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conferred the Dignity :-" Moreover, We, with the advice and consent "aforesaid, have given and granted, and by the tenor of this our present "Charter do give and grant to the said Sir Richard and his aforesaids (heirs " and assignees) the Title, Honour, Degree, and Dignity of a Lord of our "Parliament, free vote and suffrage in all our Parliaments, General Councils, and Conventions, in like manner and as freely as any other "Lord of our Parliament at any time heretofore has had or in future shall have, and that the said Sir Richard and his heirs aforesaid shall in all "time to come be called Lords of Dingwall."

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This charter was confirmed by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1609, and the Act in express words provided that Sir Richard Preston and his heirs should at all time to come be Lords of Parliament by the title of Lord Dingwall.

Lord Dingwall was a member of the King's Household in England, and appears to have been rarely, if ever, in Scotland after the Charter of 1609 was granted to him, but Lord Scone, as his procurator or proxy, sat and voted for Lord Dingwall in the Parliament held in Scotland in 1621.

Through the influence of King James Lord Dingwall was married to the Lady Elizabeth Butler, the daughter and heir of Thomas the Tenth Earl of Ormond in Ireland, K.G. Lady Elizabeth was the widow of her cousin Theobald Butler Viscount Tullyophelim, who died without issue in 1613, and she claimed the greater part of the Ormond estates, and the King put Lord Dingwall in possession of them in her right, which led to great contention and long litigation between him and Walter Earl of Ormond, the heir male of the Ormond family. The king also created Lord Dingwall a Peer of Ireland by the title of Lord Preston of Donmore, and as Lady Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Lady Joan Fitzgerald the sole heir of James the Eleventh Earl of Desmond, the King, in 1619, created Lord Dingwall, Earl of Desmond in Ireland.

Lord Dingwall Earl of Desmond had issue by Lady Elizabeth an only daughter-the Lady Elizabeth Preston, and he and his Countess died. in the year 1628 leaving their daughter a minor, and the sole heir to their great inheritance.

King Charles the First granted her wardship and marriage to Walter Earl of Ormond, and directed that she should be married to his grandson and heir-apparent James Lord Thurles, and in that manner the King restored the estates to which Lady Elizabeth Butler had succeeded to the heir male of the house of Ormond.

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Lady Elizabeth Preston was married about the year 1631 to James Lord Thurles, who in the following year succeeded his grandfather and became the Twelfth Earl of Ormond. In 1642 he was created Marquess of Ormond, and in 1660 Duke of Ormond in Ireland. In the latter year he was created Earl of Brecknock in England, and in 1682 Duke of Ormond in England.

Thomas Butler Earl of Ossory, the elder son of the Duke and Duchess of Ormond, was in the lifetime of his father a Peer both of England and of Ireland, and a Knight of the Garter. He married whilst he attended upon Charles the Second, in Belgium, the Lady Amelia de Nassau, and had issue by her :

1. James Butler, his successor, and also the successor of his grandfather the Duke;

2. Charles Butler, Earl of Arran in Ireland and Lord Butler of Weston in England, who died, without issue, in 1758;

3. Elizabeth Countess of Derby, who died in 1717, and whose issue became extinct in 1732;

4. Lady Amelia Butler, who died unmarried in 1760;

5. Lady Henrietta Butler, the ancestor of the Petitioner.

The Earl of Ossory died in 1680, in the lifetime of his father and of his mother, leaving his son under age. The Duchess of Ormond died in 1684, when the Dignity of Lord Dingwall descended to her grandson, Lord Ossory's eldest son, then Earl of Ossory, and who in 1688 succeeded his grandfather as the Second Duke of Ormond.

James the Second Duke of Ormond came of age shortly before the death of his grandfather, and he sat in the Convention Parliament in January 1688-89 as Duke of Ormond.

The title of Dingwall was not inserted in the List of the Peers of Scotland forwarded to the House of Lords upon the Union of the two Kingdoms, but the omission was noticed in the House of Lords in 1710-11, and an entry in relation to the Peerage of Dingwall was made in the Journals for the 2nd of March in that year. The following is a copy of the entry :—

"D. Ormonde.'

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"Title 14 Dingwell" "The House being inform'd that his grace James duke of "Ormonde hath the title of lord Dingwell in the north part of Great Britain called Scotland and therefore ought to be placed "in the list of the nobility of that kingdom imediately after the 1 Madderley (Madderty) It is ordered by the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled that it be and is hereby referred to the lords "comittees for privileges to consider thereof and report their opinion there

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upon to the House whose lordships are to meet on Monday next at "ten a clock in the House of Peers."

Nothing further appears to have been done in the House of Lords in 1710-11 in relation to the Dingwall Peerage; but the Duke of Ormond voted as Lord Dingwall at the election of Peers to represent the Peers of Scotland in the Parliament of Great Britain, in 1712-13 and in 1713; and in 1714 his precedency as a Scottish Baron was fixed by the House of Lords. The following are copies of the two entries in the journals in regard to the question of precedency, the former dated on the 7th of July, and the latter on 8th July, 1714

"Ld Dingwal "precedency."

"The House being inform'd that the title of lord Ding"wall in Scotland is in his grace the duke of Ormonde and that some papers relating to the precedency thereof are ready to be produc'd at such time as the House shall please to appoint It is thereupon ordered by the lords spiritual and temporal in parliament "assembled that the consideration of this matter be and is hereby "referr❜d to the lords comittees for privileges to examine the same and report their opinion thereupon to the House their lordships to meet "tomorrow at ten a clock in the forenoon in the House of Peers."

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L. Dingwall in Scotld "The lord Balmerino reported from the lords comittes "precedency." "for privileges to whom was referr'd the consideration "of papers relating to the precedency of the lord Dingwal in Scotland as folt (viz1) that the comittee have consider'd a charter of confirmation by king James the First of England and Sixth of Scotland granted to the lord Dingwall with the title and dignity of lord of parliament "bearing date the 8th of June 1609 and having likewise consider'd the lord "Cranstoun's patent bearing date the 19th of November 1609 are of opinion "that the Lord Dingwall should be inserted in the roll of the nobility in Scotland imediately before the lord Cranstoun. Which report being

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"read by the clerk was agreed to by the House."

In terms of this Order, the Title of Lord Dingwall was added to the Roll of the Peers of Scotland.

In 1715 an Act of Parliament was passed purporting to attaint the Duke of Ormond of high treason in case he did not surrender himself to the Officers mentioned in the Act on or before the 16th of September in that year.

The pedigree of the Petitioner as the heir of Lord Dingwall, and the facts subsequent to 1715 which it is material to state, are fully set forth in the Petitioner's case in reference to the Dignity of Butler of Moore Park.

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The creation of the Dignity of Lord Dingwall being fully proved, the limitation being clear, and the charter granting the Dignity having been considered and acted upon by the House of Lords in favour of a Nobleman claiming under the same title as the Petitioner, the Petitioner submits that his right is made out unless it be barred or affected by the Act of 1715.

J. FLEMING.

JAMES MAIDMENT.