Province of New York: in 1664 the Duke of York, James II of England, purchased Long Island and other lands granted Stirling in 1635.
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The titles became dormant upon the death of the fifth Earl in 1739, although one William Alexander of New York, known to history as Major General Lord Stirling of the Continental Army, years before the American Revolutionary War pursued a claim to succeed to the dormant earldom.
Born in Falmouth, Stafford County, Virginia, Seddon was a descendant of William Alexander, Earl of Stirling.
James Earl Jones | Stirling | Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex | Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma | Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener | Earl | Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts | Earl of Derby | Earl Warren | Earl of Pembroke | Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer | Earl of Warwick | Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford | Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby | Earl of Shrewsbury | William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham | Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester | Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick | Earl of Leicester | John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon | James Stirling | Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex | Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester | Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer | Earl of Devon | Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig | My Name Is Earl | Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon | Earl Scruggs | Earl of March |
William Alexander, who was later an American major-general in the American Revolutionary War, was a pretender to the dormant title Earl of Stirling, and was even once permitted to participate in an election of Scottish representative peers, however his claim to the title was later rejected by the House of Lords.
His son Hugh Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of the Great Ards, succeeded him, married in 1623 Lady Jean Alexander, who died in 1670, daughter of the 1st Earl of Stirling, and died on 15 November 1642.
Past presidents of the venerable society include Philip Livingston, William Alexander (the "Earl of Stirling"), Andrew Carnegie and Ward Melville.
William Alexander, Lord Stirling, American Revolutionary War general who claimed the title of Earl of Stirling