TO THE MOST NOBLE

CONSTANTINE HENRY PHIPPS,

MARQUESS OF NORMANBY, K.P.

ETC. ETC. ETC.

THIS WORK

IS

MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

KING JAMES THE FIRST instituted the order of Baronet in 1611, two hundred and thirty years ago; and within that period, brief in the estimation of an antiquary, nearly a thousand patents have become obsolete; nearly a thousand Baronetcies have ceased to exist: not all, perhaps, become absolutely extinct, but all virtually so. The personages who enjoyed those honours have left behind them, however, numerous and widely spread connexions, who, although excluded, by the tenour of the royal grant, from their dignity, inherit, in many instances, their name, in more their lands, in all, their blood:-to those this book especially belongs; to rescue them from the fate of their titled predecessors it is produced, and to their interests it is mainly devoted, under an impression, at the same time, that a work directly appertaining to so large and influential a portion of the community must indirectly be of value to the whole: that it might prove so, much time and vast labour have been bestowed upon its composition; the public records have been carefully explored, private collections and private authorities referred toin fine, nothing has been left undone to render its statements full, clear, and accurate.

In addition to these few prefatory words, it is necessary to say that, in this Second Edition, various corrections have been made through that part which comprises the Extinct Baronetcies of England, from the further researches of the authors and the communications made to them; and that the work may be rendered complete within itself, the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of Ireland and Scotland, which have never before been collected or published, are now added. The Authors have only farther to express their acknowledgments for the facilities afforded them in every channel, public and private, through which it was necessary to seek for information; they would willingly express their thanks to many individuals, but so many occur, that they are obliged to forego the pleasure.

NOTE.-The red hand of Ulster, which is carried upon the shield of a Baronet, is omitted in the armorial ensigns of this work, from the necessity of the engravings being upon a narrow scale.

۹۸

London, July 1, 1841.