Lord Hume of Berwick

Baron Hume of Berwick is a title which has been created twice in the Peerages of England and Great Britain.

First creation

The title was first created as Baron Hume of Berwick in the Peerage of England on July 7, 1604, for George Home, Lord Treasurer of Scotland, member of the English Privy Council, and Keeper of the Great Wardrobe. [ Dugdale, William, Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary, "The Baronage of England", London, 1676] cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13642|first=Maurice (junior)|last=Lee|title=‘Home, George, earl of Dunbar (d. 1611)’|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|format=subscription required|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/13642|accessdate=2007-12-19] [Playfair, William, "British Family Antiquity & Nobility of the United Kingdom", London, 1811, vol.VIII: cccx - cccxii] [ Anderson, William, "The Scottish Nation", Edinburgh, 1867, vol.IV] [ Kirk, J., "George Home, Earl of Dunbar", R & R Clark Ltd., Edinburgh, 1918: 7 - 8] (In 1605 he was further created Earl of Dunbar).

Most sources cite the title as being extinct. [ Nicolas, Sir Harris, revised by William Courthope, Somerset Herald, "The Historic Peerage of England", London, 1857] ["Burke's Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire", London, 1883, 289] [ Kirk, Rev J., "George Home, Earl of Dunbar", Edinburgh, 1918] [ Leeson, Francis L, "A Directory of British Peerages", revised edition, London, 2002: 85, ISBN 1-903462-65-7] However, the 2003 edition of "Debretts" gives an opposing view when it states: "The Lordship of Home (or Hume) of Berwick, cr by patent 1604 upon George Home... with remainder to his heirs for ever, is held to have descended to the Earls of Home through lady Anna Home". Kidd, Charles, & Williamson, David, editors, "Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage", Macmillan, London, 2003: 808, who fail to state their authority for this or by whom it "is held".]

The question of the continued existence of the title came to the fore again in 1963 when the Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home, was required to renounce all of his peerages under the new Peerage Act 1963, in order to sit in the House of Commons. Douglas-Home signed the historic 'Instrument of Disclaimer' on October 23 1963,LondonGazette|issue=43143|startpage=8770|date=25 October 1963|accessdate=2007-12-19] in which this peerage was inserted, along with all of his other peerages. [Young, K. (1971). "Sir Alec Douglas-Home", Fairleigh Dickinson, p.174] [Thorpe, D.R. (1996). "Alec Douglas-Home", Sinclair-Stevenson] Upon his death in 1995, his son, David Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home, resumed his father's disclaimed titles. It is said that he maintains a claim to the title of Lord Hume of Berwick, but no such claim has as yet been placed before the Crown.

"Debretts", out of step with all other authorities, also state this peerage is more likely to belong to the Peerage of Scotland given its suggested unusual remainder. To circumvent this uncertainty with relation to Douglas-Home's disclaimer, the Lord Chancellor's office listed both "The Lordship of Hume of Berwick in the peerage of Scotland" and "The Barony of Hume in the Peerage of England" in the instrument of disclaimer, ["The Uncommon Commoner: A Study of Sir Alec Douglas-Home", Pall Mall, pp.194-6] an obvious anomaly.

econd creation

On May 14, 1776, Alexander Hume-Campbell, Viscount Polwarth, son and heir of Hugh, 3rd Earl of Marchmont, was created Baron Hume of Berwick, in the Peerage of Great Britain, [LondonGazette|issue=11665|startpage=2|date=11 May 1776|accessdate=2007-12-19] but the title became extinct when he died without issue. [ Nicolas, Sir Harris, revised by William Courthope, Somerset Herald, "The Historic Peerage of England", London, 1857]

Notes