Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 3.djvu/113

 DEVON. Ill XXVIII. 1762. <<?. "William (Courtenay), Viscount Courtenay of Powderiiam and dc jure Earl of Devon(-i), ouly s. and h., b. 30 and Sap. 31 Oct. 1712 at St. James', Westm. j matric. at Oxford (Mag. Coll.) 21 March 1761. He m. at Edinbugh, 7 Slay 17(52, and subsequently at Powderhani, 19 Dec. 1763, Frances, da. of Thomas Clack, of Wallingford, Berks. She d. in Grosvenor Sq., Midx., 25 March and was bur. 5 April 1782 at Powderham- He d. 14 Oct, 17S8. Will pr. Dec. 1788. XXIX. 1788, 9. "William (Courten-ay), Viscount Courtenay op confirmed Powderuam, and (on his father's death in 1788) de jure Earl of 1831. Deyon("), ouly s. and h., b. 30 July and bap. 30 Aug. 1768 at Powderham. On 14 May 1831 he was declared EARL OF DEVON('') by the House of Lords, under the rem. in the creation of that Earldom, 3 Sep 1553, to the grantee "and /lis heirs male; " be being indeed collaterally heir male to the grantee, inasmuch as bis grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grand- father (tho' all of them unconscious of their right to such dignity), Sir William Courtenay (who d. 1557) was cousin and heir male of the grantee of 1553, whose ancestor in the seventh degree was this Sir William's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather. The Earl d. unm. at Paris 26 May 1S35, when the Viscountcy of Courtenay of Foioicrham became extinct. Will proved June 1835( c ). XXX. 1835. 10. "William (Courtesay), Earl op Devon, cousin and h. male, being s. aud fa, of Henry-Reginald Courtenay, Bishop of Exek>r (1797-1803) by Elizabeth, da. of Thomas (Howard) 2d. Earl of Effingham, which Henry- Reginald, was 2d but 1st surv. s. of another Henry-Reginald C, who wa i next br. to William, 1st Viscount Courtenay, dc jurc'f) 7th Earl of Devon. He was b. 19 June 1777, in Lower Grosvenor street, Midx. ; ed. at Westm. School, and at Ch. Ch., Oxford; B.A.; 179S; M.A., 1S01 ; Barrister (Line.-Iun), 1799 ; Patentee of the Subpcena office, Court of CbanceTy ; Commissioner of Bankrupts, 1809-17 ; Master in Chancery, 1817. ; M.P. for Exeter, 1812-26 ; Clerk Assistantof the Pail., 1S26 to 1835, when he sue. to the Peerage. He was cr. D.C.L., Oxford, 7 June 1837 ; High Steward of the Univ. of Oxford, 1838 ; Eccles. Commissioner, 1842-40 ; Chairman of the "occupation of land [I.] commission," 1S43. He m. firstly, 29 Nov. 1804, at St. Geo. Han. Sq„ " Lady Harriet Leslie," da. of Jane-Elizabeth, suo jure Countess ok Rothes [S.], by her 2d. husband, Sir Lucas Pepys, Bart. She, who was b. 1 June 1777, d. 16 Dec. 1839. He vi. secondly, 30 Jany. 1849, at St. Stephens, Dublin, Elizabeth-Ruth, da. of the Rev. John-Middleton Scott, of Ballygannon, co, Wicklow, by Arabella-Barbara, da. of Anthony (Brarazon), 8th Earl of Meath [I.] He d. 19 March 1859 aged 81, at Shrivenbam, Berks( c ). His widow living 1889. XXXL 1859. 11. Willi am-Reoinald (Courtexay), Earl of Devon, 1st s. and h. by first wife, b. in Charlotto street, Bedford square, 14 April, and bap. 3 July 1S07, at St. Geo. Bloomsbury ; matric. at Oxford (Ch.-Ch.), 30 (") See p. 109, note " b." ( b ) The person in whose favour this astonishing decision was made was, according to the well-known T. C. Banks (in his letter on the Devon case to Lord Chancellor Brougham), one "who ought to think himself happy that his titles and estates have not been forfeited, or himself paid the debt to the law like the Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury " [beheaded 1541], one against whom a bill being found, "never ventured to put the question of guilt to a trial," but remained skulking abroad, afraid to venture on taking his seat in Pari. ; his motto, " Vbi lapsus t quid feci .' " putting " a question which its owner avoids to leave to a tribunal of his country to answer." The person who in reality was tho moving power was William Courtenay, then Clerk Assistant of the Parliament, who, after the claimant's death in 1835, sue. him as Earl of Devon. Lord Brougham appears to have taken an active part in obtaining the decision. Lord Campbell (in his Life of Brougham) says." I have often rallied Brougham upon his creating Williarn Courtenay, Earl of Devon. He says [sic] he consulted Lord Ch. Justice Tenterden. But Tentcrden knew nothing of Peerage Law, and must have come to a contrary conclusion if he had heard the question properly argued." ( c ) See tabular pedigree, p. 112, note "ft."