Earl Erne

From Free net encyclopedia

Earl Erne, of Crom Castle, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland, created in 1789 for John Crichton, 1st Viscount Erne.

Lord Erne is also Viscount Erne (created 1781), Baron Erne, of Crom Castle in the County of Fermanagh (1768) and Baron Fermanagh, of Lisnaskea in the County of Fermanagh (1876). The Barony of Fermanagh is the only one that is not in the Peerage of Ireland; it is instead in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

The Barony of Fermanagh was created for the 3rd Earl in 1876 to allow the Earls Erne to sit in the House of Lords by right, rather than having to stand for election as Representative Peers. In 1880 John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne, was the employer of the hapless Captain Charles Boycott, whose crass mishandling of relations with agricultural workers on Lord Erne's estate in County Mayo caused a political and public order crisis and provoked the strategy that gave the English language the term to boycott.

The Heir Apparent uses the invented courtesy title Viscount Crichton.

The family seat is Crom Castle.

Barons Erne (1768)

• Abraham Crichton, 1st Baron Erne (c. 1700-1772)
• John Crichton, 2nd Baron Erne (1731-1828) (created Viscount Erne in 1781)

Viscounts Erne (1781)

• John Crichton, 1st Viscount Erne (1731-1828) (created Earl Erne in 1789)

Earls Erne (1789)

• John Crichton, 1st Earl Erne (1731-1828), elected a Representative Peer in 1800
• Abraham Crichton, 2nd Earl Erne (1765-1842)
• John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne (1802-1885), elected a Representative Peer in 1845
• John Henry Crichton, 4th Earl Erne (1839-1914)
• John Henry George Crichton, 5th Earl Erne (1907-1940)
• Henry George Victor John Crichton, 6th Earl Erne (b. 1937)

Heir Apparent: John Henry Michael Ninian Crichton, Viscount Crichton (b. 1971)