Earl Erne

{{Short description|Title in the peerage of Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox nobility title | name = Earl Erne | image = 150px|centre180px|Arms of the Earl Erne | image_size = | alt = | caption = '''''Arms:''' Argent, a Lion rampant Azure. '''Crest:''' A Dragon's Head couped Vert, emitting fire from the mouth and ears proper. '''Supporters:''' On either side a Lion Azure, crowned with an Earl's Coronet proper.'' | creation_date = 19 August 1789 | creation = | monarch = George III | peerage = Peerage of Ireland | baronetage = | first_holder = John Creighton, 2nd Baron Erne | last_holder = | present_holder = John Crichton, 7th Earl Erne | heir_apparent = | heir_presumptive = Charles Crichton | remainder_to = The 1st Earl's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten | subsidiary_titles = Viscount Erne Baron Erne Baron Fermanagh | status = Extant | extinction_date = | family_seat = Crom Castle | former_seat = | motto = '''GOD SEND GRACE''' | footnotes = }}

'''Earl Erne''', of Crom Castle in the County of Fermanagh, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in August 1789 for John Creighton, 1st Viscount Erne,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=13124 |date=22 August 1789 |page=557}}</ref> who had earlier represented Lifford in the Irish House of Commons. He had succeeded his father as '''the 2nd Baron Erne''', of Crom Castle in the County of Fermanagh, in June 1772, also in the Peerage of Ireland, and was created '''the 1st Viscount Erne''', of Crom Castle, in the County of Fermanagh, in December 1780, again in the Peerage of Ireland (the title being designated 'of ''Crum'' Castle' in ''The London Gazette'' at the time).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=12146 |date=23 December 1780 |page=1}}</ref> He sat from 1800 to 1828 as an Irish representative peer in the British House of Lords. The title of '''Baron Erne''', of Crom Castle in the County of Fermanagh, was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1768 for his father Abraham Creighton. The 1st Earl was succeeded by his eldest son, the 2nd Earl. On his death, the titles passed to his nephew, the 3rd Earl. He was an Irish Representative Peer from 1845 to 1885 and also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh during the same period. In 1876 he was created '''Baron Fermanagh''', of Lisnaskea in the County of Fermanagh, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=24283 |date=11 January 1876 |page=99}}</ref> This was to allow the Earls to sit in the House of Lords by right, rather than having to stand for election as Representative Peers. An earlier title of Baroness Fermanagh in the Peerage of Ireland was created for Mary Verney on 13 June 1792, but became extinct on her death on 15 November 1810.

The 3rd Earl also changed the spelling of the family surname from Creighton to Crichton. He was succeeded by his son, the 4th Earl. He was a Conservative politician and served as a Lord of the Treasury in the second Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli. Like his father, he was also Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh. His grandson, the 5th Earl, held minor office from 1936 to 1939 in the National Government led by Stanley Baldwin and later Neville Chamberlain. Lord Erne was killed in the Second World War. The 6th Earl (often known as Harry Erne), who succeeded in May 1940, was the Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh from 1986 until 2012. On his death in December 2015, he was succeeded by his only son, the 7th Earl.

The 3rd Earl is also remembered as the employer of Captain Charles Boycott, whose 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 invented title of ''Viscount Crichton'' is used as a courtesy title for the Earl's heir apparent.

The family seat is Crom Castle, near Newtownbutler in the south-east of County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland.

==Barons Erne (1768)== *Abraham Creighton, 1st Baron Erne ({{circa|1700}} – 1772) *John Creighton, 2nd Baron Erne (1731–1828) (created '''Viscount Erne''' in 1781)

===Viscounts Erne (1781)=== *John Creighton, 1st Viscount Erne (1731–1828) (created '''Earl Erne''' in 1789)

===Earls Erne (1789)=== *John Creighton, 1st Earl Erne (1731–1828) *Abraham Creighton, 2nd Earl Erne (1765–1842) *John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne (1802–1885) (created '''Baron Fermanagh''' in 1876) *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 (1937–2015) * John Henry Michael Ninian Crichton, 7th Earl Erne (born 1971)

===Present peer=== John Henry Michael Ninian Crichton, 7th Earl Erne (born 19 June 1971), is the son of the 6th Earl and his wife Camilla Marguerite Roberts. Styled formally as Viscount Crichton from birth, he was educated at Sunningdale School, Shiplake College, Henley-on-Thames, and at ''L'Institut de Touraine'', in Tours, France.<ref name=BP>''Burke's Peerage'', volume 1, 1999, p. 990; ''Burke's Peerage'', volume 1, 2003, p. 1331.</ref>

On 23 December 2015, he succeeded his father as Earl Erne, of Crom Castle (I., 1789), Viscount Erne, of Crom Castle (I., 1781), Baron Erne, of Crom Castle (I., 1768), and as the Baron Fermanagh, of Lisnaskea (U.K., 1876).<ref name=BP/>

On 4 May 2019, at Holy Trinity Church, Derryvore, Crom, County Fermanagh, near Crom Castle, the family seat which he still owns, Lord Erne was married to Harriet Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of Alan James Patterson; the marriage was conducted by The Rt. Rev. Ferran Glenfield, Church of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.<ref>Jessica Campbell, [https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/17659959.crom-stunning-backdrop-earl-erne-marries/ "Crom is stunning backdrop as Earl of Erne marries"], impartialreporter.com, 27 May 2019, accessed 18 February 2023.</ref>

The heir presumptive is the present holder's second cousin once removed, Charles David Blayney Crichton (born 1953), who has a son, Oliver Charles Martin Crichton (born 1995).<ref name=BP/>

==Title succession chart== {{chart top|width=100%|Title succession chart, Barons Erne, Viscounts Erne and Earls Erne}} {{tree chart/start|align=center}} {{tree chart| | | | |AC1B|AC1B='''{{nowrap|Abraham Creighton}} 1st Baron Erne''' c. 1700 – 1772}} {{tree chart| | | | | |!| | }} {{tree chart|border=0| | | | |VEEE|VEEE=''Viscount Erne Earl Erne''}} {{tree chart| | | | |JC2B|JC2B='''John Creighton 1st Earl Erne''' 1731–1828}} {{tree chart| |,|-|-|-|(| | }} {{tree chart|AC2E| |LCHJC|AC2E='''{{nowrap|Abraham Creighton}} 2nd Earl Erne''' 1765–1842|LCHJC=Lt. Col. Hon. John Creighton 1772–1833}} {{tree chart| | | | | |!| | }} {{tree chart|border=0| | | | |BF|BF=''Baron Fermanagh (1876, UK'')}} {{tree chart| | | | |JC3E|JC3E='''John Crichton 3rd Earl Erne''' 1802–1885}} {{tree chart| | | | | |!| | }} {{tree chart| | | | |JC4E|JC4E='''John Crichton 4th Earl Erne''' 1839–1914}} {{tree chart| | | | | |)|-|-|-|.| | }} {{tree chart| | | | |HCVC| |CHGC|HCVC=Henry Crichton Viscount Crichton 1872–1914|CHGC=Col. Hon. George Crichton 1874–1952}} {{tree chart| |,|-|-|-|(| | | |!| | }} {{tree chart|GC| |JC5E| |DC|GC=George Crichton 1904–1904|JC5E='''John Crichton 5th Earl Erne''' 1907–1940|DC=David Crichton 1914–1997}} {{tree chart| | | | | |!| | | |!| | }} {{tree chart| | | | |HC6E| |CC|HC6E='''Henry Crichton 6th Earl Erne''' 1937–2015|CC={{nowrap|Charles Crichton}} born 1953}} {{tree chart| | | | | |!| | | |!| | }} {{tree chart| | | | |JC7E| |OC|JC7E='''John Crichton 7th Earl Erne''' born 1971|OC=Oliver Crichton born 1995}} {{tree chart/end}} {{chart bottom}}

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== *{{cite book |last=Hesilrige |first=Arthur G. M. |date=1921| title=Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy| url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/349 | location=London |publisher=Dean & Son|page=349}} *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, {{Page needed |date=February 2013}} *{{Rayment|date=February 2012}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110308215840/http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/home.aspx?geotype=London ''The London Gazette''] {{Extant British earldoms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erne}} Category:Earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland Earl Category:Earls Erne Category:Noble titles created in 1789