considerable antiquity, though of no particular distinction. One Robert
Pierrepont, who was born in 1584, the son of Sir Henry by Frances,
sister of William, first Earl of Devonshire, was the first of the family
upon whom a peerage was bestowed. He was created in 1627 Baron
Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont and Viscount Newark, and in the following
year was elevated to the dignity of Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, Co.
York. A zealous royalist, he was in 1643 appointed Lieutenant-General of
the King's forces in the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon,
Cambridge, and Norfolk, and soon after taking up this command was
accidentally shot near Gainsborough, when being carried off in a pinnace
as a prisoner to Hull by the Parliamentary Army. He married in 1601
Gertrude, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir William Reyner, of Orton
Longueville, Co. Huntingdon. She survived her husband six years.

The second Earl was Henry Pierrepont, who was born in 1607. From 1628,
when his father was given the earldom, he was known under the style of
Viscount Newark. In that year he was elected Member of Parliament for
Nottingham, and he represented that constituency until 1641, when he was
summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony as Lord
Pierrepont. He, too, was an ardent supporter of the King, and was a
member of His Majesty's Council of War at Oxford. He was created
Marquess of Dorchester in 1645. After the Restoration he was in high
favour at Whitehall. He was Commissioner of Claims at the Coronation of
Charles II, and in 1662 and again in 1673 he acted as Joint Commissioner
of the office of Earl Marshal. He was twice married, but had no direct
heirs, and on his death in 1680 the marquessate became extinct.

The earldom passed to the family of the younger brother of the last
holder. This was the great grandfather of Lady Mary, William Pierrepont,
who deservedly earned the title of "Wise William." He sided with the