| Earldom of Lucan | |
| Creation Date: | 1 October 1795 |
| Heir Apparent: | Charles Lars John Bingham, Lord Bingham |
| Remainder To: | The 1st Earl's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
| Subsidiary Titles: | Baron Lucan Baron Bingham Baronet 'of Castlebar' |
| Status: | Extant |
| Former Seat: | The Lawn, Castlebar Laleham House |
| Motto: | SPES MEA CHRISTUS (Christ is my hope) |
| Earldom of Lucan (Jacobite Creation) | |
| Creation Date: | c. 1691 |
| Remainder To: | The 1st Earl's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
| Subsidiary Titles: | Viscount of Tully Baron Rosberry |
| Status: | Extinct |
| Extinction Date: | 12 May 1719 |
| Motto: | VIRTUS NON VERTITUR (Virtue does not turn) |
| Footnotes: | Being a Jacobite creation, this peerage has never been legally recognised in Britain |
Earl of Lucan is a title which has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland for related families.
Patrick Sarsfield was one of the senior commanders of James II (deposed in 1688) in battles in Ireland with William III, which determined the latter's takeover with his co-wife, Mary II, of the English, Scottish and Irish thrones (the Glorious Revolution and First Jacobite Wars). In 1691, the deposed King James purportedly created him Earl of Lucan, Viscount of Tully and Baron Rosberry. Like all post deposition titles they have no recognition in UK law.
In 1795, the first legal creation of title was for Sarsfield's similarly landowning great-nephew, Charles Bingham, 1st Baron Lucan.[1] [2]
The subsidiary titles associated with the Earldom of Lucan are: Baron Lucan, of Castlebar in the County of Mayo (created 1776), and Baron Bingham, of Melcombe Bingham in the County of Dorset (created 1934). The first is in the Peerage of Ireland, whereas the second is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which allowed Earls of Lucan to sit in the House of Lords after the practice of electing Irish representative peer ceased. The Earl of Lucan also has a Baronetcy (of Castlebar, Co Mayo), created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia (7 June 1634).
The title became notorious when the 3rd Earl, as cavalry commander in the Crimean War, was involved in the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade.
Its notoriety was renewed after the disappearance in 1974 of the profligate 7th Earl. In June 1975, in his absence, a coroner's jury found that he had murdered his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett. There have been no confirmed sightings of the 7th Earl since his disappearance, and he was declared legally dead for purposes of probate (debts and assets) in October 1999. This was, alone, insufficient to enable his son George, Lord Bingham to succeed to the titles – a death certificate for the 7th Earl was issued in February 2016 under the Presumption of Death Act 2013, and Lord Bingham's claim to the Earldom was formally accepted by the House of Lords on 7 June 2016.[3]
The family seats were Castlebar House, near Gorteendrunagh, County Mayo, and from 1803 to 1922 Laleham House in Laleham, Surrey (until 1965 in the former county of Middlesex).[4] [5]
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Charles Lars John Bingham, Lord Bingham (born 2020).