The dukedom was created on 10 August 1715 for his great-grandson, Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, who had succeeded as the fifth Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1690.

Several members of the family had served in the 15th and 16th centuries as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

[1] The direct forebear of the Dukes and Earls of Kingson-upon-Hull was Sir Henry Pierrepont who represented Nottinghamshire in Parliament.

In 1628 he was further honoured when he was made Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull with a remainder to heirs general, also in the Peerage of England.

Robert died unmarried and was succeeded by his younger brother, William, the fourth Earl.

Lady Mary Pierrepont, better known as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, daughter of the first Duke, was a writer, and introduced smallpox inoculation to Western medicine after witnessing it during her travels and stay in the Ottoman Empire.