Dukedom of Pennington

Duke of Pennington is an hereditary title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Hissop family. Since the 16th century, the Hissops have counted amongst the largest landowning aristocratic families. They are are in possession of great wealth and wield substantial political influence.

The Duke of Pennington's principal seat is at St Elvan, Cambridgeshire. A total of fourteen major and minor estates (including St Elvan) in the United Kingdom belong to the duchy; almost all of them are included in the entail.

The current Duke is Henry Hissop, 5th Duke of Pennington. As he has no heirs male of the body, his heir presumptive is Dominic Hissop, his second cousin once removed.

History

The earliest origins of the Hissop family may be traced back to the 13th century. John Hissop, a squire from Devon who distinguished himself in the Welsh wars of Edward I, was knighted for his bravery and relocated his family to Cambridgeshire, only a few hundred feet from where the estate of St Elvan stands today. His descendants remain largely undistinguished until his great-great-grandson, Sir Geoffrey Hissop, gained a position in the Exchequer at the beginning of the 16th century, where he amassed great personal wealth. The first foundations of the St Elvan estate were laid down by him. (Today, the house that his son Richard completed is preserved and used as one of many dower houses.) Sir Geoffrey was raised to Baron Penton Mewsey in 1526.

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Richard, 2nd Baron Penton Mewsey, was able to acquire a number of former church lands to add to the growing influence of the Hissops of St Elvan. Shortly before his death in 1567, Richard was created Earl of St Elvan.

The Hissops had done very well for themselves since the beginning of the Tudor era but under the reign of Elizabeth I they truly began to flourish. Ralf, 2nd Earl of St Elvan, was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands and reaped all the mercantile and intellectual developments of the burgeoning Dutch Golden Age. Though he died childless in Antwerp, the title passed to his nephew Simon, 3rd Earl of St Elvan. Simon's son Arthur, 4th Earl of St Elvan, was a skilled courtier and councillor. During the English Civil War, he was a firm Royalist and fled with Charles II when Oliver Cromwell succeeded. Like many of those who had accompanied Charles, Arthur was obliged to provide extraordinarily generous financial support for the King.

But the waiting paid off: Arthur accompanied Charles back to England for the restoration of the monarchy after the Interregnum and he was created Duke of Pennington in 1664 (after the dust had settled). In addition to the peerage, many Parliamentarians' estates were gifted to the Hissops, creating the basis for the duchy as it is in 1811.

Subsidiary titles

• Marquess of St Elvan – of the Peerage of Great Britain, created 1721. This is the courtesy title used by the eldest son of the Duke.
• Earl of St Elvan – of the Peerage of England, created 1567.
• Baron Penton Mewsey – of the Peerage of England, created 1526. This is the courtesy title used by the eldest son of the eldest son of the Duke.
• Earl of Emers – of the Peerage of England, created 1701. Inherited from the 3rd Duke's second wife's family by permission of George II.
• Viscount Portam – of the Peerage of Great Britain, recreated from a title in abeyance in 1721.

Dukes of Pennington

Arthur, 1st Duke

Arthur Hissop, 4th Earl of St Elvan and created the 1st Duke of Pennington in 1664, was born 1636 and died 1709. With his wife Lavinia née Ware (b. 1640, d. 1703; daughter of a Cambridgeshire landowner) he had one child, Edward.

A highly intelligent and calculating man who ended his days vastly richer and more powerful than he ever could have guessed, Arthur nevertheless experienced great periods of doubt, fear for his life, and frustration as the events of the English Civil War wrecked his country. In exile, he privately contemplated leaving the King's cause many times, as the Lord Protector's rule seemed to strengthen. He regained his optimism after the Restoration and only then deemed the time right to have a child and propagate his house.

Edward, 2nd Duke

Edward Hissop, 2nd Duke of Pennington, was born 1665 and died 1721. In 1683 he embarked on his Grand Tour. When he reached Versailles, he liked it so much he stayed for the next thirty-two years. He met his wife Beatris née van Heerdt (b. 1666, d. 1724; daughter of a Dutch jonkheer) there and they were married at the Château de Fontainebleau in 1687. He had four surviving children with her (all born in France): Constantia (b. 1690, d. 1673; married a French count in 1706), Grietje (b. 1694, d. 1702), James, and John (b. 1700, d. 1763; shipped to the West Indies to avoid punishment for a crime and great-grandfather of Dominic Hissop).

A bon vivant of ludicrously expensive tastes, Edward delighted in gambling, fashion, dancing, and drink. Edward's lifestyle utterly infuriated his father, who nevertheless paid up, and although it was true he dearly loved his wife Beatris, perhaps he would not have gone so far as marriage if she did not happen to have an obscenely large dowry. The death of his daughter Grietje and his son John's misdemeanours served to recall him to reality a little. With the ascent of Madame de Maintenon, he began to tire of life at Versailles. He returned to England in 1715 and died at St Elvan. A few years before his death, he was forced to use his influence to have a criminal charge against John dropped and he sent him with some money to the West Indies.

See also: Edward Hissop.

James, 3rd Duke

James, 3rd Duke of Pennington, was born 1698 at Versailles and died 1754. At seventeen he first set foot on his father's and his grandfather's homeland. He was not fluent in English, to the horror of his grandfather, and was immediately forced into the schoolroom to acquire a suitable English aristocrat's education. His first marriage in 1720 to Joan née Clarendon (b. 1683, d. 1723; daughter of the 1st Viscount Chelsea) was arranged by his grandfather. They cordially hated each other but had one daughter, Cecily (b. 1721, d. 1786; married the 3rd Earl of Courton in 1741). Joan died in 1723 and as soon as mourning ended in 1724 James married his publically acknowledged mistress, Mary Stanley née Winchester (b. 1701, d. 1758; daughter of the 9th Earl of Emers, widow of the 5th Earl of Hanworth who died in 1719). With her he had three illegitimate children: identical twins Georgiana (b. 1721, d. 1793; married to Sir Henry Enfield in 1739) and Camilla (b. 1721, d. 1803; married a prosperous merchant, Roger Manning, in 1745), and Thomas (b. 1723, d. 1788; died a bachelor). After their marriage, they had two legitimate children: Charles and Caroline (b. 1729, d. 1791; married the 1st Marquess of Raulings in 1750).

As Georgiana and Camilla could plausibly be the Earl of Hanworth's daughters (though no one was in any doubt of their true paternity, considering the Earl had been very old, bedridden, and bloated by gout) they were legally known as his children and they took his surname. They became James's wards after the marriage. James petitioned King George II to legitimise Thomas, but the Crown quite viciously condemned both his rationality and morality in coming to the monarch to make legal the child he'd fathered on another woman while his wife still lived. Thomas therefore took the surname Smith, the name of the steward who had his legal guardianship.

On very good terms with his father, James often assumed the older and more decisive position as a naturally efficient man and a wise judge of character. Despite his exposure to the world and his cosmopolitan upbringing, he never found that he missed France much, though he made sure his children all spoke the language fluently. A quick leaner, he became fluent in English though spoke with a slight French accent for his entire life. From the very beginning he clashed with his first wife Joan, whose brash, vulgar personality sincerely repulsed him. He met his future second wife Mary, a serene and rather dreamy widowed countess not quite yet out of mourning, at her relative's Christmas house party and pined for her desperately. They began an affair before his marriage was even half a year old and he was constant to her until his death. The matter of his illegitimate children was a source of distress, because for him it was only a matter of badly-timed legality that prevented them from enjoying the rights of their two ducal siblings. He made the controversial decision to raise them at St Elvan without any differentiation in their treatment.

See also: James Hissop.

Charles, 4th Duke

Charles, 4th Duke of Pennington, was born 14 November 1725 and died 31 January 1793. He married Agnes née Carding (b. 30 September 1741, d. 14 July 1767; daughter of the 7th Earl of Dain) in 1757. He had two children with her: Anne (b. 12 October 1759; married the 3rd Earl of Whitby in 1778) and Henry. Agnes died of pneumonia and in 1773 he married Eleanor née D'Avray (b. 12 March 1754, d. 28 October 1808; daughter of the 4th Earl of Sexton). He had one daughter with her: Isobel (b. 3 February 1778, d. 16 December 1799; married to Simon Asquith, second son of the 3rd Baron Wolvercote).

Brought up in luxurious St Elvan, Charles was happy with his sibling-playmates and his place in the world until he left for Eton. There, he discovered that his family was the subject of giggles around the corner and whispers behind his back. (For example, it was commonly known that James had asked George II to legitimise Thomas, so many thought the legitimate son must be a simpleton. Furthermore most of the ton were convinced that the Duke had poisoned his first wife.) A sensitive boy, he developed a cold façade to protect himself and as he grew older it became his true nature. He became rigid and stern, always coldly correct and rather haughty. He chose both his wives because they were the most sought-after young women of the day, rather than indulging in any true fondness. However, with time he and Eleanor became good friends and he felt he eventually did fall in love with her, though he never expressed it. He disliked children and felt quite awkward around them; he masked this with aloofness.

Extremely interested in architecture, Charles supervised many improvements to all his estates during his lifetime. He tried to visit every estate at least once every two years (rather a feat, considering how far-flung some of them were) and was kept constantly updated on their agricultural outputs. He was extremely saddened by the death of his daughter-in-law but, typically, never could find the words to comfort his son. He died from typhoid fever.

Henry, 5th Duke

See page Henry Hissop.

Players associated with this peerage are Casey.