Baron de Ros

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The title of Baron de Ros (pronounced "Roose") is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England. (The spelling of the title and of the surname of the original holders has been rendered differently in various texts. The word "Ros" is sometimes spelt "Roos," and the word "de" is sometimes dropped.)

The Barony was created by writ in 1264; no other English title predates it unless one accepts certain doubtful contentions about the title of Earl of Arundel. The only older peerage titles in the British Isles are: Baron Kerry and Lixnaw (1181, held by the Marquess of Lansdowne), Baron Offaly (1199, later creation held by the Duke of Leinster), and Baron Kingsale (circa 1223) in the Peerage of Ireland, and Earl of Mar (predates 1115) and Earl of Sutherland (1230) in the Peerage of Scotland.

The Barony may pass to heirs-general rather than just heirs-male, unlike most British titles. The barony may pass to daughters only if there are no sons. Under inheritance law, sisters have an equal right to inherit; there is no special inheritance right due for an eldest sister, as there is for an eldest son. Thus, it is possible that two or more sisters (and their heirs after their deaths) have an equally valid claim to the title; in such a case, the title goes into abeyance. The abeyance ends either when there is only one remaining claimant due to deaths of the other claimants, or when the Sovereign "terminates" the abeyance in favour of one of the heirs. The peerage has been held by a woman six times, more than any other peerage except that of Baron Willoughby de Eresby.

Whenever a man holds the title, he is styled the Premier Baron of England. However, whenever a woman holds the title, the holder of the next-highest barony held by a man is known as the Premier Baron. For instance, when Georgiana Maxwell, the most recent female to hold the title, was Baroness, the Lord Mowbray, Segrave, and Stourton was considered the Premier Baron.

The title was originally held by the de Ros family until the death of the eleventh Baron in 1508, when it was inherited by his nephew, Sir George Manners. His son, Thomas, inherited the barony and was later created Earl of Rutland. The barony and earldom remained united until the death of the third Earl, Edward Manners. The barony was then inherited by his only daughter, Elizabeth, while the earldom passed to a male heir, his younger brother. Upon the death of Elizabeth's only son, William Cecil, the title returned to the Manners family, being inherited by the sixth Earl of Rutland.

Again, upon the sixth Earl's death, the barony and earldom were separated (the earldom being inherited by a distant cousin, the great-nephew of the 2nd earl), as the barony was inherited by the Earl's daughter Katherine, who would later marry George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Katherine's son George inherited both the barony and the dukedom, but upon his death the dukedom became extinct and the barony went into abeyance.

The barony had been in abeyance for over a century when Charlotte Boyle Walsingham (who was later to marry Lord Henry FitzGerald, a son of the 4th Duke of Leinster) petitioned King George III to terminate the abeyance in her favour in 1790. The King referred the matter to the House of Lords, which recommended that the barony remain in abeyance. However, in 1806, the Prince Regent terminated the abeyance in her favour on the recommendation of his Prime Minister. Charlotte and her heirs then took the additional surname of "de Ros" after "FitzGerald".

The title eventually went into abeyance again upon the death of Mary Dawson (née Fitzgerald-de Ros), the 25th Baroness, in 1939. The abeyance was terminated in favour of her eldest daughter, Una Ross (née Dawson) in 1943, and again went into abeyance upon her death in 1956. Two years later, the barony was called out of abeyance again for Una Ross's granddaughter, Georgiana Maxwell (née Ross). Upon Georgiana Maxwell's death, it was inherited by Peter Maxwell, the first man to hold the title in over three-quarters of a century.