Duke of Leeds was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1694 for the prominent statesman Thomas Osborne, 1st Marquess of Carmarthen, who had been one of the Immortal Seven in the Revolution of 1688. He had already succeeded as 2nd Baronet, of Kiveton (1647) and been created Viscount Osborne, of Dunblane (1673), Baron Osborne, of Kiveton in the County of York and Viscount Latimer, of Danby in the County of York, Earl of Danby, in the County of York (1674), and Marquess of Carmarthen (1689). All these titles were in the Peerage of England, except for the viscountcy of Osborne, which was in the Peerage of Scotland. He resigned the latter title in favour of his son in 1673. The Earldom of Danby was a revival of the title held by his great-uncle, Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby.
Kiveton Hall
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds
All Hallows Church, Harthill, South Yorkshire
The sign for the Duke of Leeds public house, Leedstown, Cornwall
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, was an English Tory politician and peer. During the reign of Charles II of England, he was the leading figure in the English government for roughly five years in the mid-1670s. Osborne fell out of favour due to corruption and other scandals. He was impeached and eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London for five years until James II of England acceded in 1685. In 1688, he was one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to depose James II during the Glorious Revolution. Osborne was again the leading figure in England's government for a few years in the early 1690s before dying in 1712.
Portrait by Johann Kerseboom, c. 1704
Thomas Osborne, Lord Danby, painted in Charles II's reign by Peter Lely (1618–1680)
Thomas Osborne, painted later in life as Duke of Leeds
Bridget Osborne, Duchess of Leeds