HEREDITARY GOVERNORS. 



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Edward I, who held them from 1254 to 1272, and later in 

 1318 to Prince Edward, afterwards Edward III. The grant 

 to the latter was made on a false rumour of the death of Otho 

 de Grandison and became void on his return to England. 



In the 15th century yet another mode of tenure was 

 adopted and the Isles were granted to Royal Princes 

 in fief with remainder to their heirs male. This form 

 of tenure in fief was a revival of the first system of 

 governorship adopted by King John when he gave them to 

 Pierre de Preaux in 1200. The princes who held the Isles 

 in this manner were John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of 

 France, 1415-1433, and Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, 

 1435 to 1446. These were hereditary governors, but as 

 neither left any descendants the Isles fell to the crown 

 at their death. It is hardly correct, however, to say that the 

 Lordship of the Isles fell to the crown on the death of the 

 Duke of Gloucester, as the year previous, on the 24th 

 November, 1445, Henry VI. had granted the reversion of 

 them to Henry de Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, who had 

 been his playfellow as a boy and upon whom, when he came of 

 age, he had heaped honour upon honour, creating him in 

 rapid succession Marquis, and then Duke of Warwick, as well 

 as King of the Isle of Wight. There is an important diffe- 

 rence in the Letters Patent, granting the lordship of the Isles 

 to the Duke of Warwick, from those of his predecessors. 

 Theirs contained a remainder to their heirs male, his a 

 remainder to his heirs, and in consequence, as we shall see, the 

 Isles passed in succession to two ladies of the de Beauchamp 

 family. Though the tomb of the Duke of Warwick at 

 Tewkesbury Abbey bore the proud inscription of King 

 of Wight, Gardsey and Jardsey, he never enjoyed the two latter 

 for, as we have already stated, he died a few months before 

 the Duke of Gloucester. On the latter's death, in 1446, Lady 

 Anne de Beauchamp, the Duke of Warwick's infant daughter, 

 became Lady of the Isles, and on the 24th February, 1447, 

 the king appointed John, Lord Beaumont, Grand Constable 

 of England, and Ralph Botiler, Lord Sudeley, as Governors of 

 the Isles, during her minority. Shortly after he gave the 

 Duke of Suffolk custody of her person and of all her 

 possessions until she came of age. The Duke then proceeded 

 to name a new Governor of his own, Sir William Bertram, to 

 look after his interests in the Isles, and obtained the king's 

 approval to this appointment on the 13th November, 1448. 

 The king however adding a proviso " provided the appoint- 

 ment did not interfere with the rights of the Lords Beaumont 



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