mary’s reign the countess of Lennox had rooms in Westminster
Palace; but on Elizabeth’s accession she removed to Yorkshire,
where her home at Temple Newsam became a centre for Catholic
intrigue. By a series of successful manœuvres she married
her son Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, to Mary, queen of Scots.
In 1566 she was sent to the Tower, but after the murder of
Darnley in 1567 she was released. She was at first loud in her
denunciations of Mary, but was eventually reconciled with her
daughter-in-law. In 1574 she again aroused Elizabeth’s anger
by the marriage of her son Charles, earl of Lennox, with Elizabeth
Cavendish, daughter of the earl of Shrewsbury. She was sent
to the Tower with Lady Shrewsbury, and was only pardoned
after her son’s death in 1577. Her diplomacy largely contributed
to the future succession of her grandson James to the English
throne. She died on the 7th of March 1578.
The famous Lennox jewel, made for Lady Lennox as a memento of her husband, was bought by Queen Victoria in 1842.
LENO, DAN, the stage-name of George Galvin (1861–1904),
English comedian, who was born at Somers Town, London, in
February 1861. His parents were actors, known as Mr and Mrs
Johnny Wilde. Dan Leno was trained to be an acrobat, but
soon became a dancer, travelling with his brother as “the
brothers Leno,” and winning the world’s championship in clog-dancing
at Leeds in 1880. Shortly afterwards he appeared in
London at the Oxford, and in 1886–1887 at the Surrey Theatre.
In 1888–1889 he was engaged by Sir Augustus Harris to play
the Baroness in the Babes in the Wood, and from that time he
was a principal figure in the Drury Lane pantomimes. He was
the wittiest and most popular comedian of his day, and delighted
London music-hall audiences by his shop-walker, stores-proprietor,
waiter, doctor, beef-eater, bathing attendant, “Mrs Kelly,”
and other impersonations. In 1900 he engaged to give his
entire services to the Pavilion Music Hall, where he received
£100 per week. In November 1901 he was summoned to Sandringham
to do a “turn” before the king, and was proud from
that time to call himself the “king’s jester.” Dan Leno’s
generosity endeared him to his profession, and he was the object
of much sympathy during the brain failure which recurred
during the last eighteen months of his life. He died on the 31st
of October 1904.
