GRAFTON, DUKES OF. The English dukes of Graf ton are descended from HENRY FITZROY (1663-169o), the natural son of Charles II. by Barbara Villiers (countess of Castlemaine and duchess of Cleveland) . In 1672 Henry was married to the daugh ter and heiress of the earl of Arlington and created earl of Euston; in 1675 he was created duke of Grafton. At James II.'s coro nation he was lord high constable. In the Monmouth rebellion he commanded the royal troops in Somersetshire; but in 1688, with Churchill (duke of Marlborough), he seceded to William of Orange. He died of a wound received at the storming of Cork. AUGUSTUS HENRY FITZROY, 3rd duke of Grafton (1735-1811), grandson of the preceding, was educated at Westminster and Cam bridge. In 1765 he was secretary of State under the marquis of Rockingham; but he retired next year, and Pitt (becoming earl of Chatham) formed a ministry in which Grafton was first lord of the treasury (1766) but only nominally prime minister, until Chatham's illness at the end of 1767. Political differences and the attacks of "Junius" led to his resignation in Jan. 177o. He was lord privy seal in Lord North's ministry (1771), but resigned in being in favour of conciliatory action towards the American colonists. In the Rockingham ministry of 1782 he was again lord privy seal. In later years he was a prominent Unitarian.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The 3rd duke left in manuscript a Memoir of his Bibliography.-The 3rd duke left in manuscript a Memoir of his public career, of which extracts have been printed in P. H. Stanhope, 5th Earl, History of England (1836-54) ; H. Walpole, Memoirs of George III. (Appendix, vol. iv., 1845) ; J. Campbell, Lives of the Chancellors (1845-69).