Duke of Taunton

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Duke of Taunton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1685 by James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland for James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, his illegitimate son by Frances Malet, Lady Holles.[1] The first duke had been created Earl Fitzwarren and had been ‘restored’ as Baron Malet by Charles II during the Interregnum, and confirmed in those titles in 1660, upon the Restoration. On the accession of James II & VII, he was additionally created Duke of Taunton, Marquess of Templecombe, Viscount Malet, Baron Daubeny, and Baron Chard, all in the peerage of England, and Earl of Dilton (‘alias Dull’) in the peerage of Scotland.

The elevation of the first Earl Fitzwarren to a dukedom was only to be expected on the accession of his father to the throne; that he was created Duke of Taunton and Baron Chard was a political statement (see below).

Further subsidiary titles have been acquired by marriage and descent, such that the current duke is Duke of Taunton, Marquess of Templecombe, Earl Fitzwarren, Earl of Dilton, Viscount Malet, Baron Daubeny, Baron Chard, Baron Beechbourne, and Baron Marden and Widham; as well as being also the Hereditary Keeper & Constable of S Aldhelm’s Castle and Hereditary Ranger of Yarncombe Forest.

Of the Duke of Taunton’s subsidiary titles, the Barony of Malet, created in 1212 and recreated in 1328, is the oldest; as it had fallen into abeyance in the first duke’s mother’s family, it was called out in his favour by the exercise of the Royal prerogative. The most significant of the subsidiary titles of the dukedom is the Fitzwarren Earldom, for succession to that title governs, by the terms of the letters patent of their creations, succession to the dukedom and to the subsidiary titles in the English peerage. In this the dukedom shares a quirk akin to that which obtains as regards the dukedom of Roxburghe, with the difference that, under Scots peerage law, the latter could become only dormant. The dukedom of Taunton, like the subsidiary earldom of Fitzwarren, both being creations in the peerage of England, can become abeyant as well as dormant: and the titles were abeyant, from the death of the ninth duke in 1916 to the succession to the dukedom, in 1975, of the present Duke’s father, Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KT KCB CBE CVO DSO MC.

The title of the dukedom refers to the county town of Somerset, Taunton; and the title of the barony of Chard derives from that Somerset town. Notably, in 1685, Monmouth’s Rebellion, led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and 1st Duke of Buccleuch, a natural son of Charles II and thus nephew to James II and VII and cousin to the soon-to-be 1st Duke of Taunton, saw King James denounced at Chard, and Monmouth acclaimed king and crowned by his followers at Taunton: incidents which clearly influenced the choices of title for the elevation of the King’s loyal natural son to a dukedom.

The primary family seat of the Dukes of Taunton is Wolfdown House in Wiltshire. Their traditional burial place is the graveyard of the parish church of SS Mary and Leonard, Woolfont Abbas, Wiltshire. Both have been Malet possessions and indeed the Malet caput since the Conquest.

The Duke’s eldest son is styled by courtesy Marquess of Templecombe, and the eldest son of the Marquess is styled by courtesy Earl Fitzwarren. The heir to the dukedom may also be referred to by the Scots courtesy style of the Master of Dilton, from the Earldom of Dilton which is one of the subsidiary titles of the dukedom; this is commonly used only of heirs presumptive, as heirs apparent, being either the son or grandson of a duke then holding the title, will commonly be granted the courtesy styles of the subsidiary peerage titles.

The title is currently held by Charles, 11th Duke of Taunton.

Contents
1 Dukes of Taunton (1685)

2 Family tree

3 See also

4 References

5 Further reading

Dukes of Taunton
Other titles (all): Baron Malet (1212; 1328; 1658); Duke of Taunton, Marquess of Templecombe, Viscount Malet, Baron Daubeny, and Baron Chard (1685, peerage of England); Earl of Dilton (1685, peerage of Scotland); Baron Beechbourne (created 1641, obtained by a marriage of 1690), Baron Marden and Widham (created 1321, obtained by marriage of 1711) (both peerage of England) The heir presumptive is the present duke’s nephew, the eldest son of his brother Lord Crispin Rupert Charles Edward Donald Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, Master of Dilton. The Master of Dilton is also the heir apparent to Hugo, Baron Mallerstang and Swarthfell, and with his siblings James and Henrietta Maria is in remainder to the dukedom of Trowbridge and Warminster.
 * James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Taunton
 * Charles Walter Alan Matthew Fitzjames, Marquess of Templecombe (predeceased his father)
 * Henry Charles William George, ‘The Trimmer’, 2nd Duke of Taunton, grandson of James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, the 1st Duke, son of Charles Walter Alan Matthew Fitzjames, Marquess of Templecombe
 * Gilbert James Henry Edward, 3rd Duke of Taunton
 * Charles Edward James Richard, 4th Duke of Taunton
 * William George Charles Edward, 5th Duke of Taunton
 * Edward Henry Charles James, 6th Duke of Taunton
 * Denzil Frederick Gerald Thomas, 7th Duke of Taunton
 * Lord Henry Charles Rupert James David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, second son
 * The Rt Revd Robert James Edward Charles David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Bishop of Omagh, transl. Bishop of Solway & Cockermouth
 * Frances Elizabeth Anne Cicely, married Col. Sir Edward Vivian James Alexander de Clifforde Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KB DSO, descendant of the younger brother of the 2nd Duke
 * Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton
 * Gilbert Edmund Charles Robert Alan, 8th Duke of Taunton
 * James Charles Valentine Donald Gerald, 9th Duke of Taunton, d.s.p. 1916
 * Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton, as above
 * Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 11th and present Duke of Taunton

Line of succession
Should neither Rupert, Master of Dilton, nor his brother, produce legitimate sons, the succession should become somewhat complicated were circumstances unchanged from their present state in 2017. An abeyance in the underlying Fitzwarren Earldom might easily occur, resulting in an abeyance of the dukedom. (Henrietta Maria Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, by contrast, could under certain circumstances succeed to the dukedoms of Trowbridge and Warminster, which were created so as to allow for suo jure female holders: indeed, the first Duchess of Warminster was the other Frances Malet, mother of the first Duke of Trowbridge and cousin to Lady Holles the mother of the first Duke of Taunton.)
 * 1) James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Taunton
 * 2) Charles Walter Alan Matthew Fitzjames, Marquess of Templecombe (predeceased his father) (see No. 24, above)
 * 3) Lord John Matthew Walter Alexander Fitzjames KP PC (Ire) DL, of Calverstown House, Co. Kildare, yr. br. of Henry Charles William George Fitzjames, ‘The Trimmer’, 2nd Duke of Taunton (see No. 25 et sequitur, above)
 * 4) Henry Charles William George, ‘The Trimmer’, 2nd Duke of Taunton, grandson of James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, the 1st Duke
 * 5) Gilbert James Henry Edward, 3rd Duke of Taunton
 * 6) Charles Edward James Richard, 4th Duke of Taunton
 * 7) William George Charles Edward, 5th Duke of Taunton
 * 8) Edward Henry Charles James, 6th Duke of Taunton
 * 9) Denzil Frederick Gerald Thomas, 7th Duke of Taunton
 * 10) Lord Henry Charles Rupert James David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, second son
 * 11) The Rt Revd Robert James Edward Charles David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Bishop of Omagh, transl. Bishop of Solway & Cockermouth
 * 12) 1. Frances Elizabeth Anne Cicely, married Col. Sir Edward Vivian James Alexander de Clifforde Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KB DSO (No. 32, above)
 * 13) 1. Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton
 * 14) Gilbert Edmund Charles Robert Alan, 8th Duke of Taunton
 * 15) James Charles Valentine Donald Gerald, 9th Duke of Taunton, d.s.p. 1916
 * 16) Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton, as above
 * 17) Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 11th and present Duke of Taunton
 * 18) (Heir presumptive)  Rupert Charles Edward Donald Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, Master of Dilton (b. 1996), nephew of the preceding by the present Duke’s late brother, Lord Crispin Leonard George Valentine Gilbert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, Master of Dilton.
 * 19) (Heir apparent to the heir presumptive) James Denzil Valentine Gilbert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet (b. 1997), younger brother of preceding.

Arms of the Duke of Taunton
Notes

The coat of arms of the Duke of Taunton



Coronet

The coronet of a Duke

Crest

Issuant from a ducal coronet Or, a lion’s gamb Gules, armed Azure

Escutcheon

Quarterly: 1st grand quarter, the Royal Arms of James II (viz. quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland), the whole within a Bordure compony Azure charged with Roses Argent barbed and seeded proper and the last; 2nd grand quarter, quarterly, 1st and 4th, Ermine, a chief indented (alt., pily; alt., dancetty) Sable (Holles of Lacethwaite); 2nd and 3rd, Azure, a fess argent, three pelicans (two and one) vulning themselves proper (Pelham of Tidnock); 3rd grand quarter, party per pale Or and Gules, three chevronels Gules and Or countercharged of the field, on a chief Azure three mullets of five points Or, voided Gules (Clare of Welsheverney); 4th grand quarter, quarterly, 1st and 4th, Sable, a fess Argent, three buckles (two and one) Or, 2nd and 3rd, Azure, a fess Or, three buckles (two and one) Argent (Malet of Wolfdown).

Supporters

Dexter: A boar Azure, langued and pizzled Gules, armed and tufted Or

Sinister: A stag proper, attired and armed Or, gorged with a collar Sable bordered Or bezanty of the last

Motto

Deus vult (Latin for ‘God wills it so’)