DEVONSHIRE 339 DEVONSHIRE or DEVONC) (County of) EARLDOM. « Charles [Blount], Baron Mountjov, K.G.. Lieutenant of the King in Ireland," was, 2i July L(") 1603 i6o3,() a: EARL OF DEVONSHIRE or DEVON.(') to He J. s.p. legit., 3 Apr. 1606, when all his honours became 1606. extinct. See fuller particulars under " Mountjoy," Barony [Blount), cr. 1465, extinct 1606; sub the 8th and last Baron. II. 161 8. I. William Cavendish, 2nd surv. s. of Sir William Cavendish, of Hardwicke, co. Derby, by his 3rd wife, Elizabeth (the celebrated " Building Bess of Hardwicke," afterwards Countess of Shrewsbury), da. and eventually coh. of John Hardwick.e, of Hardwicke afsd., was b. 27 Dec. 1552 (the 12th child of his father "and the 4th by the said woman "), his sponsors being the Marchioness of Northampton, the Marquess of Winchester, and the Earl of Pembroke. C') Ed. at Eton from 21 Nov. 1560; admitted Gray's Inn 1572; knighted 1580. M.P. for Liverpool 1586-87, for Newport, Cornwall, 1587-88; Sheriff of CO. Derby, 1595-96; sue. his mother, who d. 13 Feb. 1607/8, aged 87, in a very considerable estate. He was, 4 May i6o5,() cr. BARON CAVENDISH OF HARDWICK, co. Derby.(0 He was one of the first adventurers to Virginia, and a co-grantee of the Bermudas Island, of which one-eighth part was called after him. Bailiff of Tutbury Castle, 16 1 5. On 12 Oct. 1616, he sue. his elder br., Henry Cavendish, (*) The Earldom of this County as enjoyed since 1603 (at which period, and for more than two centuries afterwards, the Earldom thereof enjoyed by the Courtenay family was considered extinct) is treated of as "Devonj/i;;v" (to distinguish it from the Courtenay Earldom) and is numbered (for the sake of clearness) as if the title were distinct. Two Earldoms of the same county (Devon) having (according to the decision in 1831) existed since the 17th century concurrently, this appears to be the best, though perhaps not the most logical, way of treating the junior one. C*) Three Earldoms were cr. this day, vit.., Southampton [JFi-iothesley), Suffolk {Howard, Lord Howard de JFalden), and Devon [Blount, Lord Mountjo), as also eight Baronies, vix. Harington {Harington), Ellesmere [Egerton], Petre (Petre), Danvers (Danvers), Gerard of Bromley {Gerard), Russell of Thornhaugh {Russe/I), Grey of Groby {Grey), and Spencer of Wormleighton {Spencer). {'^) The creation both in 1603 and 1618 was ^^ Comes Devon," which, of course, can be rendered either as Devonshire or Devon; that of the Dukedom in 1694 was similarly '■'■Dux Devon." C^) Collins' Noble families, sub Cavendish. (') He appears to have obtained his Barony through his niece. Lady Arabella Stuart, whose mother Elizabeth was his father's sister. "Count Arundel! and Mr. William Cavendish (if my lady Arabella have no more uncles) shall be Barons" writes Rowland White to Lord Shrewsbury. See Lodge's lllustr., vol. iii, pp. 286 and 290. See list of seven Peers cr. that day, sub Exeter, Earldom, cr. 1605. See Creations, 1483-1646, in App., 47th Rep. of D.K. Pub. Records.
