Earl Rivers
Earl Rivers is an English title that was created three times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, in 1466, was for Richard Woodville, who became 1st Baron Rivers, and the title stayed with the Woodville family until 1491. The Rivers name comes from the old Redvers (or Reviers) family, not from a place, and their arms are shown on the Rivers shield; Redvers were earls of Devon.
The second creation happened in 1626 for Thomas Darcy, 1st Viscount Colchester, who had become the 3rd Baron Darcy of Chiche (a title created in 1551). In 1613, a reversion of the Darcy barony was granted to Sir Thomas Savage, who would become Viscount Savage in 1626 and was Darcy’s son-in-law. This creation and the Rivers earldom had a special remainder to Darcy’s male heirs, with remainder to Savage and his male heirs.
Savage’s son John inherited the Savage baronetcy and viscountcy in 1635. In 1640, on the death of the 1st Earl, John also inherited the 1613 reversion of the Darcy of Chiche barony, the Colchester viscountcy, and the Rivers earldom; the 1551 Darcy of Chiche barony became extinct. The earldom and its titles ended when John Savage, 5th Earl Rivers, died in 1737.
Elizabeth, Viscountess Savage, the daughter of the 1st Earl Rivers and mother of the 2nd Earl, was created Countess Rivers in her own right in 1641. That title was for life and ended with her death in 1650.
A later Rivers barony existed from 1776 to 1880 in the Pitt and Pitt-Rivers family.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:29 (CET).