Duke of Devonshire - Earls of Devon

Earls of Devon

The earldom of Devonshire was originally granted as a recreation of the title of Earl of Devon, then held to be extinct; but which was found to have been in existence de jure in 1831. These are held by different families, and are now held to be distinct titles.

When the earldom of Devonshire was created, there was already in existence an earldom of Derby. It would therefore have been unlikely that the Cavendish family would have chosen Derbyshire as their new honour. It is much more likely that the title of Devonshire was chosen deliberately. The Cavendish peerage was granted in 1618, 12 years after the last holder of an earlier creation of the earldom of Devonshire, Charles Blount, 8th Lord Mountjoy had died.

The Devon earldom had earlier been held by the ancient de Redvers family and by the Courtenay family who had married in the Tudor era the daughter of King Edward IV, Princess Katherine of York and whose son was later made Marquess of Exeter. The Marquess of Exeter was executed for treason and his son was probably poisoned in 1556. From that date, the peerage was vacant. By choosing Devonshire the Cavendish family, who had only recently arrived socially on the political scene, were aligning themselves with some of the oldest families in England. It should be noted that historically 'Devon' and 'Devonshire' were alternating terms and as late as the eighteenth century Georgiana Cavendish was sometimes referred to as the Duchess of Devon.