Baron Wentworth

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Anne Isabella Byron, Lady Byron and 11th Baroness Wentworth
Anne Isabella Byron, Lady Byron
and 11th Baroness Wentworth

Baron Wentworth is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1529 for Thomas Wentworth, who was also de jure sixth Baron le Despencer of the 1387 creation. The peerage was created by writ, which means that it can descend through both male and female lines. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baron. He represented Suffolk in the House of Commons and served as Deputy of Calais. His grandson, the fourth Baron, was created Earl of Cleveland in the Peerage of England in 1626. He later became a prominent Royalist commander in the Civil War.

The earldom became extinct on Lord Cleveland's death in 1667. His son Thomas Wentworth, Lord Wentworth, was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in 1640 in his father's junior title of Baron Wentworth (and is considered as the fifth Baron). He was also a noted Royalist commander in the Civil War. However, he predeceased his father by two years. He was succeeded in the barony by his daughter Henrietta Maria, the sixth holder. She died aged only 25 and was succeeded by her aunt Anne, the seventh holder. She was the wife of John Lovelace, 2nd Baron Lovelace (see the Baron Lovelace). On her death in 1697 the title passed to her granddaughter Martha Johnson, the eighth holder. However, it was not until 1702 that she was confirmed in the title.

She was succeeded by her kinsman Sir Edward Noel, 6th Baronet, of Kirkby Mallory, who became the ninth Baron (see Noel Baronets for earlier history of this title). He was the heir of the Hon. Margaret Noel, daughter of Anne, the seventh holder. In 1762 he was created Viscount Wentworth, of Wellesborough in the County of Leicester, in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was succeeded by his son, the second Viscount. He briefly represented Leicestershire in Parliament before he succeeded his father in the viscountcy. Lord Wentworth had no legitimate male and on his death in 1815 the viscountcy and baronetcy became extinct. The barony fell into abeyance.

The abeyance was terminated in 1856 in favour of Anne Isabella Byron, dowager Lady Byron, who became the eleventh holder of the title. She was the daughter of the Hon. Judith Noel, daughter of the first Viscount Wentworth, and her husband Sir Ralph Milbanke, 6th Baronet, of Halbany, and the widow of the famous poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron. Lord and Lady Byron had in 1822 assumed by Royal license the surname of Noel. However, she never used the substantive title of Lady Wentworth and continued to be known as Lady Byron.

She was succeeded by her grandson Byron Noel, Viscount Ockham, who became the twelfth Baron. He was the eldest son of the Hon. Ada Byron, daughter of Lord and Lady Byron, and her husband William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace. However, he never married and on his early death in 1862 at the age of twenty-six, the barony was passed on to his younger brother, the thirteenth Baron. In 1893 he succeeded his father as second Earl of Lovelace. When he died in 1906 the earldom and barony separated. He was succeeded in the earldom by his half-brother, the third Earl, while the barony was inherited by his daughter and only child Ada Mary, the fourteenth holder.

She never married and was succeeded by her aunt, Lady Anne Blunt, the fifteenth holder of the peerage. She was the wife of the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. She was succeeded by her only surviving child, Judith, the sixteenth holder. She married the Hon. Neville Bulwer-Lytton, youngest son of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (see the Earl of Lytton for earlier history of the Bulwer-Lytton family). In 1947 he succeeded his elder brother as third Earl of Lytton. Lord Lytton and Lady Wentworth were both succeeded by their son, Noel Lytton, 4th Earl of Lytton, the fourth Earl and seventeenth Baron. As of 2007 the titles are held by the latter's eldest son, the fifth Earl and eighteenth Baron.

[edit] Barons Wentworth (1529)

[edit] References