The earliest patents bear date on May 22, 1611, on which day Sir Nicholas Bacon, of Redgrave, in Suffolk, knight, was admitted the first of the new order ; and with him seventeen other knights and gentlemen of the first quality beneath the peerage. On the 29th of June following, fifty-four other patents were tested, and four more in September. The doubt respecting the precedence, and certain scruples which arose respecting this exer cise of the royal prerogative, seemed to have occasioned a relaxation in the issue of patents, for no more were issued till the 25th of November, 1612, when fifteen other gentlemen were introduced into the order, making in the ninety-one. At this number they remained for some years ; and it was not till 1622, a little before the death of King James, that the number of two hundred was completed.
In its more essential points, this order has undergone no modifications since its establishment. But the following altera tions have taken place •-1. There has been no adherence to the number two hundred. which by the original compact was to be the limit of the number of patents issued. Even the founder him self did not adhere to this part of the contract, for at his death two hundred and five patents had been issued. The excuse was that several of the baronets had been advanced to higher dignities, and that thus vacancies were created, which the king was at liberty to fill. But his successor, King Charles I., issued patents at his pleasure ; and the number issued before his death amounted to four hundred and fifty-eight. Later kings have not thought themselves bound by this cladse of the original compact; and the number of members of this order is now understood to have no other limit than the will of the king. 2. In the time of King Charles II. the custom was to remit the payment of the money for the support of the soldiers; and a warrant for this remission is now always under stood to accompany the grant of a patent of baronetcy. 3. The rule of requiring proof of coat-armour for three descents has in numerous instances not been in sisted on. But with these variations the order has remained unchanged.
Various works have been published containing accounts of the families of England who belong to this order. The first of these was published in 1720, en titled The Baronetage of England,' the author of which was Arthur Collins, whose similar work on the Peerage of England' is held in high estimation. It
was his intention to give an account o all the families who had ever possessed this distinction, whether then existing ur extinct. Two volumes were published, containing the first 152 families ; but the work was not continued. In 1727 ap peared another Baronetage,' in three volumes, containing valuable accounts of the families of all baronets then existing. A third Baronetage,' usually called Wotton's, appeared in 1741, in five large volumes, 8vo. This is indisputably the most carefully compiled, the fullest, and the best work of the kind. Another ap peared in 1775, in three volumes, 8vo.; and about the beginning of the present century appeared Mr. Bedlam's account of the families of the then existing baro nets, in five volumes, 4to.
As King James L established the order of English baronets for the encourage ment of the planting and settling the pro vince of Ulster, so he designed to esta blish an order of baronets in Scotland for the encouragement of the planting and settling of Nova Scotia. He died how ever before any proceedings had been taken. His successor adopted the scheme, and in 1625 granted certain tracts of land in Nova Scotia to various persons, and with them the rank, style, and title of baronets of that province, with prece dency analogous to the precedency given to the baronets of England. Some addi tional privileges were given them ; as that the eldest son of a baronet of Nova Scotia, during the lifetime of his father, might claim the honour of knighthood; and that the baronet might wear a ribbon and medal, with badge and insignia of the order. The addition to the coat armour of the baronet was the arms of the province of Nova Scotia.
It was proposed that the number should be limited to 150. The first was Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown. There were frequent creations of this dignity till the union with Scotland in 1707, when the creations ceased.
Baronets of Ireland were instituted by King James I. in 1620, for the same pur pose with the baronets of England. The money was paid into the Irish Exchequer. The first person who received the dignity was either Sir Dominick Sarsfield, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, or Sir Francis Blundell, the Se cretary of State.