Marquessate of Lansdowne
Arms of the Marquess of Lansdowne Blazon Arms: Quarterly : 1st and 4th Ermine, on a bend, azure a magnetic needle pointing at a polar star, or, (Petty); 2nd and 3rd Argent, a saltier, gules, a chief, ermine (Fitzmaurice). Crests: 1st, a beehive beset with bees, diversely volant, proper ; 2nd, a centaur drawing a bow and arrow, proper, the part from the waist argent Supporters: Two pegasi, ermine.; bridled, crined, winged, and unguled, or, each charged on the shoulder with a fienr-de-lis, azure. Motto:Virtute non verbis (By courage, not words).[1]
Creation date	6 December 1784
Created by	George III
Peerage	Peerage of Great Britain
First holder	William Petty Fitzmaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
Present holder	Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice,9th Marquess of Lansdowne
Heir apparent	Simon Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry
Remainder to	1st Marquess'heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles	Earl of Kerry Earl of Shelburne Earl of Wycombe Viscount Clanmaurice Viscount Fitzmaurice Viscount Calne and Calston Baron of Kerry and Lixnaw Baron Dunkeron Baron Wycombe of Chipping Wycombe
Seat	Bowood House
Former seats	Lansdowne House,Meikleour House
Motto	VIRTUTE NON VERBIS (By courage, not words)[2]

Marquess of Lansdowne is a title in thePeerage of Great Britain created in 1784, and held by the head of thePetty-Fitzmaurice family. The first Marquess served asPrime Minister of Great Britain.

This branch of the Fitzmaurice family descends fromJohn Fitzmaurice, second son ofThomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry (seeEarl of Kerry for earlier history of the family), and his wife Anne, the daughter of the political economistSir William Petty, whose wife had been createdBaroness Shelburne for her own life only and whose two sons had been created at different timesBaron Shelburne in thePeerage of Ireland andEarl of Shelburne respectively, but who had both died without heirs. In 1751, on the death of his maternal uncle Henry Petty, Earl of Shelburne, John Fitzmaurice succeeded to his estates and assumed by Act of Parliament the surname of Petty in addition to FitzMaurice.^[3] That same year, he was createdViscount FitzMaurice andBaron Dunkeron in the Peerage of Ireland.^[4] In 1753, the earldom held by his uncle was revived when he was madeEarl of Shelburne, in theCounty of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland.^[5] He later representedWycombe in theHouse of Commons as aWhig, his Irish peerages not disbarring him. However, in 1760 Viscount FitzMaurice was createdBaron Wycombe, ofChepping Wycombe in theCounty of Buckingham, in thePeerage of Great Britain,^[6] which gave him a seat in theHouse of Lords at Westminster and meant that he could no longer sit in the Commons.

Through his first wife Lady Sophia Carteret (1745–1771), only daughter ofRobert Carteret, 3rd Earl Granville, Fitzmaurice acquired large estates, includingLansdowne Hill nearBath, from which his son later took a new title.

From 1765 until theReform Act 1832, the head of the family controlled the two seats in parliament of thepocket borough ofCalne in Wiltshire. After 1832, there was only one seat and a wider franchise, but a member of the family was usually elected until the borough was abolished in 1885.

The first Earl of Shelburne of the new creation was succeeded by his eldest sonWilliam Petty-FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne. He was a prominent statesman and served asPrime Minister of Great Britain from 1782 to 1783. His brotherThomas FitzMaurice (1742–1793) ofCliveden, was aMember of Parliament. In 1784, the second Earl of Shelburne was createdMarquess of Lansdowne, in the County of Somerset,Earl of Wycombe, of Chepping Wycombe, andViscount Calne and Calston, referring toCalne andCalstone in the County of Wiltshire, all in the Peerage of Great Britain.^[7] However, he is better known to history under his former title of Earl of Shelburne. He was succeeded by his son from his first marriage to Lady Sophia Carteret,John Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne. He died childless in 1809 and was succeeded by his half-brother, the third Marquess, the son of their father’s second marriage, to Lady Louisa FitzPatrick. Known asLord Henry Petty from 1784 to 1809, he was one of the most influential Whig politicians of the first half of the 19th century. In a ministerial career spanning over fifty years, he served asChancellor of the Exchequer from 1806 to 1807, asHome Secretary from 1827 to 1828, asLord President of the Council from 1830 to 1834, 1835 to 1841, and 1846 to 1852, and asMinister without Portfolio from 1852 to 1858. He twice declined to become Prime Minister and in 1857 refused the offer of a dukedom fromQueen Victoria. In 1818 Lansdowne also succeeded his cousin as fourth Earl of Kerry. His eldest sonWilliam Petty FitzMaurice, Earl of Kerry, was a Member of Parliament for Calne, but predeceased his father, without having a son. Lansdowne was therefore succeeded by his second son, the fourth Marquess. He had already in 1856 been summoned to the House of Lords through awrit of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Wycombe and served underLord Palmerston asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1856 to 1858. He married as his second wife Emily Jane Mercer-Elphinstone-de Flahault, 8th Lady Nairne (see theLord Nairne), eldest daughter of the French general and statesmanCharles Joseph, comte de Flahaut, and his wife Margaret Nairne, 7th Lady Nairne.

He was succeeded by his eldest son from his second marriage, the fifth Marquess. Like his grandfather, he was a prominent statesman and had an equally long ministerial career. Lord Lansdowne wasGovernor General of Canada from 1883 to 1888,Viceroy of India from 1888 to 1894,Secretary of State for War from 1895 to 1900,Foreign Secretary from 1900 to 1905,Leader of the Conservative Party in the Lords from 1911 to 1916, and also served in the war-time coalition government asMinister without Portfolio from 1915 to 1916. In 1895 he succeeded his mother as Lord Nairne. His eldest son,Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, sat asUnionist Member of Parliament forWest Derbyshire from 1908 to 1918 and was aSenator of the Irish Free State in 1922. In 1927 he succeeded his father and became the 6th Marquess.

On his death in 1936 he was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the seventh Marquess, who was killed in action in 1944 during theSecond World War, unmarried. As the third and youngest brother, Lord Edward Norman Petty-Fitzmaurice, had been killed in action only a week before, the Scottish lordship of Nairne was passed on to their eldest sister Katherine (seeLord Nairne for later history of this title). Lord Lansdowne was survived in the remaining titles by his first cousin, the eighth Marquess. He was the son of Major Lord Charles George Francis Mercer Nairne Petty-Fitzmaurice (1874–1914), second son of the fifth Marquess. Born George John Charles Mercer Nairne, he assumed by Decree of the Lord Lyon the additional surnames of Petty-Fitzmaurice in 1947. Lord Lansdowne sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords and served as JointParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1958 to 1962 and asMinister of State for Colonial Affairs from 1962 to 1964. As of 2014 the titles are held by his eldest son, the ninth Marquess, who succeeded in 1999.

Thecourtesy title for the Lord Lansdowne's eldest son and heir apparent alternates betweenEarl of Kerry andEarl of Shelburne.

The family seat isBowood House, nearCalne, Wiltshire. The family's former London residence wasLansdowne House inBerkeley Square. A major late-1990s/early-2000s housing development in the northwest of Calne was named Lansdowne Park after the local seat.

• John Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Shelburne (1706–1761)
• William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (1737–1805), createdMarquess of Lansdowne in 1784

• William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (1737–1805)
• John Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne (1765–1809)
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863)
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne (1816–1866)
• Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1845–1927)
• Henry William Edmund Petty-FitzMaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne (1872–1936)
• Charles Hope Petty-FitzMaurice, 7th Marquess of Lansdowne (1917–1944)
• George John Charles Mercer Nairne Petty-FitzMaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne (1912–1999)
• Charles Maurice Petty-FitzMaurice, 9th Marquess of Lansdowne (b. 1941)

Theheir apparent is the present holder's son, Simon Henry George Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry (b. 1970)
The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son George Henry Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice, Viscount Calne and Calstone (b. 2020)

It was reported in 2012 that the direct descendants ofThomas FitzMaurice, brother of the first Marquess, included brothersLieut. Osmund Fitzmaurice Bullock andSir Christopher Bullock^[9] and that Sir Christopher's wife,Lady Bullock (née Barbara May Lupton), was a second cousin ofOlive Middleton (née Lupton), the great grandmother of thePrincess of Wales.^{[10][11][12][13]}

• Edmond Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Baron FitzMaurice
• Lord Nairne
• Baron Lansdowne
• Earl of Kerry, now a courtesy style (along with Earl of Shelburne) for the heir apparent
• Earl of Orkney, held by the Fitzmaurice family for some generations

• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921).Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. 160A,Fleet street, London:Dean & Son. p. 539.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors).Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,^{[page needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages^{[self-published source][better source needed]}

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