However, in 1149 or 1150, as William had gone over to the side of Empress Matilda, King Stephen took the earldom from him and elevated Gilbert de Gant as Earl of Lincoln.

The Earldom was created for the third time by King Stephen in 1149 or 1150 for Gilbert de Gant, but on his death in 1156 it reverted to the Crown.

The Earldom was created for the fourth time in 1217 during the reign of Henry III (1207-1272) for Ranulph de Blondeville.

Royal consent was needed for this because the Earldom would otherwise have reverted to the crown in the absence of a legitimate male heir.

She in turn passed the Earldom, again with the consent of the King, jointly to her daughter Margaret de Quincy (d.1266), who thereby became suo jure 2nd Countess of Lincoln, and to the latter's husband (Hawise's son-in-law) John de Lacy (c. 1192-1240) 8th Baron of Halton, 8th Hereditary Constable of Chester and feudal baron of Pontefract.

There is doubt as to whether their son Edmund de Lacy (1230-1258) became Earl of Lincoln, as he predeceased his mother, but not his father.

The Complete Peerage gives him as the 3rd Earl,[dubious – discuss] but notes that "he does not appear to have been formally invested with the earldom, presumably because his mother outlived him".

[2][verification needed] Edmund's son Henry de Lacy, 4th Earl of Lincoln, married Margaret Longespée.

Their daughter Alice de Lacy, 5th Countess inherited the earldom and married Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster.

He was the eldest son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, and Elizabeth of York.

His son, the seventh Earl, served as Paymaster of the Forces, as Constable of the Tower and as Cofferer of the Household.

His eldest son, the sixth Duke, briefly represented Newark in the House of Commons; he married Henrietta Adele, the wealthy heiress and daughter of Henry Thomas Hope.

On his death the dukedom became extinct, while he was succeeded in the earldom by his distant relative, the eighteenth Earl, a descendant in the tenth generation of the Hon.

Lord Lincoln lived all his life in Australia, and reportedly learned of his succession from a British newspaper.

The Honourable George Clinton, youngest son of the sixth Earl, was a naval Commander, politician and Colonial administrator.

The surrounding estate was sold to the National Trust in 1946 and is now a country park featuring a walled kitchen garden, open to the public.