Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/181

 ANCRAM COMPLETE PEERAGE 131 The Earl of Ancaster is one of the few noblemen who possess above 100,000 acres in the United Kingdom. See note sub Buccleuch for a list of those who existed in 1883, at which date the lands then belonging to his mother, Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, but inherited by him in 1888, were considerably over that amount, viz., above 132,000, to which should be added above 31,000 inherited by him in 1867, from his father. ANCRAM or ANCRUM EARLDOM [S.] i. Sir Robert Kerr (or Carr) of Ancrum, co. J, Roxburgh, s. and h. of William K., of the same, by Mar- ^■^' garet, widow of Sir David Home, of Fishwick, da. of Archibald Dundas, of Fingask. He was b. 1578, sue. his father 20 Dec. il;90 ; was served h. of his grandfather Robert Kerr (who had d. in 1588) in 1 607 ; had charters of lands at Whitchester, 1 6 1 1 ; of the Lordship of Newbottle, 1631 ; of the Barony of Langnewton, 1632, tfc. HewasaCapt. of the King's Body Guard to James VI [S.], which office he resigned in 1 6 1 3. He was possibly K.B. at the Coronation, 25 July i6o3,(*) and was certainly, as a knight, M.P. for Aylesbury Jan. to Aug. 1625, and for Preston 1 628-29. C) Being much esteemed by Charles, Prince of Wales, he was made by him, when he became King (in 1625), a Gent, of the Bedchamber, and by patent (^ dat. 24 June 1 633, was cr. EARL OF ANCRAiVIE, LORD KERR OF NISBET, LANGNEWTOUN, AND DOLPHINSTOUN [S.], with a spec. rem. to his heirs male by his 2nd wife, Anne, which failing to his heirs male general. After the murder of the King he retired to Holland. He was a fervent loyalist, of high education, and an author of some note. He m., istly, in 1605, Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Murray, of Blackbarony. She d. before 1620. He m., 2ndly, in 1621 (after 6 Nov.), C') Anne, widow of Sir Henry Portman, 2nd Bart, (who ^. s.p., 12 Feb. 1621), da. of William (Stanley), 6th Earl of Derby, by Elizabeth, da. of Edward (Vere), i 7th Wynn, of Gwydyr, co. Carnarvon, he acquired that considerable estate, which afterwards gave its name to the Barony of Gwydyr, conferred in 1796 on the husband of his great- grand-daughter Priscilla, mo jure Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. These Wynn estates, however, were sold, in or about 1895, to Earl Carrington, whose mother was sister and, in 1870, coh. to Alberic, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, after which acquisition he, by Royal lie, 24 Apr. 1896, took the name of Wynn before that of Carrington. (") It is more probable that this K.B. was Robert Carr, then s. and h. ap. of (and in 1609 himself) the Earl of Lothian [S.]. See Howe's continuation of Stow's Chronicle, p. 827, in which ' Newboth ' is an obvious misprint for ' Newbottle, ' and Nichols' Progresses ofjames /, vol. i, p. 222, note 5. It is certain that the identifica- tion, Douglas' Peerage, vol. ii, p. 134 (in Shaw's Knights of England, and Metcalfe's Book of Knights) of the K.B. with the future Earl of Somerset, is erroneous. V.G. C") About I Feb. 1620, he killed Charles Maxwell of Terregles, in a duel, which the latter had forced on him. For this he was tried at the Cambridge Assizes, found guilty of manslaughter, and banished for six months. C") Patent given in Robertson, p. 224. See also p. 206 of that work. C) At this date Charles, Prince of Wales, wrote recommending him to the lady's mother as a suitor.