ABERCORN. 5 Marquessate, it). Jambs (Hamilton ),(") Marquess of Abercorn and [j- Viscount Hamilton [O.B.] ; also Eabl of Abeucohn ( IGOG), Lord of Paisley {liiSi), Uaiionof Abeucokn (1G03). Lobd Paisley, Hamilton, E -ldom TS 1 ^ 1IU ' NTC ' AST1,:, ' , ■ im d Kilpatrick [S.], also Viscount Strabane, Loud iiai o 1' -J Hamilton, Baron of Strabane and Baron Mountcastle [I.], Barony [S.], grandson ami li., being s. ami !i. of James Hamilton, styled Viscount V iQiQ Hamilton ami Harriet his wife abovenametl. lie was b. 21 Jan. 1811 A. 1 ol t>. in s e y mour place, Midz. Ed. at Harrow and at Ch. Ch., Oxford. Lord Lieut, of co. Donegal, 1S44; K.G., 12 Bee. 1814 ; PC, 1846 ; Dukedom [I.J. (jroom of the Stole to the Prince Consort, 1846-59, LL.D. Cambridge, I 1868 5 J»ly 1847 ; D.C.L. Oxford, 4 June 1856; LL.D. Dublin, 186S; a Governor of Harrow School ; sometime Col. in the Donegal Militia (») Styled Duke ok Ciiatki.lkhaui.t in France, inasmuch as " he was served h. male of the body of the 1st Duke of Chatellerault by the Sheriff of Chancery in Scotland, 13 Jan. 1S62, and, as such h. male of the 1st Duke, asserts his hereditary right to the original title of Duke of Chatellerault of 1549. By the edict of Louis XIV, .May 1711, the descent of French Dukedoms was declared " to be to heirs descendus de mAles en nudes." See " Burke's Peerage," 186S-87. As to this " original title," how- ever, it appears never to have existed as a Peerage dignity, and it has been questioned if it ever was other than territorial. The grant (made 5 Feb. 1548/9 by Henry II of France to James (Hamilton) Earl of Arrau [S.] and his heirs) being totally dissimilar to that made three years later (1551), when Montmorency was er. " Due et Pair."t The tenure of the Duchy ceased, as far as the Hamilton family are concerned, eleven years after its creation, though the pension thereby secured of 12,000 livres was continued to the heir of the grantee (which h. was h. male as well as h. gen.) till the death of the 1st Duke of Hamilton [§.], s.p.m., in 1619, when (for two years) it was paid to his br., the 2nd Duke, who was h. male (but not h. gen.) of the grantee. Since his death in 1651 the French government appears to have recognised the claim of the h. of line (Anne, suo jure). Duchess of Hamilton [S.], by repeated grants (but apparently not by actual payment) of the said pension, and hi 1714 arrangements were made for pay- ment to the said Duchess Anne of 500,000 livres as an equivalent for her claims. The then Earl of Abercorn [SO, however, protested, as h. male, against such recognition, and it was agreed that one-fourth of the sum so recovered should be paid over to him. The money, however, appears never to have been actually received. Although there appears -o ne recognition of the title of Due de Chatellerault to the Hamilton family /ircvioiis to 1619 ; after that date, when the h. male ceased to be the h. gen., there is none whatever. The rights of the It. nude, however, were asserted by a protest of the then Karl of Abercori] [S.], 1-1 July 1652, against the rights of the Duchess Anne, ;is h. of line to her father, which general protest hardly seems to apply to this tptcial point. There is also a protest of the 6th Earl, 9 Sep. 1712, stating that, as the ambassadors at Utrecht are to obtain from the French King justice as the restitution of the Duchy of Chatellerault, he himself reclaimed the said Dnchy with all its privileges ; and there is the fact that on the coftiu plate of the Sth Earl, who d. 1789, he is styled " Due de Chatellerault." On the other hand, the Dukes of Hamilton [SO, from 1651 to 1799, during which time they were the heirs of line to the grantee, never assumed or claimed such title. Since 1799 the family of Stanley, Earls of Derby (as descendants and representatives of the 6th Duke), have been such heirs ; but they also, never assumed or claimed such title. The family of La Tremoille, the possessors of the Duchy, however, long since adopted it, ami made use of it in 1748, when the then Bus de la Trcmoula styled himself Jhic de Ch&teUerault in his protestation as to his right to the Kingdom of Naples. After the restoration of the French monarchy the 10th Duke of Hamilton [§.] advanced his claim to the Dukedom of Chatellerault, which was, however, opposed by the Abercorn line, the heirs male. In 1819, however, he assumed the title and his wife was received at the French Court as a Duchess (which indeed she was), but probably only as a foreign lady of that rank. Charles X of France took advantage of the dispute 1 succession to drop till recognition of the title. The lltliDnkeof t See " Corrigenda, &c," page 407 for a most clear and comprehensive account of these French creations by the Rev. J. Woodward, F.S.A.
