Earl of Liverpool

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Earl of Liverpool is a title that has been created twice in British history. The first time was in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1796 for Sir Charles Jenkinson, 7th Baronet, a favourite of King George III (see Jenkinson Baronets for earlier history of the family). He had already been made Baron Hawkesbury, of Hawkesbury in the County of Gloucester, in 1786. His eldest son, the second Earl, served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. The peerages became extinct in 1851 on the death of his half-brother, the third Earl, while the baronetcy was inherited by a cousin (see Jenkinson Baronets).

The earldom was regranted in 1905 to the Liberal politician Cecil Foljambe, a female-line grandson of the third Earl of the first creation. He was made Viscount Hawkesbury, of Kirkham in the County of York and of Mansfield in the County of Nottingham, at the same time, and had already been created Baron Hawkesbury, of Haselbech in the County of Northampton and of Ollerton, Sherwood Forest, in the County of Nottingham, in 1893. His eldest son, the second Earl, served as Governor-General of New Zealand between 1912 and 1920. As of 2006 the titles are held by the latter's nephew, the fifth Earl, who succeeded his great-uncle in 1969. Lord Liverpool is one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sits on the Conservative benches.