90 DESMOND — DESPENCER. uncle, er. 7 Nov. 1622, wheu about 8 years of age, Bakon Feii.dino of Lecagii, co. Tipperary and Viscoi/nt Callan, co. Kilkenny [I.] as also in reversion after the death of the present holder thereof without heir male of the body (the da. and h. presumptive of such holder being designed for his wife) EARL OK DESMOND [I.] He was (as Viscount Callan) made K.B., 1 Feb. 1625/6, at the coronation of Charles I. On 29 Oct. 1628 he became Earl ok Desmond [I.] in possession on the death s.p.m. of the last Earl, under the spec. rem. in the creation of that dignity iu 1622. He m. 17 April 1630, at St, Peter's, Coruhill, London, Bridget (b. about 1615) youngest of the 3 daughters and coheirs (*) of Sir Michael Stanhope of Sudbury, Suffolk, by Anne, da. of Sir William Reade of Osterley, Midi. He d. 31 Jany. 1665/6 in his 49th year and was bur. at Euston, Suffolk; M.I. XIX. 166G, 2. William (Feii.ding), Earl of Desmond, &c, [I.], 8. and h. 6. 29 Dec. 1640 ; styled Viscount Callan till 1666. On the death of his uncle, 28 Nov. 1675, he sue. him as Earl op Denbigh, &c. See " Denbigh " Earldom of, er. 1622, under the 3d Earl. DESMOND AND CLAN GIBBON. Sec "Fitz Gerald of Desmond and Clan Giduon, co. Cork," Barony fFiiz Ocra/d), er. 1855 ; cjc. 1S43. DE SOMERY (of Dudley), see Somery. DESPENCER, or LE DESPENCER. Barony by J. Hugh Le Despencer() is presumed to have been ft Writ ""'I °f Oeoffrey and to have sue. his father about 1251. lie was in June, 1258, one of the 12 reps, of the Barons to the council of 24 ; I. 1264, in 1260 was Justice itinerant iu three counties, and in Oct. 1260, was appointed Justiciary of England by the Barons, being displaced, however, shortly afterwards but re-appointed 15 July 1263. He fought on the side of the Barons at the battle of Lewes 13 May 1264, being on 13 Sep. named one of the arbitrators between them and the King. On 14 Dec. (1264), 49 Hen. VOjfl ( a ) She was "brought up in a cottage" being disowned by her Father, who, indeed, is supposed to have poisoned her mother, shortly after her birth. In the mon. inscrip. put op by her Father, to himself, some 4 years after her birth and 2 years before his own death (which took place 18 Dec. 1621) his issue is stated to have been two daughters [only] viz. (1) Jane, Lady Fitzwalter and (2) Elizabeth, Lady Berkeley. See Smith's " Lives of the Berkeleys " vol. II p. 42!). (*>) For the early descent of this family see Mr. Townseud's able disquisition in " Coll. Top. et Gen." vol. V. p. 5 and vol. VII. p. 278. (<=) As to the writ of (1264) 49 Hen. III. " the first im-it extant," see vol. II., p. 333, note "d," sub. " Colvill."— Le Despencer is placed 3d of the 18 Barons, which (with 5 Earls) were thereby sum. being (tho' styled " Justic. Angl.") placed next below Camoys and St. John (neither of whom appear to have held official dignity) while de Roos (generally considered as the premier Barony by writ now existing) is placed aB the eleventh. Whether, however, this plating can be held to shew their relative rank is doubtful, and the House of Lords in 1878 (in the Mowbray case) held that no peerage dignity can be er. by a writ issued in rebellion as the writ of 1264 undoubtedly was. This holding, tho' a very reasonable one, is apparently in direct contradiction to what was held in 1601, and, again, in 1806, at which dates the Baronies of Le Despencer and De Roos (each claiming under this writ of 1264) were respectively allowed. In the writ of 21 June (1295) 23 Ed. I. (in which 11 Earls and 53 Barons were summoned) out of tho six Baronies (Abergavenny, de Roos, Le Despencer, Mowbray, Segrave and Hastings) now existing which purport to be of the date of 1295, or of an earlier date (1) any right to the anomalous Barouy of Abcryavcnnu was at that date vested in the holder of the Barony of Hastiugs, and was placed
