The first Earl of Oxford had been minister of Henry Beauclerc.

The third Earl had been conspicuous among the Lords who extorted the Great Charter from John.
The seventh Earl had fought bravely at Cressy and Pointiers.

The thirteenth Earl had, through many vicissitudes of fortune, been the chief of the party of the Red Rose, and had led the van on the decisive day of Bosworth.

The seventeenth Earl had shone at the court of Elizabeth, and had won for himself an honourable place among the early masters of English poetry.

The nineteenth Earl had fallen in arms for the Protestant religion and for the liberties of Europe under the walls of Maastricht.