Earls of Dysart (1643)

1^st Earl of Dysart, William Murray, b.?, a.1643, d.1653

William Murray was descended from a branch of the Murrays of Tullibardine. His uncle served as secretary to King Charles I and introduced him to Court, where he became the King’s whipping boy. However, he was later rewarded when he became a Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1626, and he also served as an MP for Fowey, and later for East Looe, in England. In 1643 he was created 1^st Earl of Dysart (a town in Fife) and 1^st Lord Huntingtower (in Perthshire). During the Interregnum, he was involved in negotiations with the exiled Charles II. His character appears to have been unpleasant, deceitful and temperamental by turns.

2^nd Earl (Countess) of Dysart, Elizabeth Murray, b.?, a.1653, d.1698

Daughter of the 1^st Earl and Catherine Bruce (b.?, d.1649). She succeeded to her father’s titles under the laws of succession of the earldom, and was a favourite of Charles II. In 1651 she married Sir Lionel Tollemache (b.?, d.1669), 3^rd Baronet Talmash of Helmingham in Suffolk, with whom she had several children. Shortly after his death, she resigned the peerage and obtained a regrant under altered terms to include her owns heirs, and failing this any heirs-general whatsoever (of her father). She later married John Maitland, 1^st Duke of Lauderdale and so was for a time Duchess of Lauderdale. She had a very strong character, beautiful and vivacious, intelligent and ambitious, lavish and devious.

3^rd Earl of Dysart, Lionel Tollemache, b.1648, a.1698, d.1727

Son of 2^nd Earl (Countess) and her first husband as described above. He represented Suffolk as a Tory MP from 1698 to 1707. In 1702, at the accession of Queen Anne, he was offered an English barony, but declined, preferring to remain in the House of Commons. After the Act of Union he was no longer classed as a commoner and was required to vacate his seat.

4^th Earl of Dysart, Lionel Tollemache, b.1708, a.1727, d.1770

Grandson of the 3^rd Earl and Grace Wilbraham (b.?, d.1740), daughter of Sir Thomas Wilbraham, 3^rd Baronet Wilbraham of Woodhey, Chester and Weston-under-Lizard in Staffordshire, and son of Lionel Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (b.1682, d.1712) and Henrietta Cavendish (b.?, d.1717-1718), an illegitimate daughter of Sir William Cavendish, 2^nd Duke of Devonshire. He was invested as a Knight of the Thistle in 1743.

5^th Earl of Dysart, Lionel Tollemache, b.1734, a.1770, d.1799

Son of the 4^th Earl and Lady Grace Carteret (b.?, d.1755), daughter of Sir John Carteret, 2^nd Earl Granville. He married Charlotte Walpole (b.?, d.1759), a grand-daughter of Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister and 1^st Earl of Oxford, but they had no children.

6^th Earl of Dysart, Wilbraham Tollemache, b.1739, a.1799, d.1821

Younger brother of the 5^th Earl.

7^th Earl (Countess) of Dysart, Louisa Tollemache, b.1745, a.1821, d.1840

With both the previous holders having died without children, and no surviving male heir of the 4^th Earl, the titles fell to the eldest daughter of that earl by the rights of succession.

8^th Earl of Dysart, Lionel William John Tollemache, b.1794, a.1840, d.1878

Grandson of the 7^th Countess and her husband John Manners (an illegitimate grandson of John Manners, 2^nd Duke of Rutland), and son of William Talmash, Lord Huntingtower (b.1766, d.1833) (later also 1^st Baronet Manners of Hainby Hall, Lincolnshire), and Catherine Rebecca Grey (b.?, d.1852), his father having been christened as William Manners, but having changed his surname back to Tollemache in 1821 when he became heir-apparent after his mother, the Countess.

9^th Earl of Dysart, William John Manners Tollemache, b.1859, a.1878, d.1935

Grandson of the 8^th Earl and his cousin Maria Elizabeth Toone (b.?, d.1869), and son of William Lionel Felix Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (b.1820, d.1872) and his cousin Katharine Elizabeth Camila Burke (b.?, d.1896), daughter of Sir Joseph Burke, 11^th Baronet Bourke of Glinsk, county Galway. He succeeded to the title also of 3^rd Baronet Manners. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland from 1881 to 1906. He died without children.

10^th Earl (Countess) of Dysart, Wenefryde Agatha Scott, b.1889, a.1935, d.1975

When the previous earl died without heirs, the earldom devolved to the senior living female of the line, daughter of the 9^th Earl’s sister Agnes Mary Manner Tollemache (b.1855, d.1912) and her husband Charles Norman Lindsay Tollemache Scott (b.?, d.1938). The baronetcy, following different rules of succession, devolved to a distant Tollemache cousin.

11^th Earl (Countess) of Dysart, Rosamund Agnes Greaves, b.1914, a.1975, d.2003

Daughter of the 10^th Countess and Major Owain Edward Whitehead Greaves (b.b.1898, d.1941). She never married.

12^th Earl (Countess) of Dysart, Katherine Greaves, b.1918, a.2003

Younger sister of the 11^th Countess. She married Lieutenant-Colonel John Peter Grant of Rothiemurchus in Inverness-shire, and is also 11^th Lady Huntingtower.

The courtesy title for the heir is Lord Huntingtower.