Earls of G E Sussex

SUSSEX, EARLS OF. G. E. Cokayne (Complete Peerage, i. 138, 139) holds that Roger de Montgomery, who received grants from William the Conqueror of a large part of the county of Sussex, including the city of Chichester and the castle and hon our of Arundel, besides lands in Shropshire with the castles of Shrewsbury and Montgomery, may be regarded as the first earl of Sussex. Whatever Roger's titles may have been, they were forfeited to the Crown when his son Robert was attainted in 1102, and the forfeited estates were conferred by Henry I. on his second wife Adelicia, who after Henry's death married William de Albini, or d'Aubigny. The latter was created earl of Sussex by King Stephen, and "the third penny" of that county was confirmed to him by an instrument of the reign of Henry II., in which, however, he is styled earl of Arundel, a designation by which he was more generally known. His grandson William, 3rd earl of Sussex, was one of King John's sureties for the observance of Magna Carta; and in 1243, the earldom reverted to the Crown on the death of Hugh de Albini, 5th earl of the line. (See ARUNDEL, EARLS OF.) Ratclyffe Earls.—For nearly two hundred years, from 1347 to 1529, the title of earl of Sussex did not exist in the English peerage. In 1529, however, it was conferred on Robert Rad cliffe, Radclyffe or Ratclyffe (c. who had been made Viscount Fitzwalter in 1525. In 1540 Ratclyffe was appointed great chamberlain of England. With Edward, the 6th earl (c.

the title became extinct.

Savile Earls.

In 1644 Thomas Savile (c. 159o–c. 1659), son of John Savile, 1st Baron Savile of Pontefract (1566-163o), was created earl of Sussex. Savile opposed Wentworth, afterwards earl of Strafford, the rivalry between the Saviles and the Went worths being of long standing in the history of Yorkshire. During the Great Rebellion he played a double game, and was imprisoned at different times by both parties. His later years were spent in retirement at Howley Hall, where he died about 1659. He was succeeded in the earldom of Sussex by his son James, on whose death without issue in 1671 the title became extinct.

It was revived in 1684 in favour of Thomas Lennard, 15th Baron Dacre, whose wife Ann (d. 1722) was a daughter of the

famous duchess of Cleveland by King Charles II., and again be came extinct at this nobleman's death in 1715. The title was next conferred in 1717 on Talbot Yelverton, 2nd Viscount de Longue ville and 16th Baron Grey de Ruthyn (c. 1692-1731), from whom it descended to his two sons successively, becoming once more extinct on the death of the younger of these, Henry, 3rd earl of Sussex of this creation, in 1799.

Royal Earls.

In 18oi Prince Augustus Frederick (1773-1843), the sixth son of George III., was created duke of Sussex. Spending his early years abroad, the prince was married in Rome in 1793 to Lady Augusta (d. 1830) daughter of John Murray, 4th earl of Dunmore. The ceremony was repeated in London and two children were born, but under the Royal Marriage Act of 1772 the Court of Arches declared the union illegal. The children took the name of d'Este. Sussex was a man of liberal ideas; he favoured the aboli tion of the slave trade, the repeal of the corn laws and the removal of the civil disabilities of Roman Catholics, Dissenters and Jews. His second wife, Cecilia, widow of Sir George Buggin, was created duchess of Inverness in 1840. He died at Kensington Palace on April 21, 1843. The older title of earl of Sussex was conferred in 1874 upon Prince Arthur, the third son of Queen Victoria, who at the same time was created duke of Connaught and Strathearn.

See G. E. C., Complete Peerage, s.v. "Sussex," "Surrey," "Arundel," vols. i. and vii. (London, 1887-96) ; Sir William Dugdale, The Baron age of England (1675). For the earls of the Radcliffe family see also John Strype, Memorials of Thomas Cranmer (1694), Annals of the Reformations (1725) and Ecclesiastical Memorials (3 vols., 1721) ; P.F. Tytler, England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary (2 vols., 1839) ; Calendars of State Papers: Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. For the ist earl of the Savile line see S. R. Gardiner, Hist. of England, 1603-1642 (BD vols., 1883-84) and Hist. of the Great Civil War (3 vols., 1886-91) ; and John Rushworth, Historical Collections (8 vols., 1659-1701).