Baron Dufferin and Claneboye

Baron Dufferin and Claneboye, of Ballyleidy and Killyleagh in County Down, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created 31 July 1800 for Dame Dorcas Blackwood, widow of Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Baronet, Member of the Irish Parliament for Killyleagh and Bangor. The peerage had been intended for Sir John in return for his support for the Union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Baronetcy, of Killyleagh in the County of Down, was created in the Baronetage of Ireland in 1763 for Robert Blackwood, the father of Sir John Blackwood. He was the son of John Blackwood and Ursula Hamilton, the daughter and co-heir of Robert Hamilton of Killyleagh, County Down. The Blackwood family, originally of Scottish descent, were prominent landowners in County Down and controlled the borough constituency of Killyleagh in the Irish Parliament. Lady Dufferin and Claneboye was the daughter of James Stevenson, son of Colonel Hans Stevenson and Anne Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, son of Archibald Hamilton, of Halcraig, Lanarkshire, brother of James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye. Her great-grandfather James Hamilton had become the sole heir of Lord Claneboye when the first Viscount's grandson, Henry Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil and 3rd Viscount Claneboye, died in 1675.

Lady Dufferin and Claneboye was succeeded by her son, the second Baron, who had already succeeded his father as third Baronet. He represented Killyleagh in the Irish House of Commons and Helston and Aldeburgh in the British House of Commons and was also an Irish Representative Peer from 1820 to 1836. He was childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Baron. The latter's grandson, the fifth Baron (pictured), was a prominent Liberal politician, diplomat and colonial administrator, and notably served as Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. In 1850, at the age of twenty-three, he was created Baron Clandeboye, of Clandeboye in the County of Down, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him a seat in the House of Lords. In 1871 he was created Viscount Clandeboye, of Clandeboye in the County of Down, and Earl of Dufferin, in the County of Down, and in 1888 he was even further honoured when he was made Earl of Ava, in the Province of Burma, and Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, in the County of Down and in the Province of Burma. These titles were also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Lord Dufferin and Ava also assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Hamilton in 1862 and that of Temple (which was the maiden name of his father's mother) in 1872.

His eldest son and heir apparent Archibald Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Ava, was killed at the Siege of Ladysmith during the Second Boer War while serving as a war correspondent. He was unmarried and the Marquess was therefore succeeded by his second son, the second Marquess. On his death the titles passed to another brother, the third Marquess. He was a soldier and also served as Speaker of the Senate of Northern Ireland. Lord Dufferin and Ava died in an air crash and was succeeded by his son, the fourth Marquess. He notably held office as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in the government of Neville Chamberlain. After his death in the Second World War the titles were inherited by his six-year old son, the fifth Marquess. He was a well-known patron of arts. He was childless and on his death in 1988 the marquessate, earldoms, viscountcy and barony of Clandeboye (created in 1850) became extinct. However, he was succeeded in the baronetcy and barony of Dufferin and Claneboye by his distant relative Sir Francis George Blackwood, 7th Baronet, of the Navy (see below), who became the tenth Baron. As of 2012 the titles are held by the latter's son, the eleventh Baron, who succeeded in 1991. Like his father he lives in Australia.

The Blackwood Baronetcy, of the Navy, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom in 1814 for the Honourable Henry Blackwood, seventh son of Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Baronet and of Dorcas Blackwood, 1st Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye. He was a Vice-Admiral of the Blue in the Royal Navy and was the bearer of despatches announcing the victory of Trafalgar in 1805. As mentioned above his descendant the seventh Baronet succeeded as tenth Baron Dufferin and Claneboye and eleventh Baronet of Killyleagh in 1988.

As of 30 June 2006, the present holder of the barony has not successfully proven his succession to the baronetcy of 1763 and is therefore not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage, with the baronetcy considered dormant (for more information follow this link).