IV. 1333. to 1360. 4. Nicholas Poyntz, de jure, Lord Poyntz, s. and h. made proof of his age (1339-41), 14 Ed. III., when he did homage for his father's land; was knighted before (1353-54), 27 Ed. III., but was never sum. to Parl. He d. a-p.m., probably about 1360, when the Barony fell into abeyance.(a)[1]
PRESTON.
Viscountcy [S.]I. 1681. 1. Sir Richard Graham, Bart., of Esk, and of Netherby, co. Cumberland, s. and h. of Sir George Graham, 21 Bart. of the same, by Mary, da. of James (Johnstone), 1st Earl of Hartfell [S], was b. 24 Sep. 1648 at Netherby; suc. his father in the Baronetcy (cr. 29 March 1639) in 1657; was ed. at Westminster, and at Ch. Ch., Oxford; mat., 20 June 1664, aged 15; M.A., 4 Feb. 1666/7; Student of the Inner Temple, 1664; M.P. for Cockermouth, 1675-81, and for co. Cumberland, 1685-87, having been meanwhile cr. 21 May 1681, VISCOUNT PRESTON and LORD GRAHAM OF ESK [S]. Ambassador to France, 1682; Sec. of State, and Master of the Wardrobe 1688-89. He was cr. an English Peer by James II. about the time of his dethronement(b)[2] as Baron of Esk, or Baron Preston of Esk, co. Cumberland, and consequently claimed his writ, 11 Nov. 1689, but the House of Lords declared the patent void, and ordered him to prison for his presumption. He was taken prisoner 30 Dec. 1689, when about to join James II. in France, and was on 17 Jan. 1689/90 sentenced to death, having been found guilty of high treason, under the designation of a Baronet(c)[3], when his English estates and his Baronetcy [E.] were forfeited, but "the attainder could not affect his Scottish Peerage as no act of forfeiture passed again him in Scotland."(d)[4] He was, however, subsequently, pardoned.(e)[5] He m. 2 Aug. 1670, Anne, 2d da. of Charles (Howard), 1st Earl of Carlisle, by Anne, da. of Edward (Howard), Baron Howard of Escrick. He d. 22 Nov. 1695, and was bur. at Nunnington, co. York, aged 47.(f)[6]
II. 1691. 2. Edward (Graham) Viscount Preston, &c. [S.], 1st surv. s. and h., (g)[7] b. about 1678; suc. to the peerage [S.], 22 Nov. 1695; mat. at Oxford (Univ. Coll.) 24 Nov. 1693. He m. 5 Jan. 1702/3, at York minster,
- ↑ (a) The coheirs were his two daughters or their lineal representatives. It appears from an Ing., 21 Hen. VI. (1442-43), that Amicia, one of these coheirs, m. John Barry, and had an only child, William Barry, who d. s.p. before that date, and that John de Newburgh, s. and h. of Sir John de Newburgh, by Margaret, the other coheir, was then cousin and heir of the said Nicholas Poyutz. This John, according to our present notions, would have been entitled to this Barony. His descendants are set forth by Banks (Bar. Angl. Conc.) but a different account is furnished by Courthope as follows:—"This Barony became vested in the h. of the said Margaret [Newburgh] who in 1572 (according to a pedigree by the late Francis Townsend, Esq., Windsor Herald), was George Morton, of Esture, co. Kent, Esq., a s. and h. of Robert [Morton], s. and h. of another Robert [Morton], by Dorothy, da. and eventually sole h. of Sir John Fitz Jaines, Ch. Justice, temp. Hen. VIII., s. and h. of John Fitz James, s. and h. of [another] John Fitz James, by Alice, sister of Sir Roger Newburgh, and by failure of issue from her niece (Christian, wife of Sir John Marney), sole h. of the said Sir John Newburgh and Margaret Pointz."
- ↑ (b) See vol. i, p. 59, note a,"sub "Albemarle," for a list of "Jacobite Peerages."
- ↑ (c) State Trials, vol. xiv, p. 645.
- ↑ (d) Wood's "Douglas."
- ↑ (e) John Assheton who was apprehended and condemned with him, was executed accordingly.
- ↑ (f) In the memoirs of Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury, he is spoken of as an honest man, but no knower of men, and was plausible towards all to an equality, and he was thought more flattering an sincere He had good learning and tolerable parts, but gives so much to the bottle that it much dulled the good understanding that God had endowed him with."
- ↑ (g) The eldest son, the Hon. Charles Graham, b. 1762, d. young and v.p., being bur. 17 June 1685 in Westm. Abbey.
