last Earl of Derwentwater in various 18th Century publications. This is most generally taken to refer to James the 3rd Earl however each needs to be considered in context as James Bartholomew Radclyffe was the last to use the title as a matter of course, between 1746 when his father Charles Radclyffe was executed and the death of his mother, the suo jure Countess of Newburgh, when James Bartholomew commenced calling himself by the unattainted title, Earl of Newburgh. In the mid-19th Century the so-called "Mad" Countess of Derwentwater, a woman calling herself Amelia Mary Tudor Radcliffe took possession of Dilston Castle and claimed that the titular 4th Earl John had not died at age 19, but had faked his own death and relocated to Germany to avoid Hanoverian agents. There he had married and had a family. The "Countess" claimed to be the great-granddaughter of John Radcliffe and for a time gained many followers. Whether her story was correct or otherwise it is certain that she was not a "Countess of Derwentwater" as the title could not be inherited through a female line. Estates after the attainder The family estates were not forfeited on the attainder of the 3rd Earl, because his son's right to them under his marriage settlement was established before the Court of Delegates on appeal from the Forfeited Estates Commission, but the forfeiture took effect on his death in 1731. The estates were granted to Greenwich Hospital in 1735. However, after the execution of Charles Ratcliffe in 1746, his son James, Lord Kinnard, claimed them. This claim was compromised by £30,000 being paid to him and his siblings. On his death in 1746, his son obtained an annuity of £2500 for himself and his widow. The estates remained in the hands of the Hospital Commissioners until 1865, when they were transferred by the Greenwich Hospital Act 1865 to the Admiralty Board, who sold them. See also Earl of Newburgh References External links The Radcliffes of Dilston Hall Forfeited earldoms in the Peerage of England Noble titles created in 1688