Archer’s full title is Archer, Lord Clearwater, Viscount of Riverside and Larkspur, and in effect, he has three viscountcies. However, as is custom, he only uses one, unless it is for a formal announcement. The Riverside and Larkspur viscountcies were added long after the original Clearwater title, Clearwater being the (imaginary) area of Cornwall where the first title was created.

While putting together the Clearwater stories, and ‘The Clearwater Inheritance’ in particular, I delved into Archer’s family history, but never needed to go back further than his father and grandfather. There is mention of his mother’s ancestry in some of the novels, and Archer also has honorary titles after his name thanks to Lady Clearwater’s family: Lord Baradan of Hapsburg-Bran, and Honourable Boyar Musat-Rasnov, are the two that are dragged out on very formal occasions, or when he has a need to impress, such as his court appearance in ‘Fallen Splendour.’ These titles are completely made up, and I used them only to show he had a far-distant connection to the crowned heads of Prussia and Eastern Europe, for a romantic touch.

As for the Clearwater title, when I came to write ‘Seeing through Shadows’, I needed to be sure of the history of the viscountcy, and that meant I had to draw up a line of men who had held the title. British titles only carry through the male line, so, in ‘The Larkspur Legacy’, Archer’s nephew could not have inherited his title because the nephew is descended from Archer’s sister.

When I first introduced Archer as the nineteenth viscount, to me, it sounded like it was a very old title, and that is what I wanted. However, later, when writing ‘Shadows’, I realised that for someone to be a nineteenth generation would have meant the title was created around 1240, and the first viscountcy in England didn’t come about until John Beaumont was created Viscount Beaumont by King Henry VI in 1440. My calculation, that the nineteenth generation, Archer, would have come about 646 after the first, is based on the average interval per generation of descendants being 34 years, according to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy.

In other words, it was improbable that a man born in 1859 was the nineteenth generation of the title. Luckily for me, there was a civil war in England during which families fought against families, and it wasn’t impossible the title of Viscount Clearwater could have passed between several sons, brothers and cousins at that time.

This is explained in ‘Seeing through Shadows’ as Chester carries out his research, but what follows is the list of viscounts I created as background research for Chester’s research, and I’ve included it out of interest. Not all viscounts are named, because I didn’t need to name them, but you might like to know:

• First Clearwater Viscount was created by King Henry VIII after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

• The fifth to the tenth viscounts were usurpers and feuding brothers, cousins, and uncles during the Civil War from 1642 to 1652.

• The fourteenth and fifteenth viscounts were smugglers and crooks.

• The sixteenth, Archer’s great-grandfather, was the Renaissance man and made the money.

• The ‘should-have-been’ nineteenth viscount was Crispin, Archer’s demented brother, deemed unfit, thus, disinherited of the title by Royal Decree.

The Viscounts Clearwater

From William Riddington, 1541 to Archer Riddington, 1888.

Position          Name                          Born   Died                Title    To

1^st                    William                      1511    1571                1541    1571

2^nd                                                       1548    1611                1571    1611

3^rd                                                        1578    1631                1611    1631

4^th                                                        1600    1642                1631    1642

5^th        Brother of 4^th                                      1645                1642    1645

6^th        Killed by cousin                                 1647                1645    1647

7^th        Usurped title                                       1649                1647    1649

8^th        Brother of 7^th                                      1650                1649    1650

9^th        Cousin of 8^th killed in battle               1651                1650    1651

10^th      Brother of 9^th                          1600    1652                1651    1652

11^th      Legitimate son of 4^th               1630    1685                1652    1685

12^th                                                      1665    1720                1685    1720

13^th                  Charles                        1694    1759                1720    1795

14^th                  Banlock                       1727    1800                1759    1800

15^th                  William                      1747    1805                1800    1805

16^th                  Delamere                    1765    1822                1805    1822

17^th                  Matthew Delamere     1800    1870                1822    1871

18^th                  Mathias                       1860    1888                1870    1888

19^th                  Archer Camoys           1859    –                       1888    –