| Creation Date: | 1622 |
| Heir Apparent: | Peregrine Feilding, Viscount Feilding |
| Subsidiary Titles: | Viscount Feilding Viscount Callan Baron Fielding of Newnham Paddockes Baron St Liz Baron Fielding of Lecaghe |
| Family Seat: | Newnham Paddox |
| Motto: | Crescit sub pondere virtus (Virtue grows under oppression) |
Earl of Denbigh (pronounced 'Denby') is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1622 for William Feilding, Viscount Feilding, a courtier, admiral, and brother-in-law of the powerful Duke of Buckingham. The title is named after the town of Denbigh in the county of Denbighshire, Wales. Since the time of the third earl (1675), the Earl of Denbigh has also held the title of Earl of Desmond, in the Peerage of Ireland.
The family seat is Newnham Paddox, in the parish of Monks Kirby, Warwickshire. The eighth earl converted to Roman Catholicism during the 1850s, in which faith the family has remained. The earldom was one of the hereditary peerages whose entitlement to sit in the House of Lords was removed by the House of Lords Act 1999.[1]
The Feilding family have been Lords of Newnham Paddox in Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, since 1433. They are in part descended from the Newnham family (named from the estate) who held Newnham Paddox in the 1100s and 1200s (see history of Monks Kirby).
The nineteenth century historian, S.R. Gardiner described the first Earl of Denbigh, William Feilding, as "the plain country gentleman who had the good luck to marry Buckingham's sister in the days of her poverty."[2]
The family of William's wife, Susan Villiers, had also been minor midlands gentry until her brother, George Villiers, became the confidant and lover of King James I. Villiers was elevated by King James to the rank of Duke of Buckingham and continued as a royal favourite during the reign of King Charles I. Exceptionally powerful, Villiers showered preferment on his family. In 1622, not only was Feilding made Earl of Denbigh, but his second son, named George after his important uncle, was given the right to the earldom of Desmond at the point that title reverted to the Crown. In 1660, his daughter, Elizabeth, was created Countess of Guildford for life in her own right.[3]
From around 1656, a story began to be promulgated that the Feilding family were descended from the imperial Habsburg dynasty through the Counts of Laufenburg and Rheinfelden. The family incorporated the Habsburg double headed eagle in their coat of arms and took to naming their sons Rudolph. The claimed imperial ancestry was subject to ridicule, but was also widely accepted for centuries by historians including Edward Gibbon, William Dugdale, and Evelyn Shirley. The claim was, however, comprehensively debunked around the turn of the 20th century by J. Horace Round.[4] [5] [6]
See also: Earl of Desmond.
Sir William Feilding was Master of the Great Wardrobe under King James I and also took part in the Expedition to Cádiz of 1625. Feilding had already been created Baron Feilding, of Newnham Paddox in the County of Warwick, and Viscount Feilding in 1620 before being made Earl of Denbigh in 1622. All three titles are in the Peerage of England. In 1631, Lord Denbigh visited the Safavid court in Persia.[7]
Lord Denbigh was succeeded by his eldest son, Basil, the second Earl. Basil served as ambassador to Venice, and in military service to the Holy Roman Empire. He famously fought as a roundhead in the Civil War, unlike the rest of the family. In 1664, he was created Baron St Liz in the Peerage of England, with remainder to the heirs male of his father.[8]
William's second son was the Hon. George Feilding. In 1622, when George was around 8 years old, James I created him Baron Fielding, of Lecaghe in the County of Tipperary, and Viscount Callan, of Callan in the County of Kilkenny. At the same time, George was given the right to the title Earl of Desmond as and when the previous holder of that title died without an heir. That happened in 1628. All three titles were in the Peerage of Ireland. Earl of Desmond is an ancient Irish title, the 1628 award was its 4th, and current creation.
Basil, the second earl of Denbigh, died childless and was succeeded by his nephew, William Feilding, 2nd Earl of Desmond, who now also became the third Earl of Denbigh (he also succeeded in the barony of St Liz by special remainder).
Basil, the fourth Earl of Denbigh, served as both Lord-Lieutenant of Denbighshire and Warwickshire. Rudolph, the eighth earl, was a notable member of the Oxford Movement and converted to Roman Catholicism. The family have continued in the Catholic faith, becoming one of the most prominent aristocratic Catholic families. The ninth Earl served as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1897 to 1905 in the Conservative administrations of Lord Salisbury and Arthur Balfour.
The eleventh earl, under the name Rollo Feilding (the name Rollo, a diminutive of Rudolph, is traditional in the family), raced sports cars and was a notable socialite.[9]
Since the third earl, the titles have descended from father to son, with the exception of the seventh earl and tenth earl who inherited the title from their grandfathers.
The title is currently held by the twelfth earl, who succeeded his father in 1995., Lord Denbigh is Grand Carver of England.
The heir apparent is the present holder's son, Peregrine Rudolph Henry Feilding, Viscount Feilding (b. 2005).
Edmund Feilding was the third son of John Feilding, the youngest son of the 3rd earl. He had three notable children all of whom chose to spell their surname in the more conventional fashion as "Fielding":