Viscount Exmouth


Viscount Exmouth, of Canonteign in the County of Devon, is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom.

History

The title was created in 1816 for the prominent naval officer Edward Pellew, 1st Baron Exmouth. He had already been created a baronet in the baronetage of Great Britain on 18 March 1796 for rescuing the crew of the East Indiaman Dutton. After a succession of commands culminating as Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, he was created Baron Exmouth, of Canonteign in the County of Devon, in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1814. He was advanced as a Viscount, with the same designation, for the successful bombardment of Algiers in 1816, which secured the release of the 1,000 Christian slaves in the city.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Viscount, who represented Launceston in Parliament. On the death in 1922 of the second Viscount's great-grandson, the fifth Viscount, this line of the family failed. He was succeeded by his 94-year-old first cousin twice removed, the sixth Viscount. He was the son of the Hon. and Very Revd George Pellew, Dean of Norwich, third son of the first Viscount. Partly due to having become a U.S. citizen, and partly due to his advanced age, the sixth Viscount did not use his title for the brief period he held it, nor did he claim his seat in the House of Lords. Only six months after succeeding to his titles, the sixth Viscount died. He was succeeded by his son, the seventh Viscount, a naturalised U.S. citizen and professor of chemistry. Having succeeded to the peerage, the seventh Viscount returned to England in 1923 and again became a British subject, taking his seat in the House of Lords in 1931. Upon his death without any surviving issue in 1945, this line of the family also failed.
The title then passed to the seventh Viscount's second cousin, the eighth Viscount. He was the grandson of the Hon. and Revd Edward Pellew, fourth son of the first Viscount. His son, the ninth Viscount, married María Luisa de Urquijo y Losada, Marquesa de Olías, a title of Spanish nobility created by King Philip IV in 1652. They were succeeded in their respective titles by their son, Paul Pellew, as 10th Viscount Exmouth and 9th Marquess of Olías.
The family seat was Canonteign House, near Exeter in Devon.

Pellew baronets (1796)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son, the Hon. Edward Francis Pellew.

Title succession chart

Line of succession