Baron Methuen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baron Methuen, of Corsham in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for Paul Methuen, a former Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and Wiltshire North. He had been a Tory member of parliament for Wilts from 1812 to 1819, and then sat as a Whig for North Wilts from 1833 to 1838.

His grandfather, Paul Methuen, was the cousin and heir of the wealthy Sir Paul Methuen (1672-1757) a well-known politician, courtier, diplomat and patron of art and literature, who was the son of John Methuen (c. 1650-1706) Lord Chancellor of Ireland (1697-1703) and ambassador to Portugal. It was the last-named who in 1703 negotiated the famous Methuen Treaty, which, in return for the admission of English woollens into Portugal, granted differential duty favoring the importation of Portuguese wines into England to the disadvantage of French wines, and thus contributed to the replacement of the drinking of burgundy by that of port.

The 1st Baron was succeeded in the title by his son Frederick Henry Paul Methuen (1818-1891), and the latter by his son Paul, 3rd Baron (1845-1932), a distinguished soldier, who became a major-general in 1890, and general officer commanding-in-chief in South Africa in 1907. The 3rd Baron joined the Scots Guards in 1864, served in the Ashanti War of 1874 and the Egyptian War of 1882, and commanded Methuens Horse in Bechuanaland in 1884-85, and the first division of the 1st Army Corps in the South African War of 1899-1902. (See Transvaal.) The 3rd Baron was succeeded by his son Paul Ayshford Methuen (1886-1974), who was a professional artist and Royal Academician.

The family seat is the country house and estate of Corsham Court.

[edit] Barons Methuen (1838)

The Heir Presumptive is Christopher Paul Mansel Methuen-Campbell (b. 23 March 1928)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/a/r/Baron_Methuen_03fb.html"