CARLISLE, EARLS OF. This English title has been held by two families, being created for James Hay in 1622, and being extinct in that line on the death of his son in 166o, and then be ing given in 166r to Charles Howard, and descending to the present day in the Howard family.
James Hay, 1st earl of Carlisle (d. 1636), the son of Sir James Hay of Kingask (a member of a younger branch of the Erroll family), was knighted and taken into favour by James VI. of Scotland, brought into England in 1603, treated as a "prime favourite" and made a gentleman of the bedchamber. He received many titles and honours, was created Lord Hay of Sawley (1615), Viscount Doncaster (1618), and earl of Carlisle (1622). James employed him on many important diplomatic missions to France, Germany and Spain. On July 2, 1627, Lord Carlisle obtained from the king a grant of all the Caribbean Islands, including Bar bados, this being a confirmation of a former concession given by James I. He was also a patentee and councillor of the plantation of New England, and showed great zeal and interest in the colo nies. He became gentleman of the bedchamber to King Charles I. after his accession. In 1628, after the failure of the expedition to Rhe, he was sent to make a diversion against Richelieu in Lorraine and Piedmont ; he counselled peace with Spain and the vigorous prosecution of the war with France, but on his return home foupd his advice neglected. He took no further part in public life, and died in March 1636. "He left behind him," says Clarendon, "a reputation of a very fine gentleman and a most ac complished courtier, and after having spent, in a very jovial life, above £400,000, which upon a strict computation he received from the crown, he left not a house or acre of land to be re membered by." The charms and wiL of his second wife, Lucy, countess of Carlisle née Percy
which were celebrated in verse by all the poets of the day, including Carew, Cartwright, Her rick and Suckling, and by Sir Toby Matthew in prose, made her a conspicuous figure at the court of Charles I. There appears no foundation for the scandal which made her the mistress suc cessively of Strafford and of Pym. Strafford valued highly her sincerity and services, but after his death, possibly in consequence of a revulsion of feeling at his abandonment by the court, she devoted herself to Pym and to the interests of the parliamentary leaders, to whom she communicated the king's most secret plans and counsels. Her greatest achievement was the timely disclosure to Lord Essex of the king's intended arrest of the five members, which enabled them to escape. But she appears to have served both parties simultaneously, betraying communications on both sides, and doing considerable mischief in inflaming political ani mosities. In 1647 she attached herself to the interests of the moderate Presbyterian party, which assembled at her house, and in the second Civil War showed great zeal and activity in the royal cause, pawned her pearl necklace for f 1,50o to raise money for Lord Holland's troops, established communications with Prince Charles during his blockade of the Thames, and made herself the intermediary between the scattered bands of royalists and the queen. In consequence her arrest was ordered on March 21, 1649, and she was imprisoned in the Tower, whence she main tained a correspondence in cipher with the king through her brother, Lord Percy, till Charles went to Scotland. According to a royalist newsletter, while in the Tower she was threatened with the rack to extort information. She was released on bail on Sept. 25, 165o, but appears never to have regained her former influence in the royalist counsels, and died soon after the Restoration, on Nov. 5, 166o.
The first earl was succeeded by JAMES, his only surviving son by his first wife, at whose death in 166o without issue, the peer age became extinct in the Hay family.
earl of Carlisle in the Howard line (1629-85), was the son and heir of Sir William Howard, of Na worth in Cumberland. In 1645 he became a Protestant and sup ported the government of the commonwealth, being appointed high sheriff of Cumberland in 165o. He bought Carlisle Castle and became governor of the town. He distinguished himself at the battle of Worcester on Cromwell's side, was made a member of the council of state in 1653, chosen captain of the protector's body-guard and selected to carry out various public duties. In 1655 he was given a regiment, was appointed a commissioner to try the northern rebels, and a deputy major-general of Cumber land, Westmorland and Northumberland. In the parliament of 1653 he sat for Westmorland, in those of 1654 and 1656 for Cumberland. In 1657 he was included in Cromwell's House of Lords and voted for the protector's assumption of the royal title the same year. In 1659 he urged Richard Cromwell to defend his government by force against the army leaders, but his advice be ing refused he used his influence in favour of a restoration of the monarchy, and after Richard's fall he was imprisoned. In April 166o he sat again in parliament for Cumberland, and at the Restoration was made custos rotulorum of Essex and lord lieutenant of Cumberland and Westmorland. On April 20, 1661, he was created Baron Dacre of Gillesland, Viscount Howard of Morpeth, and earl of Carlisle ; the same year he was made vice admiral of Northumberland, Cumberland and Durham, and in 1662 joint commissioner for the office of earl marshal. In 1663 he was appointed ambassador to Russia, Sweden and Denmark, and in 1668 he carried the Garter to Charles XI. of Sweden. In 1667 he was made lieutenant-general of the forces and joint com mander-in-chief of the four northernmost counties. In 1672 he became lord-lieutenant of Durham, and in 1673 deputy earl mar shal. In 1678 he was appointed governor of Jamaica and reap pointed governor of Carlisle. He died on Feb. 24, 168S, and was buried in York Minster.
earl (1748-1825), was a member of a commission sent out by Lord North to attempt a reconciliation with the American colonies. In 178o he became viceroy of Ire land. The two years of Carlisle's rule passed in quietness and prosperity, and the institution of a national bank and other measures which he effected left permanently beneficial results upon the commerce of the island. In 1789, in the discussions as to the regency, Carlisle took a prominent part on the side of the prince of Wales. In 1791 he opposed Pitt's policy of resistance to the dismemberment of Turkey by Russia; but on the outbreak of the French Revolution he left the opposition and vigorously maintained the cause of war. In 1815 he opposed the enactment of the Corn Laws; but from this time till his death, in 1825, he took no important part in public life. Carlisle was the author of some political tracts, a number of poems, and two tragedies, The Father's Revenge and The Stepmother, which received high praise from his contemporaries. His mother was a daughter of the 4th Lord Byron, and in 1798 he was appointed guardian to Lord Byron, the poet, who lampooned him in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.
6th earl (1773-1848), eldest son of the 5th earl, entered parliament as Lord Morpeth in 1795 as a Whig. He was appointed to the Indian board in 18o6, when the "Min istry of all the Talents" took office, but resigned in 1807, though he remained prominent in the House of Commons. After his ele vation to the House of Lords (1825), he held various cabinet offices under Canning and Grey. He made some minor contribu tions to literature and left the reputation of an amiable scholar.
7th earl (1802-64), was born in London on April 18, 1802, eldest son of the 6th earl by his wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where (as Lord Morpeth) he earned a reputation as a scholar and writer of graceful verse. He sat in parliament for Morpeth (1826-32), and subsequently for the West Riding. In the agitation for parliamentary reform he took the side of Earl Grey. In 1835 he was appointed by Lord Melbourne chief secretary for Ireland. This post he held for about six years (being included in the cabinet in 1839), winning great popularity by his amiable manners and kindly disposition. Losing his seat at the election of 1841, he visited the United States, but in 1846 he was again returned for the West Riding, and was made chief commissioner of woods and forests in Lord John Russell's cabinet. Succeeding to the peerage in 1848, he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in 185o. The great event of his life, however, was his appointment by Lord Palmerston to the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland in 1855. This office he continued to hold till Feb. 1858, and again from June 1859 till within a few months of his death. Among his writings may be mentioned a lec ture on The Life and Writings of Pope (1851); The Last of the Greeks, a tragedy (1828) ; a Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters (1854), the fruit of travels in the East in 1853 and 1854; and a volume of Poems, published after his death. In 1866 appeared his Viceregal Speeches, collected and edited by J. Gaskin. He took warm interest in the reformation of juvenile criminals, and estab lished on his own estate one of the best conducted reformatories in the country. Lord Carlisle died at Castle Howard on Dec. 5, 1864. He never married, and was succeeded in the peerage by his brother, the REV. WILLIAM GEORGE HOWARD (d. 1889), as 8th earl.
George James Howard, 9th earl (1843-1911), was the son of Charles, 4th son of the 6th earl. He was educated at Eton and Trinity and Cambridge and married in 1864 Rosalind, daughter of the 2nd Lord Stanley of Alderley. Howard sat in parliament as a Liberal in 1879-80, and again from 1881 to 1885; and succeeded his uncle in the peerage in 1889. In the split in the Liberal party over Home Rule Carlisle joined the Liberal Unionists, but did not again sit in the Commons. In the House of Lords he rarely spoke, except on licensing questions, in which, as a lifelong temperance advocate, he took a keen interest. His real distinction lay in his knowledge and practice of art. He was a pupil of Legros and Giovanni Costa, and was an excellent landscape painter. For 3o years he was a trustee of the National Gallery, London, and a great connoisseur. The Mabuse "Adoration of the Magi" in the National Gallery was sold from the Carlisle Collection to the National Gallery at a figure far below its market price. He died at Hindhead, Surrey, on April 16, 1911.
Rosalind Frances (1845-1921), youngest daughter of the 2nd Lord Stanley of Alderley, was married in 1864. Her mother was one of the founders of Girton college, Cambridge, and Lady Carlisle took a keen interest in the advancement of women's education. Up to 1885 the Howards' house in Kensing ton was a centre for Liberal politicians, as well as for the artists who gathered round George Howard. When the Home Rule split came Lady Carlisle remained a staunch friend of Gladstone, and she moved gradually further and further to the Left. Most of her life was spent in the North on her husband's estates, the management of which was left to her. She was an even more enthusiastic temperance advocate than her husband, and was president from 1903 onwards of the National British Women's Temperance movement. She was president also of the Women's Liberal Federation from 1896 to 1901, then from 1906 to 1914, and worked with her group for a democratic franchise for women, when many Liberal women were prepared to accept a narrower measure. She died in London on Aug. 12, 1921.
Charles James Stanley Howard, loth earl (1867-1912), son of the 9th earl and his wife Rosalind noticed above, was an active member of the London School Board (1894-1902) and Unionist M.P. for Birmingham (1904-11). Viscount Morpeth succeeded his father in 1911, and died the January following. He was suc ceeded by his son GEORGE JOSELYN,
earl (b. 1898), who was educated at Osborne and Dartmouth, and served in the navy until 1920.
