Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland


Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, 5th Baron Percy, of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland and Petworth House, Sussex, was an English peer.

Origins

Percy was the eldest son of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, KG, by his second wife, Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, KG.

Career

He served as a Page of Honour at the coronation of King Charles II on 23 April 1661 and on 4 November 1661 entered the Inner Temple for legal training.

Marriage and children

On 23 December 1662 he married Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley, 3rd daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, by whom he had children as follows:
of Lucy of Cockermouth Castle: Gules, three lucies hauriant argent
Following the death of his grandson Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset in 1750, the former Percy estates were split between the Smithson and Wyndham families.

Death and succession

Following his death in 1670, without a male heir, the earl's titles became extinct and his estates passed to his only daughter and sole heiress, Lady Elizabeth Percy. She married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, thus forming one of the most wealthy couples in England. The title Earl of Northumberland was re-created in 1748 for his daughter's son Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, with special remainder to the latter's son-in-law Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet, later created Duke of Northumberland, who changed his surname to Percy and inherited the ancient Percy seat of Alnwick Castle. The 7th Duke of Somerset was also created Earl of Egremont in 1749, with special remainder to his nephew Sir Charles Wyndham, 4th Baronet, who inherited the other part of the Percy estates, namely Petworth House in Sussex and Egremont Castle in Cumbria.