The earldom of Huntingdon was granted by King Henry VIII. to George,
Lord Hastings, on the 8th of November 1529. The first peer left five
sons, of whom the eldest succeeded to the title on his father's
decease; but notwithstanding the multiplicity of heirs-male, and the
chances of a prolonged existence, the title lapsed in 1789, on the
death of Francis, the tenth earl, who never was married.
In 1817, there was living at Enniskillen, in Ireland, an ordnance
store-keeper called Captain Hans-Francis Hastings, and this gentleman
there made the acquaintance of a solicitor named Mr. Nugent Bell, who,
like himself, was ardently devoted to field-sports. The friendship
subsisting between the pair was of the closest kind; and it having
been whispered about that the captain had made a sort of side-claim to
the earldom of Huntingdon, Mr. Bell questioned him about the truth of
the rumour. As it turned out, the circumstantial part of the story was
totally false; but it nevertheless was a fact that Captain Hastings
had a faint idea that he had some right to the dormant peerage.
However, as he said himself, he had been sent early to sea, had been
long absent from his native country, and had little really valuable
information as to his family history. He said that his uncle, the Rev.
Theophilus Hastings, rector of Great and Little Leke, had always
endeavoured to impress upon him that he was the undoubted heir to the
title, and that fourteen years previously he had himself so far
entertained the notion as to pay a visit to College of Arms in London,
to learn the proper steps to be taken to establish his claim; but that
when he was told that the cost of the process would be at least three
thousand guineas, he abandoned all notion of legal proceedings, which
were simply impossible because of his scanty resources. Mrs. Hastings,
who was present during the conversation, contributed all that she
knew respecting the whimsical old clergyman who had so carefully
instructed his nephew to consider himself a peer in prospective, and
particularly pointed out that the old gentleman entertained an
irreconcileable hatred of the Marquis of Hastings. It seemed also that
some time after the last earl's death, the Rev. Mr. Hastings had
assumed the title of Earl of Huntingdon, and that a stone pillar had
been erected in front of the parsonage-house at Leke, on which there
was a metal plate bearing a Latin inscription, to the effect that he
was the eleventh Earl of Huntingdon, godson of Theophilus the ninth
earl, and entitled to the earldom by descent.
These reminiscences and suspicions could not have been poured into
more attentive ears. Mr. Bell had long been a student of heraldry, and
saw an opportunity not only of benefiting his friend, but of
signalizing himself. Accordingly he undertook to investigate the
matter, and offered, in the event of failure, to bear the whole of the
attendant expense, simply premising that, if he succeeded, he should
be recouped. On the 1st of July a letter passed between Captain
Hastings and Mr. Bell, which shows the sentiments of both parties. This
is it:--
"MY DEAR BELL,--I will pay you all costs in case you succeed in
proving me the legal heir to the Earldom of Huntingdon. If not, the
risk is your own; and I certainly will not be answerable for any
expense you may incur in the course of the investigation. But I pledge
myself to assist you by letters, and whatever information I can
collect, to the utmost of my power; and remain very sincerely yours,
F. HASTINGS."
"Nugent Bell, Esq."
On the back of this letter Captain Hastings wrote:
"By all that's good, you are mad."
On the 17th of August Mr. Bell sailed for England, and proceeded to
Castle Donnington, where he had a very unsatisfactory interview with a
solicitor named Dalby, who had long been in the employment of the
Hastings family. Bit by bit, however, he picked up information, and
every addition seemed to render the claim of the Enniskillen captain
stronger, until at last Bell drew up a case which met the unqualified
approval of Sir Samuel Romilly, who said, "I do not conceive that it
will be necessary to employ counsel to prepare the petition which is
to be presented to the Prince-Regent. All that it will be requisite to
do is to state that the first earl was created by letters-patent to
him and the heirs-male of his body; and the fact of the death of the
last Earl of Huntingdon having left the petitioner the heir-male of
the body of the first earl, surviving him, together with the manner in
which he makes out his descent; and to pray that his Royal Highness
will be pleased to give directions that a writ of summons should issue
to call him up to the House of Lords." A petition was accordingly
prepared in this sense, and was submitted to the Attorney-General, Sir
Samuel Shepherd, who made the recommendation as suggested. After the
Attorney-General's report had received the approbation of the Lord
Chancellor, the Prince-Regent signed the royal warrant, and Captain
Hastings took his place in the House of Lords as Earl of Huntingdon.