Marquess of Lansdowne

Marquessate of Lansdowne
Arms of Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marquesses of Lansdowne: 1st and 4th, ermine, on a bend, azure, a magnetic needle, pointing to the polar star, or (Petty); 2nd and 3rd, argent, a saltire, gules, and a chief, ermine (Fitzmaurice).
Creation date	1784
Monarch	George III
Peerage	Peerage of Great Britain
First holder	William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne
Present holder	Charles Petty-FitzMaurice, 9th Marquess of Lansdowne
Heir apparent	Simon Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry
Subsidiary titles	Earl of Kerry Earl of Wycombe Earl of Shelburne Viscount Clanmaurice Viscount Fitzmaurice Viscount Calne and Calston Baron Kerry and Lixnaw Baron Dunkeron Baron Wycombe of Chipping Wycombe
Seat(s)	Bowood House
Former seat(s)	Lansdowne House
Armorial motto	Virtue non verbis (By courage, not words)

Marquess of Lansdowne is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1784, and held by the head of the Petty-FitzMaurice family. The first Marquess served as Prime Minister of Great Britain.

This branch of the family descends from the Hon. John Petty-Fitzmaurice (originally John Fitzmaurice), second son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry (see the Earl of Kerry for earlier history of the family), and his wife Anne, the daughter of the noted political economist Sir William Petty (whose wife had been created Baroness Shelburne and whose two sons had been created Baron Shelburne and Earl of Shelburne respectively, but who had died without heirs; see these titles for more information). In 1751 he succeeded to the estates of his maternal uncle Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Shelburne, and assumed by Act of Parliament the surname of Petty in addition to FitzMaurice. The same year he was created Baron Dunkeron and Viscount FitzMaurice in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1753 the earldom held by his uncle was revived when he was made Earl of Shelburne, in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland. He later represented Wycombe in the House of Commons as a Whig. In 1760 he was created Baron Wycombe, of Chepping Wycombe in the County of Buckingham, in the Peerage of Great Britain, which gave him an automatic seat in the British House of Lords.

The Earl of Shelburne was succeeded by his eldest son William Petty-FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne. He was a prominent statesman and served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1782 to 1783. The Prime Minister's brother, The Hon. Thomas FitzMaurice (1742-1793) of Cliveden, was also a fellow Member of Parliament. It was reported in 2012 that Thomas FitzMaurice's direct descendants included brothers Lieut. Osmund Fitzmaurice Bullock and Sir Christopher Bullock with Sir Christopher's wife - Lady Bullock (née Barbara May Lupton) - being the second cousin of Olive Middleton (née Lupton), the great grandmother of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.