Fitton Gerard, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield

Fitton Gerard, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield (15 October 1663 – 26 December 1702) was a British peer, styled Hon. Fitton Gerard until 1701.[1]

Biography

He was the younger son of Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, and represented several constituencies, mostly in Lancashire, in the House of Commons of England, before succeeding his brother Charles Gerard, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield to the earldom in 1701. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Lancashire that year, but died in the following year, the earldom becoming extinct.

After his death, there was a long legal dispute between the Duke of Hamilton, and Lord Mohun over who should succeed to Gawsworth Hall and Macclesfield's estates. Hamilton's claim was through his wife, Elizabeth Gerard, a granddaughter of Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, while Mohun's was as the named heir of his friend Charles Gerard, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield. On 15 November 1712, the two men fought a famous duel in Hyde Park, Westminster, described in Thackeray's The History of Henry Esmond and in Bernard Burke's Anecdotes of the Aristocracy.[2]

References

  1. James William Edmund Doyle, The Official Baronage of England, vol. 2 (London: Longmans, Green, 1886), p. 433
  2. Sir Bernard Burke, Anecdotes of the Aristocracy (Walford, 1878), pp. 375-405
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Thomas Wyndham
William Hewer
Member of Parliament for Yarmouth
1689–1690
With: Sir Robert Holmes
Succeeded by
Sir John Trevor
Charles Duncombe
Preceded by
Anthony Parker
Roger Kenyon
Member of Parliament for Clitheroe
1693–1695
With: Roger Kenyon
Succeeded by
Christopher Lister
Ambrose Pudsay
Preceded by
Thomas Preston
Roger Kirkby
Member of Parliament for Lancaster
1697–1698
With: Roger Kirkby
Succeeded by
Roger Kirkby
Robert Heysham
Preceded by
Hon. James Stanley
Sir Ralph Assheton, Bt
Member of Parliament for Lancashire
1698Feb 1701
With: Hon. James Stanley
Succeeded by
Hon. James Stanley
Richard Bold
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Charles Gerard
Earl of Macclesfield
1701–1702
Extinct


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