John Stratford, 1st Earl of Aldborough

His father quarrelled with his two elder sons and disinherited them, so that the estate passed to John.

He was said to have been a notably inactive MP, whose great ambition was to acquire a peerage.

[3][6] On 22 July 1776, he was advanced to the dignity of Viscount Aldborough, of Belan, County Kildare[3] or the Palatinate of Upper Ormond,[7] part of a series of promotions carried out by Earl Harcourt, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to secure support for the British ministry in the Parliament of Ireland.

[8] and on 9 February 1777, Stratford was further honoured when he became Viscount Amiens and Earl of Aldborough, of the Palatinate of Upper Ormond.

[3][9] The title of "Viscount Amiens" was apparently adapted on the strength of a fictitious pedigree detailing Stratford's descent from a companion of William the Conqueror originating in Amiens.