John Denton Pinkstone French was a British field marshal during WWI. In 1922 he was created (by the king of Great Britain, as far as I can tell) the 1[sup]st[/sup] Earl of Ypres. Now Ypres is in Belgium. Granted, Field Marshal French was associated with the Battles of Ypres. But how the heck can the king make a person Earl of some place that isn’t in his kingdom? What’s next? Is Queen Elizabeth going to make Tony Blair the 1[sup]st[/sup] Earl of Brooklyn?
British titles are often a little quirky. There was a Lord Say and Seale, for example. Arthur Wellesley had his name transmorgrified into a fictional place-name: Duke of Wellington.
Since to be “Earl of X” (or even “Duke of X”[sup]1[/sup]) has absolutely no meaning for X (and hasn’t for quite a few centuries), a reigning monarch can create someone Earl of whatever pleases his or her fancy.
Generally, a territorial title is within the monarch’s own dominions, so as to avoid recriminations for foreign states (occasionally delivered via ICBM). However, titles are sometimes granted otherwise, particularly if the place chosen has some significance to the person honored. I know of two grants of the title “Duke of Albemarle” (a district in Normandy) to British subjects. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery was created Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.
During the Sengoku Jidai, it was common for daimyo to grant their relatives and chief retainers the honorific title “X-no-kami” (“Lord of X”), although the place may have been nowhere near their own domians, not under their control, and others already had that title.
[sup]1[/sup]Being “Duke of Earl”, however, does get you a hit song.
Note: I could be wrong about the Iron Duke. There are two towns in England by that name, but I believe they were changed to that name after Wellington got his title.
Well, it could be due to the fact that the King of the Belgians was a cousin of George V.
For the English to name someone the earl of Ypres may seem strange, but is approiate. During World War One the English held that city, loosing several hundred thousand men in the process. I just visted Belgium last month, and in Ypres there is a gate, the name slips my mind at the moment, that has the name of every English soldier that died at Ypres. To see the number of names on the gate was an amazing experience. I can see why the English have a tie to Ypres
By far the wierdest British “lordship” I’ve heard of so far has been the one supposedly destined for Michael Ashcroft (Tory treasurer and bank-roller who lives in tax exile in Central America). Allegedly Ashcroft wants to be known as Lord Ashcroft of Belize. Being named after a foreign battlefield: somewhat dignified. Being named after your tax-free haven of choice: now that deserves a WTF!
Similarly, King George V gave the commander of the British and Canadian troops at Vimy Ridge in France in the Great War the title “Viscount Byng of Vimy.” I would assume tht the French wouldn’t have a problem with allowing the name to be used to celebrate someone who helped beat the Huns in a key battle for French soil.
FWIW, another example of this oddity is when former Canadian Prime Minister R.B. Bennett emigrated to Britain.
He was named to the British House of Lords as Viscount Bennett of Mickleham, Calgary (Alberta), and Hopewell. Bennett, BTW, was a Calgary MP for many years.
If you are made a peer, you are pretty much free to choose what place name you take in your title. Like others have said, it has no significance for the place itself.
Most people choose their home town or the place where they live (e.g. P.D. James became Baroness James of Holland Park, the area of London where she lives; Jeffrey Archer became Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare, allegedly his home town).
A number of military types took the names of places overses where they had won battles. Two more examples are Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (Field Marshall Montgomery of the Desert Rats); and Earl Alexander of Tunis, whose descendent still sits in the House of Lords.
In some cases, a peer may choose not to become “Lord N of P”, but “Lord P”. The most recent example I can think of is Roy Hughes, formerly MP for Islwyn, who became Lord Islwyn, rather than Lord Hughes of Islwyn. This is what the 1st Duke of Wellington did, though why he chose Wellington, I’m not sure, since he was Irish. There is a famous public (i.e. private) school in Wellington and it may be that he was educated there.
It’s up to the Queen to approve the style and title which a prospective peer wishes to adopt.
BTW, are there many non-royal dukes left?
My father, while a mere Constable in the RCMP, once knocked Field Marshal Sir Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, Viscount Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis and Baron Rideau of Ottawa, and of Castle Derg, county Tyrone flat on his ass while skiing in the Laurentians in the early 1950s.
Here’s a breakdown of the current House of Lords membership. Only 2 Dukes, but over 500 Barons/Lords.
If you’re wondering how to address a Marchioness, or pronounce Cholmondeley, try Debrett’s Peerage.
If you want to have a feudal title (not a “real” British Peerage, though!), try buying one. If you’re on a budget, I see that the Albanian Barony of Jannina is a snip at US $3,000.
Dibs on being Baron of Skibbereen!
Every ten years or so, the Fairfax County Government invites the current Lord Fairfax over the pond to preside at a festival. Just a few years back, he even came, and brought Lady Fairfax with him. The trivialities of such things as the American Revolution did not stop him from being Lord Fairfax.
Tris
I like this
Don’t be too hard on your dad.
I suspect that he would have fallen over sometime anyway under the weight of all that lot. 
Doers it even have to be a place? I thought it could be any word (like an event or whatever). Like Lord Viscount of the Great Chinese March or Duke of the Cookies and Ketchup.
I want to be the Duchess of Ness.
(Loch Ness…Nessie, teehee!)
The territorial designations in the titles of British peerages are purely honorific. The holder of the earldom of Ypres has no claim of lordship over Ypres.
New peers can choose almost any title they want (subject to the approval of the Garter King of Arms), although the permission of any town chosen has to be sought first. Other factors are whether the importance of the placename reflects the importance of the peerage and whether the placename has already been used in another peerage.
The use of foreign placenames are usually (but not always)restricted to peerages granted to distinguished soldiers. Examples which haven’t yet been mentioned include Baron Clive of Plassey, Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, Earl Nelson of Trafalgar and Baron Nelson of the Nile, Earl Roberts of Pretoria, and Baron Kitchener of Khartoum. The extreme example is Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Wellington took his main title from the town of that name in Somerset where he had family connections. However, his secondary titles, Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington, and Baron Douro of Wellesley, do illustrate the use of foreign placenames.
Strictly speaking, Albemarle wasn’t a foreign placename on the various occasions when it was used in English peerages, as the English Crown was then still claiming the throne of France.
The case of Lord Ashcroft of Belize has raised eyebrows for this and other reasons. As he allegedly has the government of Belize in his pocket, it is perhaps not that inappropriate.