The Dukes : Origins, Ennoblement and History of 26 Families

by Brian Masters

The origins of the non-royal dukes in the British peerage divide nicely into Tudor looters, Royal bastards, opportunist generals, territorial, metropolitan or Scottish magnates. Lloyd George said that a duke, fully equipped, cost more than a dreadnought to maintain and with their palaces, possessions and retinues, they are nearly all splendid. Some of them are, of course, now poor; some of them have great wealth; some of them hit every headline and others are obscure. But within each duchy, Brian Masters tells the story of quaint grandees determined to survive. The Dukes is an essential guide that provides vital biographical information and explores the history of the dukes in unprecedented depth. This revised edition includes new information which was not available on first publication, and brings up to date the accounts of families whose titles have passed to a subsequent generation in the intervening years.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Brian Masters is a British writer best known for his biographies of mass murderers, including Killing for Company, on Dennis Nilsen; The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer; She Must Have Known, on Rosemary West; and The Evil That Men Do. He has also written about the British aristocracy and worked as a translator.

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sold itself to me when I saw it in the secondhand bookshop at Clumber Park (in that chunk of Nottinghamshire known as the Dukeries, appropriately enough, where the dukes of Norfolk, Kingston, Newcastle and Portland all owned neighbouring estates) by appealing to my love of a good real-life character. I can happily report that I was not disappointed. The account of the origins and family history of the twenty-six surviving dukedoms (there have been 162 ducal ennoblements throughout British and Irish history) is littered with eccentrics, madmen, elopements, gamblers, instances of appalling misjudgement, wastrel heirs, murderers, injudicious investments, imposters, rogues, saviour heiresses (many of them American), war heroes, cold and distant parents, dysfunctional childhoods and the occasional great duke (and duchesses) who managed their estates with flair and good sense, provided for their tenants and made a solid, or even great, contribution to national life and/or international affairs.
The Dukes was first published in 1975 and revised and updated for this 2001 Pimlico edition. Brian Masters of course later achieved great success as the author of several well-regarded psychological studies of serial killers, including Dennis Nillsen, Jeffrey Dahmer and Fred and Rose West. His early style here has curiously baroque flourishes but doesn’t get in the way of an informative and entertaining read.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually would like a part 2. It was a very brief overview of each non-royal dukedom and a quick jump through each successive duke.
I highly recommend for someone who is starting English history.
The writing was fantastic. I didn’t feel bored at any time.

[Jeffrey Thiessen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging overview for anyone interested in learning about the current families who hold the highest rank in the British peerage. The author writes about 26 non-royal dukedoms however since first being published, two have since become extinct - Newcastle and Portland.

[Renata Holder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very well written, but enjoyable and informative.

[Alan Addison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not as good as it should be, given the wealth of material. I would suspect that a lot of the writer's research was aided by the families themselves and he felt somehow duty bound to adopt an almost hagiographical tone.

Also, for reasons best known to himself Masters is unable to follow a strictly chronological sequence of events. It is not unusual for a paragraph to mention three non-consecutive generations of a ducal family. He also cannot resist the temptation to keep referring back to people (usually of fleeting importance) mentioned earlier in the book, which only serves to confuse the reader.

All of this is a shame, because the material itself is fascinating, and deserves a better book.