Earl of Pomfret (alias Pontefract), in the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1721 for Thomas Fermor, 2nd Baron Leominster. The Fermor family descended from Richard Fermor (d. 1552) who acquired great wealth as a merchant. However, he fell out with Henry VIII after remaining an adherent of Catholicism and had his estates confiscated. Some of the estates, including Easton Neston, were restored after the accession of Edward VI. His grandson Sir George Fermor entertained James I at Easton Neston in 1603. Sir George's grandson William Fermor was created a Baronet, of Easton Neston in the County of Northampton, in the Baronetage of England in 1641, aged nineteen. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baronet. He was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Leominster, in the County of Hereford, in 1692 (the title was also spelled Baron Lempster). His eldest son was the aforementioned second Baron who was elevated to an earldom in 1721. The latter was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George III. Two of his sons, the third and fourth Earls, both succeeded in the title. The titles became extinct on the death of the fourth Earl's son, the fifth Earl, in 1867.
The seat of the Fermor family was Easton Neston in Northamptonshire. The house came into the Hesketh family (who were later created Barons Hesketh) through the marriage in 1846 of Sir Thomas George Hesketh, 5th Baronet, of Rufford, to Lady Anna Maria Arabella Fermor, sister and heiress of the 5th Earl of Pomfret. The house was sold by the 3rd Baron Hesketh in 2005.
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