[Illustration] The Clintons are traced to the reign of Henry I.,
when, by favour of that king, Geffery de Clinton "was raised from
the dust," as a contemporary writer affirms, and made Justice of
England. He was enriched by large grants of land from the crown, and
built the castle of Kenilworth. The present family descend from the
brother of this Geffery, whose issue were of Coleshill and Maxtoke
in Warwickshire, of which latter place John de Clinton was created
Baron in 1298. His descendant, Edward Lord Clinton, was advanced to
the Earldom of Lincoln in 1572. No family was more nobly allied, few
had broader possessions--all have been long dissipated; but a
fortunate match with the eventual heiress of Pelham in 1717 revived
the drooping fortunes of the Clintons; hence the estate of Clumber,
the former seat of the Holles family, and the Dukedom of Newcastle.
See Dugdale's Warwickshire, 2nd ed. vol. ii. pp. 992, 1007; and
Brydges's Collins, ii. 181.
ARMS.--_Argent, three cross crosslets fitchée sable, on a chief
azure two mullets pierced of the first_. The original arms, as borne
by Thomas de Clinton in the reign of Henry III., appears to have
been _a plain chief_. See his seal engraved in Upton, de Studio
Militari, p. 82. In the reign of Edward II. Sir John Clinton of
Maxtoke bore, _Argent, on a chief azure two mullets or_. At the same
period another Sir John Clinton bore, _Or, three piles azure, a
canton ermine_. His son in the fifth of Edward III. bore, _Argent,
on a chief azure two fleurs-de-lis or_. William Clinton, Earl of
Huntingdon, at the same period bore the present coat with the
exception of _three mullets or_ in place of the _two mullets
argent_, and John Clinton omitted the crosslets. William Clinton,
Lord of Allesley, who lived at the same period, bore the present
coat. John de Clinton in the succeeding reign, bore _two
mullets of six points or pierced gules_, and Thomas de Clynton the
same with _a label of three points ermine_.
See Willement's and Nicolas's Rolls, and Montagu's Guide to the
Study of Heraldry, p. 51.
Present Representative, Henry Pelham Alexander Pelham-Clinton, 6th
Duke of Newcastle.
+Gentle.+