PEERAGES
Last updated 26/06/2017 (23 Apr 2023)
Date Rank Order Name Born Died Age
WILMINGTON
8 Jan 1728
14 May 1730
to    
2 Jul 1743
B
E
1
1
Sir Spencer Compton
Created Baron Wilmington 8 Jan 1728 and Viscount Pevensey and Earl of Wilmington 14 May 1730
MP for Eye 1698‑1710, East Grinstead 1713‑1715 and Sussex 1715‑1728; Speaker of the House of Commons 1715‑1727; Paymaster General 1722‑1730; Lord Privy Seal 1730; Lord President of the Council 1730‑1742; Prime Minister 1742‑1743; PC 1716; KG 1733
Peerages extinct on his death
c 1674 2 Jul 1743

7 Sep 1812 B 1 Charles Compton, 9th Earl of Northampton
Created Baron Wilmington, Earl Compton and Marquess of Northampton 7 Sep 1812
See "Northampton"
24 Mar 1760 24 May 1828 68
WILMOT
4 Jan 1621 V[I] 1 Charles Wilmot
Created Viscount Wilmot 4 Jan 1621
1571 1643 72
1643
29 Jun 1643
 
B
2
1
Henry Wilmot
Created Baron Wilmot 29 Jun 1643 and Earl of Rochester 13 Dec 1652
See "Rochester" - extinct 1681
2 Nov 1612 19 Feb 1658 45
WILMOT OF SELMESTON
30 Jan 1950
to    
22 Jul 1964
B 1 John Wilmot
Created Baron Wilmot of Selmeston 30 Jan 1950
MP for Fulham East 1933‑1935, Kennington 1939‑1945 and Deptford 1945‑1950; Minister of Supply 1945‑1947; PC 1945
Peerage extinct on his death
2 Apr 1895 22 Jul 1964 69
WILSON
12 Mar 1946 B 1 Sir Henry Maitland Wilson
Created Baron Wilson 12 Mar 1946
Field Marshal 1944
5 Sep 1881 31 Dec 1964 83
31 Dec 1964
to    
1 Feb 2009
2 Patrick Maitland Wilson
Peerage extinct on his death
14 Sep 1915 1 Feb 2009 93
WILSON OF DINTON
18 Nov 2002 B[L] Sir Richard Thomas James Wilson
Created Baron Wilson of Dinton for life 18 Nov 2002
11 Oct 1942
WILSON OF HIGH WRAY
3 Feb 1976
to    
24 Feb 1980
B[L] Paul Norman Wilson
Created Baron Wilson of High Wray for life 3 Feb 1976
Lord Lieutenant Westmorland 1965‑1974
Peerage extinct on his death
24 Oct 1908 24 Feb 1980 71
WILSON OF LANGSIDE
3 Mar 1969
to    
23 Nov 1997
B[L] Henry Stephen Wilson
Created Baron Wilson of Langside for life 3 Mar 1969
Lord Advocate 1967‑1970; PC 1967
Peerage extinct on his death
21 Mar 1916 23 Nov 1997 81
WILSON OF RADCLIFFE
14 Jan 1975
to    
25 Jan 1983
B[L] Alfred Wilson
Created Baron Wilson of Radcliffe for life 14 Jan 1975
Peerage extinct on his death
10 Jun 1909 25 Jan 1983 73
WILSON OF RIEVAULX
16 Sep 1983
to    
24 May 1995
B[L] James Harold Wilson
Created Baron Wilson of Rievaulx for life 16 Sep 1983
MP for Ormskirk 1945‑1950 and Huyton 1950‑1983; President of the Board of Trade 1947‑1951; Prime Minister 1964‑1970 and 1974‑1976; PC 1947; KG 1976
Peerage extinct on his death
11 Mar 1916 24 May 1995 79
WILSON OF TILLYORN
14 Feb 1992 B[L] Sir David Clive Wilson
Created Baron Wilson of Tillyorn for life 14 Feb 1992
Governor of Hong Kong 1987‑1992; KT 2000
14 Feb 1935
WILTON
19 Oct 1714 V 1 James Brydges, 9th Baron Chandos
Created Viscount Wilton and Earl of Carnarvon 19 Oct 1714, and Marquess of Carnarvon and Duke of Chandos 29 Apr 1719
See "Chandos" - extinct 1789
6 Jan 1673 9 Aug 1744 71

26 Jun 1801 E 1 Sir Thomas Egerton, 7th baronet
Created Baron Grey de Wilton 15 May 1784 and Viscount Grey de Wilton and Earl of Wilton 26 Jun 1801
For details of the special remainder included in the creations of the Viscountcy and Earldom, see the note at the foot of this page
MP for Lancashire 1772‑1784
14 May 1749 23 Sep 1814 65
23 Sep 1814 2 Thomas Grosvenor Egerton
PC 1835
For further information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
30 Dec 1799 7 Mar 1882 82
7 Mar 1882 3 Arthur Edward Holland Grey Egerton
Created Baron Grey de Radcliffe 14 Jun 1875 (extinct on his death)
MP for Weymouth & Melcombe Regis 1859‑1865 and Bath 1873‑1874
25 Nov 1833 18 Jan 1885 51
18 Jan 1885 4 Seymour John Grey Egerton 17 Jan 1839 3 Jan 1898 58
3 Jan 1898 5 Arthur George Egerton 17 May 1863 26 Apr 1915 51
26 Apr 1915 6 Seymour Edward Frederic Egerton 1 Aug 1896 12 Oct 1927 31
12 Oct 1927 7 Seymour William Arthur John Egerton 29 May 1921 1 Oct 1999 78
1 Oct 1999 8 Francis Egerton Grosvenor, 6th Baron Ebury 8 Feb 1934
WILTSHIRE
29 Sep 1397
to    
30 Jul 1399
E 1 William le Scrope
Created Earl of Wiltshire 29 Sep 1397
Lord Treasurer 1398‑1399; KG 1394
He was attainted and the peerage forfeited
For further information on this peer, and the subsequent claim made to the peerage in the 1860s, see the note at the foot of this page
c 1350 30 Jul 1399

8 Jul 1449
to    
25 Apr 1461
E 1 Sir James Butler
Created Earl of Wiltshire 8 Jul 1449
KG 1459
Succeeded as 5th Earl of Ormonde 1452.
He was attainted and the peerage forfeited
24 Nov 1420 25 Apr 1461 40

5 Jan 1470 E 1 John Stafford
Created Earl of Wiltshire 5 Jan 1470
KG 1472
8 May 1473
8 May 1473
to    
24 Mar 1499
2 Edward Stafford
Peerage extinct on his death
7 Apr 1469 24 Mar 1499 29

27 Jan 1510
to    
6 Apr 1523
E 1 Henry Stafford
Created Earl of Wiltshire 27 Jan 1510
KG 1505
Peerage extinct on his death
c 1479 6 Apr 1523

8 Dec 1529
to    
13 Mar 1539
E 1 Thomas Boleyn
Created Viscount Rochford 18 Jun 1525, Earl of Ossory 23 Feb 1528, and Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormonde 8 Dec 1529
KG 1523
Peerages extinct on his death
1477 13 Mar 1539 61

19 Jan 1550 E 1 William Paulet
Created Baron Saint John 9 Mar 1539, Earl of Wiltshire 19 Jan 1550 and Marquess of Winchester 11 Oct 1551
See "Winchester"
c 1483 10 Mar 1572
WIMBLEDON
9 Nov 1625
to    
16 Nov 1638
V 1 Sir Edward Cecil
Created Baron Cecil of Putney and Viscount Wimbledon 9 Nov 1625
Peerages extinct on his death
29 Feb 1572 16 Nov 1638 66
WIMBORNE
30 Apr 1880 B 1 Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, 2nd baronet
Created Baron Wimborne 30 Apr 1880
29 Aug 1835 22 Feb 1914 78
22 Feb 1914
15 Jun 1918
 
V
2
1
Ivor Churchill Guest, 1st Baron Ashby St. Ledgers
Created Viscount Wimborne 15 Jun 1918
MP for Plymouth 1900‑1906 and Cardiff 1906‑1910; Paymaster General 1910‑1912; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1915‑1918; PC 1910; PC [I] 1912
16 Jan 1873 14 Jun 1939 66
14 Jun 1939 2 Ivor Grosvenor Guest
MP for Brecon and Radnorshire 1935‑1939
21 Feb 1903 7 Jan 1967 63
7 Jan 1967 3 Ivor Fox-Strangways Guest 2 Dec 1939 17 Dec 1993 54
17 Dec 1993 4 Ivor Mervyn Vigors Guest 19 Sep 1968
WINCHENDON
23 Dec 1706 V 1 Thomas Wharton, 5th Baron Wharton
Created Viscount Winchendon and Earl of Wharton 23 Dec 1706, Baron of Trim, Earl of Rathfarnham and Marquess of Catherlough 7 Jan 1715, and Marquess of Wharton and Marquess of Malmesbury 15 Feb 1715
See "Wharton" - extinct 1731
23 Oct 1648 12 Apr 1715 66
WINCHESTER
13 Mar 1207 E 1 Seyer de Quinci
Created Earl of Winchester 13 Mar 1207
3 Nov 1219
3 Nov 1219
to    
25 Apr 1264
2 Roger de Quincy
On his death the peerage reverted to the Crown
25 Apr 1264

10 May 1322
to    
27 Oct 1326
E 1 Hugh le Despencer, 1st Lord Despencer
Created Earl of Winchester 10 May 1322
He was executed and the peerages forfeited
c 1286 27 Oct 1326

13 Oct 1472 E 1 Lewis de Bruges
Created Earl of Winchester 13 Oct 1422
c 1427 26 Nov 1492
26 Nov 1492
to    
c May 1500
2 John de Bruges
He resigned the peerage c May 1500
1512

11 Oct 1551 M 1 William Paulet
Created Baron Saint John 9 Mar 1539, Earl of Wiltshire 19 Jan 1550 and Marquess of Winchester 11 Oct 1551
MP for Hampshire 1529‑1536; Lord President of the Council 1546‑1550; Lord Treasurer 1550‑1572; KG 1543
c 1483 10 Mar 1572
10 Mar 1572 2 John Paulet
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Saint John 4 Oct 1544
c 1510 4 Nov 1576
4 Nov 1576 3 William Paulet
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Saint John 5 May 1572
1533 24 Nov 1598 65
24 Nov 1598 4 William Paulet 4 Feb 1629
4 Feb 1629 5 John Paulet
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Saint John 10 Feb 1624
MP for St. Ives 1620‑1622
c 1598 5 Mar 1675
5 Mar 1675 6 Charles Powlett
Created Duke of Bolton 9 Apr 1689
c 1625 27 Feb 1699
27 Feb 1699 7 Charles Powlett, 2nd Duke of Bolton 1661 21 Jan 1722 60
21 Jan 1722 8 Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton 3 Sep 1685 26 Aug 1754 68
26 Aug 1754 9 Harry Powlett, 4th Duke of Bolton 24 Jul 1691 9 Oct 1759 68
9 Oct 1759 10 Charles Powlett, 5th Duke of Bolton c 1718 5 Jul 1765
5 Jul 1765 11 Harry Powlett, 6th Duke of Bolton 6 Nov 1720 25 Dec 1794 74
25 Dec 1794 12 George Paulet
MP for Winchester 1765‑1774
7 Jun 1722 22 Apr 1800 77
22 Apr 1800 13 Charles Ingoldsby Burroughs‑Paulet
MP for Truro 1792‑1796; Lord Lieutenant Hampshire 1798‑1800; PC 1812
27 Jan 1764 29 Nov 1843 79
29 Nov 1843 14 John Paulet
Lord Lieutenant Hampshire 1852‑1887
3 Jun 1801 4 Jul 1887 86
4 Jul 1887 15 Augustus John Henry Beaumont Paulet 6 Feb 1858 11 Dec 1899 41
11 Dec 1899 16 Henry William Montagu Paulet
Lord Lieutenant Hampshire 1904‑1918
30 Oct 1862 28 Jun 1962 99
28 Jun 1962 17 Richard Charles Paulet 8 Jul 1905 5 Mar 1968 62
5 Mar 1968 18 Nigel George Paulet 23 Dec 1941 8 Apr 2016 74
8 Apr 2016 19 Christopher John Hilton Paulet 30 Jul 1969
WINCHILSEA
11 Jul 1628 E 1 Elizabeth Finch
Created Viscountess Maidstone 8 Jul 1623 and Countess of Winchilsea 11 Jul 1628
9 Jul 1556 23 Mar 1634 77
23 Mar 1634 2 Sir Thomas Finch, 3rd baronet
MP for Winchilsea 1621‑1622 and Kent 1628‑1629
13 Jun 1578 4 Nov 1639 61
4 Nov 1639 3 Heneage Finch
Lord Lieutenant Kent 1660‑1688 and 1689, and Somerset 1675‑1683
c 1627 1 Sep 1689
1 Sep 1689 4 Charles Finch
President of the Board of Trade 1712; Lord Lieutenant Kent 1704‑1705; PC 1711
26 Sep 1672 16 Aug 1712 39
16 Aug 1712 5 Heneage Finch
MP for Hythe 1685‑1686
3 Jan 1657 30 Sep 1726 69
30 Sep 1726 6 John Finch 24 Feb 1683 9 Sep 1729 46
9 Sep 1729 7 Daniel Finch
He had prevously succeeded as 2nd Earl of Nottingham in 1682
MP for Great Bedwyn 1673‑1679 and Lichfield 1679‑1681; First Lord of the Admiralty 1680‑1684; Secretary of State 1689‑1693 and 1702‑1704; Lord President of the Council 1714‑1716; PC 1680
2 Jul 1647 1 Jan 1730 82
1 Jan 1730 8 Daniel Finch (also 3rd Earl of Nottingham)
MP for Rutland 1710‑1730; First Lord of the Admiralty 1742‑1744 and 1757; Lord President of the Council 1765‑1766; PC 1725; KG 1752
24 May 1689 2 Aug 1769 80
2 Aug 1769 9 George Finch (also 4th Earl of Nottingham)
Lord Lieutenant Rutland 1779‑1826; PC 1804; KG 1805
4 Nov 1752 2 Aug 1826 73
2 Aug 1826 10 George William Finch-Hatton (also 5th Earl of Nottingham) 19 May 1791 8 Jan 1858 66
8 Jan 1858 11 George James Finch-Hatton (also 6th Earl of Nottingham)
MP for Northamptonshire North 1837‑1841
31 May 1815 9 Jun 1887 72
9 Jun 1887 12 Murray Edward Gordon Finch‑Hatton (also 7th Earl of Nottingham)
MP for Lincolnshire South 1884‑1885 and Spalding 1885‑1887
28 Mar 1851 7 Sep 1898 47
7 Sep 1898 13 Henry Stormont Finch‑Hatton (also 8th Earl of Nottingham) 3 Nov 1852 14 Aug 1927 74
14 Aug 1927 14 Guy Montagu George Finch‑Hatton (also 9th Earl of Nottingham) 28 May 1885 10 Feb 1939 53
10 Feb 1939 15 Christopher Guy Heneage Finch‑Hatton (also 10th Earl of Nottingham) 2 Aug 1911 7 Mar 1950 38
7 Mar 1950 16 Christopher Denys Stormont Finch‑Hatton (also 11th Earl of Nottingham) 17 Nov 1936 26 Jun 1999 62
26 Jun 1999 17 Daniel James Hatfield Finch‑Hatton (also 12th Earl of Nottingham) 7 Oct 1967
WINDLESHAM
22 Feb 1937 B 1 Sir George Richard James Hennessy, 1st baronet
Created Baron Windlesham 22 Feb 1937
MP for Winchester 1918‑1931
23 Mar 1877 8 Oct 1953 76
8 Oct 1953 2 James Bryan George Hennessy
For further information on the death of this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
4 Aug 1903 16 Nov 1962 59
16 Nov 1962 3 David James George Hennessy
Created Baron Hennessy for life 16 Nov 1999
Minister of State, Home Office 1970‑1972; Minister of State, Northern Ireland 1972‑1973; Lord Privy Seal 1973‑1974; PC 1973
23 Jan 1932 21 Dec 2010 78
21 Dec 2010 4 James Rupert Hennessy 9 Nov 1968
WINDSOR
3 Nov 1529 B 1 Sir Andrew Windsor
Summoned to Parliament as Lord Windsor 3 Nov 1529
1467 30 Mar 1543 75
30 Mar 1543 2 William Windsor 1498 20 Aug 1558 60
20 Aug 1558 3 Edward Windsor 1532 24 Jan 1575 42
24 Jan 1575 4 Frederick Windsor 2 Feb 1559 24 Dec 1585 26
24 Dec 1585 5 Henry Windsor 10 Aug 1562 6 Apr 1605 42
6 Apr 1605
to    
6 Dec 1641
6 Thomas Windsor
On his death the peerage fell into abeyance
29 Sep 1591 6 Dec 1641 50
16 Jun 1660 7 Thomas Windsor
Created Earl of Plymouth 6 Dec 1682
Abeyance terminated in his favour
c 1627 3 Nov 1687
3 Nov 1687 8 Other Windsor, 2nd Earl of Plymouth 27 Aug 1679 26 Dec 1725 46
26 Dec 1725 9 Other Windsor, 3rd Earl of Plymouth 30 Jun 1707 23 Nov 1732 25
23 Nov 1732 10 Other Lewis Windsor, 4th Earl of Plymouth 12 May 1731 21 Apr 1771 39
21 Apr 1771 11 Other Hickman Windsor, 5th Earl of Plymouth 30 May 1751 12 Jun 1799 48
12 Jun 1799
to    
20 Jul 1833
12 Other Archer Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth
On his death the peerage again fell into abeyance
2 Jul 1789 20 Jul 1833 44
25 Oct 1855 13 Harriet Windsor-Clive
Abeyance terminated in her favour
30 Jul 1797 9 Nov 1869 72
9 Nov 1869
18 Dec 1905
 
V
14
1
Robert George Windsor-Clive
Created Viscount Windsor and Earl of Plymouth 18 Dec 1905
See "Plymouth"
27 Aug 1857 6 Mar 1923 65

21 Mar 1796 E 1 John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute
Created Viscount Mountjoy, Earl of Windsor and Marquess of the County of Bute 21 Mar 1796
See "Bute"
30 Jun 1744 16 Nov 1814 70

8 Mar 1937
to    
28 May 1972
D 1 HRH Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David
Created Duke of Windsor 8 Mar 1937
King as Edward VIII 20 Jan 1936‑11 Dec 1936; Governor of the Bahamas 1940‑1945; KG 1910; PC 1920; KT 1922; KP 1927
Peerage extinct on his death
23 Jun 1894 28 May 1972 77
WINDSOR OF BLACKCASTLE
19 Jun 1699 V[I] 1 Thomas Windsor
Created Viscount Windsor of Blackcastle 19 Jun 1699 and Baron Mountjoy 1 Jan 1712
MP for Droitwich 1685‑1687, Bramber 1705‑1708 and Monmouthshire 1708‑1712
c 1670 8 Jun 1738
8 Jun 1738
to    
25 Jan 1758
2 Herbert Windsor
MP for Cardiff 1734‑1738
Peerages extinct on his death
1 May 1707 25 Jan 1758 50
WINGFIELD
4 Feb 1744 B[I] 1 Richard Wingfield
Created Baron Wingfield and Viscount Powerscourt 4 Feb 1744
See See "Powerscourt"
19 Aug 1697 21 Oct 1751 54
WINMARLEIGH
16 Mar 1874
to    
11 Jul 1892
B 1 John Wilson-Patten
Created Baron Winmarleigh 16 Mar 1874
MP for Lancashire 1830‑1831 and Lancashire North 1832‑1874; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1867‑1868; Chief Secretary for Ireland 1868‑1869; PC 1867; PC [I] 1868
Peerage extinct on his death
26 Apr 1802 11 Jul 1892 90
WINSTANLEY
23 Jan 1976
to    
18 Jul 1993
B[L] Michael Platt Winstanley
Created Baron Winstanley for life 23 Jan 1976
MP for Cheadle 1966‑1970 and Hazel Grove 1974
Peerage extinct on his death
27 Aug 1918 18 Jul 1993 74
WINSTER
4 Feb 1942
to    
7 Jun 1961
B 1 Reginald Thomas Herbert Fletcher
Created Baron Winster 4 Feb 1942
MP for Basingstoke 1923‑1924 and Nuneaton 1935‑1941; Minister of Civil Aviation 1945‑1946; Governor of Cyprus 1946‑1949; PC 1945
Peerage extinct on his death
27 Mar 1885 7 Jun 1961 76
WINSTON
18 Dec 1995 B[L] Robert Maurice Lipson Winston
Created Baron Winston for life 18 Dec 1995
15 Jul 1940
WINTERBOTTOM
14 May 1965
to    
4 Jul 1992
B[L] Ian Winterbottom
Created Baron Winterbottom for life 14 May 1965
MP for Nottingham Central 1950‑1955
Peerage extinct on his death
6 Apr 1913 4 Jul 1992 79
WINTERSTOKE
1 Feb 1906
to    
29 Jan 1911
B 1 Sir William Henry Wills, 1st baronet
Created Baron Winterstoke 1 Feb 1906
MP for Coventry 1880‑1885 and Bristol East 1895‑1900
Peerage extinct on his death
1 Sep 1830 29 Jan 1911 80
WINTERTON
10 Apr 1761
12 Feb 1766
B[I]
E[I]
1
1
Edward Turnour Garth-Turnour
Created Baron Winterton 10 Apr 1761 and Viscount Turnour and Earl Winterton 12 Feb 1766
MP for Bramber 1761‑1769
1734 10 Aug 1788 54
10 Aug 1788 2 Edward Turnour 11 May 1758 23 Apr 1831 72
23 Apr 1831 3 Edward Turnour 13 Jun 1784 6 Jan 1833 48
6 Jan 1833 4 Edward Turnour 18 May 1810 1 Mar 1879 68
1 Mar 1879 5 Edward Turnour 15 Aug 1837 5 Sep 1907 70
5 Sep 1907 6 Edward Turnour
He was created Baron Turnour 31 Jan 1952
MP for Horsham 1904‑1918 and 1945‑1951, and Horsham & Worthing 1918‑1945; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1937‑1939; Paymaster General 1939; PC 1924
4 Apr 1883 27 Aug 1962 79
27 Aug 1962 7 Robert Chard Turnour 13 Sep 1915 2 Jun 1991 75
2 Jun 1991 8 (Donald) David Turnour 13 Oct 1943
WINTON
16 Nov 1600 E[S] 1 Robert Seton
Created Lord Seton & Tranent and Earl of Winton 16 Nov 1600
c 1552 22 Mar 1603
22 Mar 1603 2 Robert Seton
He resigned the peerage in favour of -
c 1585 after 1636
28 May 1607 3 George Seton Dec 1584 17 Dec 1650 66
17 Dec 1650 4 George Seton 4 May 1642 6 Mar 1704 61
6 Mar 1704
to    
15 Mar 1716
5 George Seton
He was attainted and the peerage forfeited
19 Dec 1749

23 Jun 1859 E 1 Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton
Created Earl of Winton 23 Jun 1859
See "Eglinton" with which title this peerage remains united
29 Sep 1812 4 Oct 1861 49
WISE
24 Dec 1951 B 1 Frederick John Wise
Created Baron Wise 24 Dec 1951
MP for Kings Lynn 1945‑1951
10 Apr 1887 20 Nov 1968 81
20 Nov 1968 2 John Clayton Wise 11 Jun 1923 29 Oct 2012 89
29 Oct 2012 3 Christopher John Clayton Wise 19 Mar 1949
WITTENHAM
29 Jun 1918
to    
1 Feb 1931
B 1 George Denison Faber
Created Baron Wittenham 29 Jun 1918
MP for York 1900‑1910 and Clapham 1910‑1918
Peerage extinct on his death
14 Dec 1852 1 Feb 1931 78
WODEHOUSE OF KIMBERLEY
26 Oct 1797 B 1 Sir John Wodehouse, 6th baronet
Created Baron Wodehouse of Kimberley 26 Oct 1797
MP for Norfolk 1784‑1797
4 Apr 1741 29 May 1834 93
29 May 1834 2 John Wodehouse
MP for Great Bedwyn 1796‑1802 and Marlborough 1818‑1826; Lord Lieutenant Norfolk 1821‑1846
11 Jan 1770 29 May 1846 76
29 May 1846 3 John Wodehouse
Created Earl of Kimberley 1 Jun 1866
See "Kimberley"
7 Jan 1826 8 Apr 1902 76
WOLF OF DULWICH
2 Dec 2014 B[L] Alison Margaret Wolf
Created Baroness Wolf of Dulwich for life 2 Dec 2014
31 Oct 1949
WOLFENDEN
12 Jul 1974
to    
18 Jan 1985
B[L] Sir John Frederick Wolfenden
Created Baron Wolfenden for life 12 Jul 1974
Peerage extinct on his death
26 Jun 1906 18 Jan 1985 78
WOLFSON
13 Jun 1985
to    
20 May 2010
B[L] Sir Leonard Gordon Wolfson
Created Baron Wolfson for life 13 Jun 1985
He succeeded as 2nd baronet in 1991.
Peerage extinct on his death
11 Nov 1927 20 May 2010 82
WOLFSON OF ASPLEY GUISE
18 Jun 2010 B[L] Simon Adam Wolfson
Created Baron Wolfson of Aspley Guise for life 18 Jun 2010
27 Oct 1967
WOLFSON OF SUNNINGDALE
26 Mar 1991
to    
10 Mar 2021
B[L] Sir David Wolfson
Created Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale for life 26 Mar 1991
Peerage extinct on his death
9 Nov 1935 10 Mar 2021 85
WOLFSON OF TREDEGAR
30 Dec 2020 B[L] David Wolfson
Created Baron Wolfson of Tredegar for life 30 Dec 2020
19 Jul 1968
WOLMER
30 Dec 1882 V 1 Roundell Palmer, 1st Baron Selborne
Created Viscount Wolmer and Earl of Selborne 30 Dec 1882
See "Selborne"
27 Nov 1812 4 May 1895 82
WOLSELEY
25 Nov 1882
to    
25 Mar 1913
28 Sep 1885
B
 
 
V
1
 
 
1
Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley
Created Baron Wolseley 25 Nov 1882 and Viscount Wolseley 28 Sep 1885
For details of the special remainder included in the creation of the Viscountcy of 1885, see the note at the foot of this page
Governor of Cyprus 1878 and Natal 1879‑1880; Field Marshal 1894; KP 1885; PC [I] 1890; OM 1902
On his death the Barony became extinctwhilst the Viscountcy passed to -
4 Jun 1833 25 Mar 1913 79
25 Mar 1913
to    
24 Dec 1936
2 Frances Garnet Wolseley
Peerage extinct on her death
15 Sep 1872 24 Dec 1936 64
WOLVERHAMPTON
4 May 1908 V 1 Henry Hartley Fowler
Created Viscount Wolverhampton 4 May 1908
MP for Wolverhampton 1880‑1885 and Wolverhampton East 1885‑1908; Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1886; President of the Board of Trade 1892‑1894; Secretary of State for India 1894‑1895; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1905; Lord President of the Council 1908‑1910; PC 1886
16 May 1830 25 Feb 1911 80
25 Feb 1911
to    
9 Mar 1943
2 Henry Ernest Fowler
Peerage extinct on his death
4 Apr 1870 9 Mar 1943 72
WOLVERTON
14 Dec 1869 B 1 George Carr Glyn
Created Baron Wolverton 14 Dec 1869<
MP for Kendal 1847‑1868
27 Mar 1797 24 Jul 1873 76
24 Jul 1873 2 George Grenfell Glyn
MP for Shaftesbury 1857‑1873; Paymaster General 1880‑1885; Postmaster General 1886; PC 1873
10 Feb 1824 6 Nov 1887 63
6 Nov 1887 3 Henry Richard Glyn 18 Jul 1861 2 Jul 1888 26
2 Jul 1888 4 Frederick Glyn 24 Sep 1864 3 Oct 1932 68
3 Oct 1932 5 Nigel Reginald Victor Glyn 23 Jun 1904 18 Aug 1986 82
18 Aug 1986 6 John Patrick Riversdale Glyn 17 Apr 1913 4 Jul 1988 75
4 Jul 1988 7 Christopher Richard Glyn 5 Oct 1938 24 Jan 2011 72
24 Jan 2011 8 Miles John Glyn 6 Jun 1966
WOOD OF ANFIELD
15 Jan 2011 B[L] Stewart Martin Wood
Created Baron Wood of Anfield for life 15 Jan 2011
25 Mar 1968
WOODBRIDGE
17 Jun 1932
to    
3 Feb 1949
B 1 Sir Arthur Charles Churchman, 1st baronet
Created Baron Woodbridge 17 Jun 1932
MP for Woodbridge 1920‑1929
Peerage extinct on his death
7 Sep 1867 3 Feb 1949 81
WOODLEY
2 Nov 2020 B[L] Anthony Wolfson
Created Baron Woodley for life 2 Nov 2020
2 Jan 1948
WOODSTOCK
5 Aug 1320 B 1 Edmund Plantagenet
Summoned to Parliament as Lord Woodstock 5 Aug 1320
Created Earl of Kent 28 Jul 1321

See "Kent" - in abeyance 1408
5 Aug 1301 19 Mar 1330 28

9 Apr 1689 V 1 William Bentinck
Created Baron Cirencester, Viscount Woodstock and Earl of Portland 9 Apr 1689
See "Portland"
20 Jul 1649 23 Nov 1709 60
WOOLAVINGTON
24 Jan 1922
to    
9 Aug 1935
B 1 Sir James Buchanan, 1st baronet
Created Baron Woolavington 24 Jan 1922
Peerage extinct on his death
16 Aug 1849 9 Aug 1935 85
WOOLF
1 Oct 1992 B[L] Sir Harry Kenneth Woolf
Created Baron Woolf for life 1 Oct 1992
Lord Justice of Appeal 1986‑1992; Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 1992‑1996; Master of the Rolls 1996‑2000; Lord Chief Justice 2000‑2005; PC 1986; CH 2015
2 May 1933
WOOLLEY
18 Jan 1967
to    
31 Jul 1986
B[L] Sir Harold Woolley
Created Baron Woolley for life 18 Jan 1967
Peerage extinct on his death
6 Feb 1905 31 Jul 1986 81
WOOLLEY OF WOODFORD
14 Oct 2019 B[L] Sir Simon Andrew Woolley
Created Baron Woolley of Woodford for life 14 Oct 2019
24 Dec 1961
WOOLMER OF LEEDS
3 Aug 1999 B[L] Kenneth John Woolmer
Created Baron Woolmer of Leeds for life 3 Aug 1999
MP for Batley & Morley 1979‑1983
25 Apr 1940
WOOLTON
7 Jul 1939
2 Jul 1953
9 Jan 1956
B
V
E
1
1
1
Sir Frederick James Marquis
Created Baron Woolton 7 Jul 1939, Viscount Woolton 2 Jul 1953 and Viscount Walberton and Earl of Woolton 9 Jan 1956
Minister of Food 1940‑1943; Minister of Reconstruction 1943‑1945; Lord President of the Council 1945 and 1951‑1952; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1952‑1955; PC 1940; CH 1942
24 Aug 1883 14 Dec 1964 81
14 Dec 1964 2 Roger David Marquis 16 Jul 1922 7 Jan 1969 46
7 Jan 1969 3 Simon Frederick Marquis 24 May 1958
WOOTTON OF ABINGER
8 Aug 1958
to    
11 Jul 1988
B[L] Barbara Frances Wright
Created Baroness Wootton of Abinger for life 8 Aug 1958
CH 1977
Peerage extinct on her death
14 Apr 1897 11 Jul 1988 91
WORCESTER
1138
to    
c 1145
E 1 Waleran de Beaumont
Created Earl of Worcester 1138
He was deprived of the peerage c 1145
1104 9 Apr 1166 61

29 Sep 1397
to    
23 Jul 1403
E 1 Sir Thomas Percy
Created Earl of Worcester 29 Sep 1397
KG 1376
He was attainted and the peerage forfeited
1343 23 Jul 1403 60

Feb 1421
to    
16 Apr 1422
E 1 Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Lord Abergavenny
Created Earl of Worcester Feb 1421
On his death the peerage reverted to the Crown
by 1397 16 Apr 1422

16 Jul 1449
to    
18 Oct 1470
E 1 John de Tiptoft, 2nd Lord Tiptoft
Created Earl of Worcester 16 Jul 1449
KG 1461
He was attainted and the peerages forfeited
For information on this peer, see the note at the foot of this page
8 May 1427 18 Oct 1470 43
14 Apr 1471
to    
12 Aug 1485
2 Edward de Tiptoft
He was restored to the peerage 1471 which became extinct on his death
14 Jul 1469 12 Aug 1485 16

1 Feb 1514 E 1 Charles Somerset
Created Earl of Worcester 1 Feb 1514
KG 1496
c 1460 15 Apr 1526
15 Apr 1526 2 Henry Somerset 26 Nov 1549
26 Nov 1549 3 William Somerset
KG 1570
c 1527 21 Feb 1589
21 Feb 1589 4 Edward Somerset
Lord Privy Seal 1616‑1628; KG 1593
c 1550 3 Mar 1628
3 Mar 1628
2 Mar 1643
 
M
5
1
Henry Somerset
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Herbert 31 Jan 1604
Created Marquess of Worcester 2 Mar 1643
1577 18 Dec 1646 69
18 Dec 1646 2 Edward Somerset
Created Earl of Glamorgan c 1644
1601 3 Apr 1667 65
3 Apr 1667 3 Henry Somerset
Created Duke of Beaufort 2 Dec 1682
See "Beaufort"
1629 21 Jan 1700 70
WORLINGHAM OF BECCLES
13 Jun 1835 B 1 Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford
Created Baron Worlingham of Beccles 13 Jun 1835
See "Gosford"
1 Aug 1776 27 Mar 1849 72
WORSLEY
30 Jan 1837 B 1 Charles Anderson-Pelham
Created Baron Worsley and Earl of Yarborough 30 Jan 1837
See "Yarborough"
8 Aug 1781 5 Sep 1846 65
WORTHINGTON
31 Jan 2011 B[L] Bryony Katherine Worthington
Created Baroness Worthington for life 31 Jan 2011
19 Sep 1971
WOTTON
13 May 1603 B 1 Edward Wotton
Created Baron Wootton 13 May 1603
1548 1625 77
1625
to    
2 Apr 1630
2 Thomas Wotton
Peerage extinct on his death
1587 2 Apr 1630 42

31 Aug 1650
to    
5 Jan 1683
B 1 Charles Henry Kirkhoven
Created Baron Wotton 31 Aug 1650 and Earl of Bellomont 9 Dec 1680
Peerages extinct on his death
1635 5 Jan 1683 47
WOTTON BASSET
24 Apr 1681 B 1 Laurence Hyde
Created Baron Wotton Basset and Viscount Hyde of Kenilworth 24 Apr 1681 and Earl of Rochester 29 Nov 1682
See "Rochester"
15 Mar 1642 2 May 1711 69
WRAXALL
11 Jan 1928 B 1 George Abraham Gibbs
Created Baron Wraxall 11 Jan 1928
PC 1923
6 Jul 1873 28 Oct 1931 58
28 Oct 1931 2 George Richard Lawley Gibbs 16 May 1928 19 Jul 2001 73
19 Jul 2001 3 Eustace Hubert Beilby Gibbs 3 Jul 1929 17 May 2017 87
17 May 2017 4 Antony Hubert Gibbs 19 Aug 1958
WRENBURY
12 Apr 1915 B 1 Sir Henry Burton Buckley
Created Baron Wrenbury 12 Apr 1915
Lord Justice of Appeal 1906‑1915; PC 1906
15 Sep 1845 27 Oct 1935 90
27 Oct 1935 2 Bryan Burton Buckley 24 May 1890 31 May 1940 50
31 May 1940 3 John Burton Buckley 18 Jun 1927 27 Sep 2014 87
27 Sep 2014 4 William Edward Buckley 19 Jun 1966
WRIGGLESWORTH
5 Sep 2013 B[L] Sir Ian William Wrigglesworth
Created Baron Wrigglesworth for life 5 Sep 2013
MP for Thornaby Feb 1974‑1983 and Stockton South 1983‑1987
8 Dec 1939
WRIGHT
11 Apr 1932
to    
27 Jun 1964
B[L] Sir Robert Alderson Wright
Created Baron Wright for life 11 Apr 1932
Master of the Rolls 1935‑1937; Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 1932‑1935 and 1937‑1947; PC 1932
Peerage extinct on his death
15 Oct 1869 27 Jun 1964 94
WRIGHT OF ASHTON UNDER LYNE
22 Jan 1968
to    
15 Sep 1974
B[L] Lewis Tatham Wright
Created Baron Wright of Ashton under Lyne for life 22 Jan 1968
Peerage extinct on his death
11 Oct 1903 15 Sep 1974 70
WRIGHT OF RICHMOND
10 Feb 1994
to    
6 Mar 2020
B[L] Sir Patrick Richard Henry Wright
Created Baron Wright of Richmond for life 10 Feb 1994
Peerage extinct on his death
28 Jun 1931 6 Mar 2020 88
WRIOTHESLEY
1 Jan 1544 B 1 Thomas Wriothesley
Created Baron Wriothesley 1 Jan 1544 and Earl of Southampton 16 Feb 1547
See "Southampton" - extinct 1667
21 Dec 1505 30 Jul 1550 44
WROTTESLEY
11 Jul 1838 B 1 Sir John Wrottesley, 9th baronet
Created Baron Wrottesley 11 Jul 1838
MP for Lichfield 1799‑1806, Staffordshire 1823‑1832 and Staffordshire South 1832‑1837
4 Oct 1771 16 Mar 1841 69
16 Mar 1841 2 John Wrottesley
President of the Royal Society 1854‑1857
5 Aug 1798 27 Oct 1867 69
27 Oct 1867 3 Arthur Wrottesley
Lord Lieutenant Stafford 1871‑1887
17 Jun 1824 28 Dec 1910 86
28 Dec 1910 4 Victor Alexander Wrottesley 18 Sep 1873 1 Sep 1962 88
1 Sep 1962 5 Richard John Wrottesley 7 Jul 1918 23 Oct 1977 59
23 Oct 1977 6 Clifton Hugh Lancelot de Verdin Wrottesley 10 Aug 1968
WYATT OF WEEFORD
3 Feb 1987
to    
7 Dec 1997
B[L] Sir Woodrow Lyle Wyatt
Created Baron Wyatt of Weeford for life 3 Feb 1987
MP for Aston 1945‑1955 and Bosworth 1959‑1970
Peerage extinct on his death
4 Jul 1918 7 Dec 1997 79
WYCOMBE
20 May 1760 B 1 John Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne
Created Baron Wycombe 20 May 1760
See "Shelburne"
1706 10 May 1761 54

6 Dec 1784 E 1 William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
Created Viscount Calne & Calston, Earl Wycombe and Marquess of Lansdowne 6 Dec 1784
See "Lansdowne"
2 May 1737 7 May 1805 68

11 Jul 1856 Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
He was summoned to Parliament by a Writ of Acceleration as Baron Wycombe 11 Jul 1856
He succeeded as 4th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1863
7 Jan 1816 5 Jul 1866 50
WYFOLD
17 May 1919 B 1 Sir Robert Trotter Hermon‑Hodge, 1st baronet
Created Baron Wyfold 17 May 1919
MP for Accrington 1886‑1892, Henley 1895‑1906 and 1917‑1918, and Croydon 1909‑1910
23 Sep 1851 3 Jun 1937 85
3 Jun 1937 2 Roland Hermon Hermon‑Hodge 10 Jul 1880 14 Oct 1942 62
14 Oct 1942
to    
8 Apr 1999
3 Hermon Robert Fleming Hermon‑Hodge
Peerage extinct on his death
26 Jun 1915 8 Apr 1999 83
WYLD
22 Jun 2017 B[L] Laura Lee Wyld
Created Baroness Wyld for life 22 Jun 2017
13 Jan 1978
WYNDHAM
18 Sep 1731
to    
14 Nov 1745
B[I] 1 Thomas Wyndham
Created Baron Wyndham 18 Sep 1731
Lord Chancellor [I] 1726‑1739; PC [I] 1724
Peerage extinct on his death
27 Dec 1681 14 Nov 1745 63
WYNDESORE
22 Aug 1381
to    
15 Sep 1384
B 1 William de Wyndesore
Summoned to Parliament as Lord Wyndesore 22 Aug 1381
Peerage extinct on his death
c 1325 15 Sep 1384
WYNFORD
5 Jun 1829 B 1 Sir William Draper Best
Created Baron Wynford 5 Jun 1829
MP for Petersfield 1802‑1806, Bridport 1812‑1817 and Guildford 1818‑1819; Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1824‑1829; PC 1824
13 Dec 1767 3 Mar 1845 77
3 Mar 1845 2 William Samuel Best
MP for St. Michaels 1831‑1832
19 Feb 1798 28 Feb 1869 71
28 Feb 1869 3 William Draper Mortimer Best 2 Aug 1826 27 Aug 1899 73
27 Aug 1899 4 Henry Molyneux Best 9 Nov 1829 28 Oct 1903 73
28 Oct 1903 5 George Best 14 Dec 1838 27 Oct 1904 65
27 Oct 1904 6 Philip George Best 27 Aug 1871 15 Dec 1940 69
15 Dec 1940 7 Samuel John Best 24 Jun 1874 29 Aug 1943 69
29 Aug 1943 8 Robert Samuel Best 5 Jan 1917 21 Jan 2002 85
21 Jan 2002 9 John Philip Robert Best 23 Nov 1950
WYNNE-JONES
17 Dec 1964
to    
8 Nov 1982
B[L] William Francis Kenrick Wynne‑Jones
Created Baron Wynne‑Jones for life 17 Dec 1964
Peerage extinct on his death
8 May 1903 8 Nov 1982 79
 

The special remainder to the Viscountcy of Grey de Wilton and the Earldom of Wilton created in 1801
From the London Gazette of 13 June 1801 (issue 15375, page 659):-
The King has been pleased to grant the Dignities of Viscount and Earl of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Right Honorable Thomas Lord Grey de Wilton, and the Heirs Male of his Body lawfully begotten, by the Names, Styles, and Titles of Viscount Grey de Wilton, and Earl of Wilton, of Wilton Castle, in the County of Hereford, with Remainders to Thomas Grosvenor, Esq., Second Son, Robert Grosvenor, Esq., Third Son, of the Right Honorable Robert Grosvenor, (commonly called Viscount Belgrave) by Eleanor, his Wife, Daughter of the said Thomas Lord Grey de Wilton, and the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and every other Son and Sons, of the said Eleanor by her present, or any future, Husband, hereafter to be begotten severally and successively, and the respective Heirs Male of their Bodies lawfully begotten.
Thomas Grosvenor Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton
Wilton was involved in a celebrated law suit in February 1859 when he was sued for libel and slander by Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, a fellow member of Wilton's regiment. The following summary of the case appeared in the Newcastle Courant on 18 February 1859. The wording of the article is critical of the Army and the War Office, and as a result the report appears to be very biased in Dickson's favour.
The Earl of Wilton, who figures as defendant in the action, is colonel of the Queen's Own Regiment of Militia for the Tower Hamlets, having been appointed to that command by the Duke of Wellington, in 1840. The regiment was a myth till 1855, when it was embodied, along with other regiments, on account of the Russian [i.e. Crimean] war. Col. [Lothian Sheffield] Dickson joined the regiment in 1845, and in 1855 became its lieutenant-colonel.
When a regiment is embodied it is usual for the officers to establish a "mess", the expense of which is defrayed by joint subscription, aided by a government allowance. For some time, in 1855, the officers of Lord Wilton's regiment messed with the artillery at Woolwich, but in October they deemed it right to set up house-keeping for themselves. This step was the beginning of troubles for everyone concerned. Like other incipient housekeepers, they found it extremely easy to give large orders. Messrs Sharpus and Co. readily consented to supply the requisites in the shape of crockery, plate, etc., and the mess table was soon gallantly equipped, at a cost of £580. But it was easier to give orders than to find money.
In the course of the following year, Messrs Sharpus became inconveniently urgent for a settlement, all the more so, perhaps, as the regiment was about to be disembodied. The most agreeable unconsciousness seems to have prevailed as to where the liability rested. Lord Wilton had approved the pattern of the silver spoons, and other gallant officers had selected the jugs and glasses, but all alike repudiated the giving of the order. In this uncertainty Messrs Sharpus resolved to treat Lord Wilton as their debtor, and in May, 1856, he received a polite note calling his attention to the little bill enclosed.
His lordship consulted with Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, who had the management of the regimental moneys, more particularly of the mess fund; but this fund had been partially expended on daily gastronomic necessities, and partly frittered away on grand entertainments, including a breakfast to the Earl of Wilton himself. How was the bill to be met? Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson proposed the levying of a tax on all officers entering the regiment in future, and other schemes which yielded little or nothing. Eventually the regiment was disembodied without the accounts being paid. Lord Wilton was sued for the debt, and from this moment entertained a firm conviction that the pecuniary affairs of the regiment had fallen into culpable disorder, and that Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson was chiefly to blame for it.
Dickson appears to have been in other respects an unpopular man in the regiment. He entertained stricter ideas of discipline that were palatable to the gentlemen of the militia, and had denounced with great severity the practice of gambling, in which some of the officers were prone to indulge. This circumstance, combined with the strenuous dunning of the Messrs Sharpus, brought matters to a crisis. Dickson had unquestionably kept the management of the money affairs in his own hands. There had been no regular balancing of accounts, so that the other officers were necessarily in the dark as to the financial position of the regiment. It was demonstrable that he had received large sums of money, including £100 from Lord Wilton, and an allowance of £119 from the Committee of the Wellington College as compensation for injuries experienced by the regiment, through an accident at the Cremorne Gardens. Was it demonstrable that he had acted quite squarely? Dissatisfaction bred rumours, and the rumours at last found shape in certain definite but apparently paltry charges, preferred against Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson by Captain Nixon.
Lord Wilton, annoyed at being dunned, and in a humour to credit such charges, appointed a board of three officers to make inquiry. The officers belonged to the same regiment, and, as Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson affirms, were far from being uninterested parties. In March, 1858, Lord Wilton sent the report of the board to Lord Combermere, who, as Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets, was the proper channel of communication with the government. It must not be supposed, however, that Lord Combermere was left to gather his knowledge of the case from the papers officially submitted to him. Lord Wilton had some conversation with his lordship at a ball at the Queen's Palace, and again, soon after the report had been sent in, he called upon him to talk the affair over. The result of the whole matter was, that Lord Combermere, on the 4th of May, wrote a letter to General Peel, in which he says, "having ascertained that the Earl of Wilton's complaints are just, I have the honour to request you will submit to her Majesty my humble recommendation that Lieut.-Colonel Dickson be removed from the command of the Queen's regiment of the Tower Hamlets". Will it be believed that, when Lord Combermere wrote this letter, he had never perused the report on which the recommendation was founded, but had been guided entirely by the opinion of Lord Wilton? The venerable field marshal is at an age when the task of wading through a bundle of manuscripts is no slight affair. To use his own words, he could make "neither top nor tail of them". When he had said that Lord Wilton's complaints were just, he meant merely that he was quite satisfied with Lord Wilton's own statement. It was not his business to read the documents; that belonged to the War Office; though, apparently, it was his business to condemn a meritorious officer on the ipse dixit [i.e. an unproven assertion] of his accuser, and, to utter, if not an untruth, at least, an assertion which had all the effect of falsehood, by leading General Peel to suppose that he had diligently examined documents of which he had not read one word.
The rest of the proceedings were quite equal to this precious specimen in point of unfairness and irregularity. General Peel wrote back to Lord Combermere for a statement of the particular grounds upon which his lordship had based his recommendation of Lieut.-Colonel Dickson's dismissal. Then, of course, Lord Combermere instituted a personal enquiry into the merits of the affair? Not at all. He simply enclosed General Peel's letter to himself to Lord Wilton, and his lordship returned to the War Office a string of charges which afterwards formed the matter of the first libel. Lord Wilton's letter was sent through Lord Combermere, but it does not appear that the aged veteran thought it worth his while to read either it or the accompanying documents. He merely directed that they should be forwarded to General Peel. Lord Wilton's letter, though merely a reiteration of charges without a tittle of proof, except the original report of the regimental board, seems to have convinced the authorities of the War Office, and Lieut.-Colonel Dickson was requested to resign. With the indignation of a wronged man, he declared that he would "sooner blow his brains out". He applied to his friend Mr. Duncombe, M.P. [for Finsbury], who, in the House of Commons, put a question to General Peel, which recalled the gallant secretary to his senses [Peel was Secretary of State for War at the time]. Was an officer of 30 to 40 years' standing to be dismissed on a charge amounting to felony without an opportunity of being heard in self-defence? Of course, the thing would not do. General Peel promised an investigation. A board of enquiry was appointed. Of course, Lord Wilton, as the chief accuser, would be brought before the board to give evidence, and allow of a cross-examination? Again, by no means. Lord Wilton was "going to sea", and could not bear the inconvenience of a detention in the metropolis. Lieut.-Colonel Dickson naturally thought he ought to be allowed to meet his accuser face to face, but the board and General Peel did not think it necessary. What was the nature of the report presented by the court to the War Office, or whether they presented any report at all, does not appear. The only other fact is that, on the 28th of December, 1858, a notice appeared in the Gazette that Major Samuel Walker had been made Lieut.-Colonel, "vice Lieut.-Colonel Dickson, displaced, December 13". Under these circumstances, Lieut.-Colonel Dickson brought an action for libel against Lord Wilton, and, after a long and patient investigation he has succeeded in convincing a jury that the charges which have led to his ignominious dismissal are unfounded.
Dickson was awarded a total of £205 damages against Lord Wilton.
Dickson appears to have been somewhat careless in money matters. After Sir Benjamin Hall was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Llanover in 1859, Dickson was an unsuccessful candidate for Sir Benjamin's former seat of Marylebone, having also been unsuccessful in Norwich in 1852. Following the campaign he was sued by a printer for non-payment of printing costs relating to election material. The court found in favour of the printer, and Dickson was ordered to pay the printer £49 10s. In September 1863, Dickson was made bankrupt when he was unable to repay £300 he had borrowed from a money-lender.
He was again before the courts in November 1867, when, together with a number of co-defendants, he lost an action for wrongful dismissal. In the 1868 general election, he was once again an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate, this time for the Hackney constituency, while his name again appears in the bankruptcy courts in 1876 and 1878.
Dickson's last court appearance was in July 1892, when he successfully contested the validity of [his] late wife's will. Dickson died in late December 1894 at the age of 88.
William le Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire of the 1397 creation and the claim to the Earldom made in the 1860s
William le Scrope was created Earl of Wiltes [i.e. Wiltshire] by King Richard II in 1397. This creation was somewhat unusual in that the peerage was expressed to have the limitation that it was inheritable by heirs male forever ("sibi et heredibus suis masculis in perpetuum") without the usual additional words "de corpore suo" (of the body).
As far as I am aware, only five other peerages have ever been created using this form of words. These peerages are (1) the Earldom of Oxford created in 1392; (2) the Barony of Hoo created in 1447; (3) the Barony of Egremont created in 1449; (4) the Barony of Richemount-Grey created in 1450; and (5) the Earldom of Devon created in 1553.
On the same day, King Richard II had promoted a number of other existing peers to higher ranks of the peerage - for example, the Dukes of Surrey and Norfolk, and the Earls of Worcester, Westmorland and Gloucester. The descent of all of these other creations were limited to heirs male of the body of the grantee, whereas Wiltes's limitation, as previously noted, was to heirs male forever, possibly because he had no children to inherit the title.
In 1399, while Richard II was on a military campaign in Ireland, Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, returned to England from exile and in a short period gained enough power to be able to depose Richard II on 30 September 1399, and thus become King Henry IV.
Soon after Lancaster had landed in England, the Earl of Wiltshire, together with three other members of the Council of Regency appointed to administer the kingdom in the absence of King Richard II, fled to Bristol, where they were captured by Lancaster's forces in late July 1399. On 30 July 1399, Wiltes, together with Sir John Bussy (former Speaker of the House of Commons), and Sir Henry Green, were executed, while the remaining member, Sir William Bagot, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Subsequently, shortly after Lancaster had ascended to the throne, the Earl of Wiltes's attainder was declared in Parliament.
During the decade of the 1860s - that is, over 460 years after the death of the Earl of Wiltes - the House of Lords Committee for Privileges heard a claim to the earldom made by Simon Thomas Scrope, of Danby on Yore, in Yorkshire. He claimed the peerage as being the heir male of the first Earl, through Roger Scrope, the brother of William le Scrope. During the course of the hearings, Simon was able to prove that he was indeed the heir male general of the 1st Earl.
In normal circumstances, an Act of Attainder results in the forfeiture of any honours and dignities such as peerages. It was argued by the claimant that the subsequent attainder of the Earl should be disregarded, since the execution of the Earl did not in itself amount to an Act of Attainder, inasmuch as having been taken prisoner by the Duke of Lancaster, who was not at that time the King, he was put to death without being tried by his peers, as would normally be required for an Act of Attainder to be effective. In addition, even if Wiltes had stood trial before his execution, which appears to be doubtful, any such trial would not have been a trial for an offence against a reigning sovereign, and therefore could not be deemed to be a trial for treason. Any trial which occurred was because Wiltes was in opposition to Lancaster, who at the time was merely a nobleman who had invaded the reigning monarch's kingdom, holding possession by military power, and the subsequent elevation of Lancaster to the throne did not in any way alter the character of the acts with which Wiltes had been charged and for which he had been subsequently executed.
In Henry IV's first Parliament, the House of Commons "prayed that the pursuit, arrests, and the judgments, and whatever else was done against Sir William Scrope and others should be held good, and the King declared that he would have and hold the lands of Sir William Scrope by conquest". The claimant, however, contended that the subsequent proceedings in Parliament was not in the nature of an act of Parliament, and even if it had been it would not have been interpreted as being an Act of Attainder.
Eventually, in May 1869, the Committee for Privileges ruled that to reverse a judgment which had been made 470 years previously, and hitherto unquestioned, would be a most dangerous precedent. One of the members of the Committee, Lord Chelmsford, commented in his judgment that it "seemed to him that it would be improper for the Committee, given the obscurity which surrounded the proceedings, to conjecture that in the forfeiture of everything belonging to the Earl of Wiltes which was left to forfeit, his earldom was spared and permitted to continue as an hereditary dignity". The Committee therefore resolved that the claimant had not established his claim to the Earldom of Wiltes.
James Bryan George Hennessy, 2nd Baron Windlesham
Lord Windlesham died on 16 November 1962, when a helicopter in which he was a passenger crashed into the sea off the coast of Wales.
The following report appeared in The Times on 17 November 1962:-
Lord Windlesham was missing last night from a helicopter which crashed into the sea near the South Bishop lighthouse, off St. David's Head, Pembrokeshire. Mr. John Cronin, M.P. for Loughborough, was among four men who were rescued.
A Service passenger who died on board the aircraft carrier Hermes after being picked up was named as Squadron Leader A.H. Stott, aged 38, R.A.F.
An Admiralty spokesman said: "A Whirlwind helicopter from H.M.S. Hermes ditched in the sea off St. David's Head this afternoon. The helicopter was flying from the carrier to R.N.A.S. Brawdy, near Haverfordwest, with a crew of two and three passengers.
"On board were the pilot, Lt, J.E. Ramsdale, R.N., Electrical Mechanic Hughes (aircrew member), Mr. Cronin, Lord Windlesham , and the service passenger.
"Helicopters from the carrier and from Brawdy were airborne within a few minutes and four men were picked up by helicopter after about 20 minutes. Royal&nsp;Naval helicopters from Brawdy have joined others from the Hermes in a search with H.M.S. Duchess and the frigates Berwick, Scarborough and Lowestoft and the St. David's lifeboat.
"Mr. Cronin and Lord Windlesham were spending a period at sea with H.M.S. Hermes which was exercising as part of her work-up before beginning her commission in the Far East. She left Portsmouth on Tuesday.
"The visits of Mr. Cronin and Lord Windlesham were arranged as part of the Admiralty scheme to enable the members of both Houses to see the fleet. Lord Windlesham's wife has been informed that her husband is missing."
In a further report published on 19 November, Mr. Cronin said that when the helicopter ditched he found himself in the cabin a quarter full of water. "I saw a pale green patch in a rectangular area under the water and took it to be the door. I dived through it … I was pulled down some way as the helicopter was sinking but I fought my way clear. I then swam a few yards underwater deliberately to get absolutely clear and surfaced."
At the subsequent inquest which was held on 17 January 1963, an affidavit submitted by the aircrew member, Hughes, stated that "when we hit the water I was standing by Lord Windlesham, preparing to assist him out. Then the aircraft rolled to starboard and water rushed in. I lost my grip on him." Hughes said he struggled through the door of the sinking machine, but when he reached the surface there was no sign of Lord Windlesham. The Coroner's Inquest returned a verdict of 'death by misadventure'.
In a final tragic note to the accident, the wife of Squadron Leader Stott was found dead at her home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, eight days after the crash which claimed her husband.
The special remainder to the Viscountcy of Wolseley created in 1885
From the London Gazette of 25 September 1885 (issue 25514, page 4515):-
The Queen has been pleased to direct Letters Patent to be passed under the Great Seal, granting the dignity of a Viscount of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland unto Garnet Joseph, Baron Wolseley, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., General and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the Forces in Egypt, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name, style, and title of Viscount Wolseley, of Wolseley, in the county of Stafford, and in default of such issue male the dignity of a Viscountess to Frances Garnet Wolseley, Spinster, only daughter of the said Garnet Joseph, Baron Wolseley, and after her decease, the dignity of a Viscount to the heirs male of her body lawfully begotten.
John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester (creation of 1449)
The following biography of Worcester appeared in the Australian monthly magazine Parade in its issue for August 1969:-
When John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, went to the block on Tower Hill on the rainy morning of October 18, 1470, he bade the executioner strike three blows with his axe to do honour to the Holy Trinity. Twice Worcester had tried to address the huge mob assembled to see him die and twice his voice was drowned in the howls of execration that burst from 5000 throats. Then, when a friar who accompanied him on the scaffold urged him to repent of his cruelties instead of vainly trying to justify them, the earl calmly laid his head on the block. Thus perished one of the strangest and most paradoxical figures in English medieval history - a man, according to one later chronicler, "compounded of saint and beast in equal measure".
Once, standing in an assemblage of prelates in the Vatican, he had moved a Pope to tears by the "piety, sweetness and eloquence of his discourse". He worshipped at the holy places in Jerusalem. He was a world-renowned scholar and a pioneer of Renaissance learning in England. Yet as servant of his lecherous and bloody-minded king, Worcester was also a monster whose ferocity sickened even the ruthless age in which he lived. Utterly implacable as the tool of his master's' vengeance he left throughout England and Ireland a trail of death that made him the [most?] hated man in the realm. Few mourned when the head of Worcester the butcher rolled from the the block while a thunderstorm crashed above Tower Hill.
John Tiptoft was born at Everton in Bedfordshire in 1427, the son of a landed squire who had become a prominent statesman and diplomat under both Henry V and Henry VI. He was 16 when [he succeeded to] to the family estates and political influence and, six years later, largely as a reward for his father's services, Henry VI created him Earl of Worcester. The young earl was already noted for his piety and love of learning. The king shared his sentiments and soon Worcester was a Court favourite and one of Henry's closest confidants. His marriage to a daughter of the Neville family, the widow of the Earl [actually Duke] of Warwick, raised him to the ranks of the proudest baronial nobility in England.
By 1452 he was treasurer of the exchequer and a Privy Councillor. Five years later Henry chose him to lead a glittering embassy of lords and prelates to Pope Pius II in Rome. For more than three years Worcester remained abroad and no one during that time could have guessed at the blood-stained future awaiting the devout and scholarly English traveller.
From Rome, where Pius wept openly at his discourse and the cardinals flocked to entertain him, Worcester made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship at the holy places. Back in Italy, he spent two years at Padua, Florence and Ferrera, studying, collecting books and debating with the most famous teachers of the Renaissance age.
It was spring in 1461 before Worcester again set foot in England to find the country plunged into the carnage of the Wars of the Roses. His friend and patron, the feeble Henry VI, had just been hurled from the throne and the slaughter of the battle of Towton had left the Yorkist cause triumphant. The new king was Edward IV, and no man could have been more different from the deposed monarch or less likely to welcome the returned pilgrim Worcester to his court. Handsome, golden-haired and standing well over six feet tall, Edward cared for nothing but fighting, drinking, womanising and pageantry. He was charming and utterly ruthless, leaving his supporters to do the dirty work of stamping out the continual outbreaks of Lancastrian rebellion.
It was then, to the astonishment of both sides, that Worcester revealed the depths of ambition behind his facade of piety and learning. Instantly declaring his loyalty to the new regime, he was soon to become the most terrible scourge of traitors the country had ever seen. In February 1462, he was installed as Constable of England with almost unlimited powers to execute the king's vengeance on his enemies. While the "Kingmaker" Earl of Warwick led the royal army to victory over the rebels, Worcester followed on his heels like a bloodhound to deal with the captives.
Within a few days of his appointment the Constable's court had hurried to the block the Earl of Oxford, his eldest son and a dozen other notable Lancastrian partisans. More terrible was the fate of humbler prisoners, who were broken on the rack, hanged, cut down while still breathing and then disembowelled and quartered on the reeking scaffolds. Public opinion was still more outraged by Worcester's habit of having the dismembered limbs of his victims impaled on stakes in the streets and market places. It was a practice he was supposed to have learnt on his travels and men quoted the familiar Italian proverb 'Inglese italianato e diavolo incarnato' ("An Italianate Englishman is the devil incarnate").
King Edward, however, was not among the critics. Worcester's first batch of beheadings and butcherings earned him the Order of the Garter and thereafter he was the most terrifying figure in England. Two years later, when a Lancastrian rebellion flared again in the north, the earl was with Edward at the victory of Hexham and once more the captives were left to the mercies of Worcester's court.
Though the deposed Henry VI managed to evade capture for another year, hundreds of his followers were sacrificed to the Constable's ferocity. More than 30 lords, knights and squires died under the axe. Countless lesser victims were herded to the shambles of hanging and disembowelling before the bloodbath ended.
Worcester's zeal was rewarded with estates, riches and the post of Steward of the Royal Household and the next few years saw him at the pinnacle of his fortunes. He endowed abbeys and priories, presented his magnificent library to the University of Oxford and was followed everywhere by a train of scholars, artists and craftsmen. To King Edward he was indispensable. To the rest of the court he was the object of mounting jealousy as a ruthless and hypocritical upstart. He was detested by the Earl of Warwick, the warrior baron who had virtually put Edward on the throne and who was already suspected of plotting to go over to the Lancastrians. The king's feeble-witted brother, the Duke of Clarence, regarded him with horror. His only friend was the other royal brother, Richard of Gloucester, who years later was to seize the crown as Richard III.
Then in 1467, during an uneasy lull in the Wars of the Roses in England, came news that half of Ireland had been plunged into civil war. The clans of O'Neill and O'Brien had risen. Even Edward's viceroy, the Earl of Desmond, and the rest of the powerful Fitzgerald family were reputed to be secretly in league with the revolt against the English king. Now it was Ireland's turn to feel the merciless lash of King Edward's favourite executioner. In October 1467 Worcester landed in Dublin with 3000 troops at his back, proclaimed himself viceroy and ordered Desmond to appear before the Irish council at Drogheda in the following February. Ignoring warnings the headstrong Desmond duly appeared, only to hear himself denounced by Worcester for horrible treasons and felonies in alliance with the Irish enemies of the king. Rushing from the council, Desmond fled for sanctuary to a Dominican friary. When he tried to escape again a few days later he was seized and immediately beheaded. His two infant sons soon died mysteriously in prison, almost certainly by the viceroy's order - a deed that blackened Worcester's name in Irish history ever afterwards.
Desmond's kinsman, the Earl of Kildare, saved his head by hastily declaring his loyalty. But by now the flame of rebellion was sweeping almost to the gates of Dublin. A host of 20,000 led by Desmond's brother, Garret Fitzgerald, swept into County Meath obliterating the royalist garrisons and leaving the land a desert of fire and destruction. In the north and the west the O'Neills and other Irish clans ravaged almost at will. Two years passed before massive reinforcements from England enabled Worcester to turn the tide. Swiftly the viceroy cleared the countryside around Dublin, then proceeded to deal with each separate rebel force with brutal efficiency. The orgy of massacres, executions and systematic terror left Ireland stunned for a generation and from end to end the land stank with death.
Worcester, the butcher, had done his bloody work well when early in 1470 a summons from King Edward suddenly brought him back to England. He found the court in turmoil, for the long-suspected plotting of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence had erupted into open treason. Though the hapless Henry VI was still locked up in the Tower, Queen Margaret had escaped to France and there joined Warwick and Clarence and the other fugitive Lancastrians.
Worcester could do no more than execute 20 of Warwick's followers seized by a warship in the Channel and impale their dismembered carcasses in the streets of Southampton. It was the Earl of Worcester's final act of savagery. Only a few months later he himself was a hunted outlaw on the road to the scaffold. In September Warwick landed again from France. Everywhere the Lancastrians flocked to join him. Edward fled from London and Henry VI was restored in triumph to his throne.
Early in October Worcester was discovered hiding among some swineherds in the forest of Weybridge in Hampshire and brought in chains to the Tower of London. In 24 hours he was tried and condemned to death, and on October 18 the axe crashed down through the neck of the most hated man in England. Though the fortunes of war soon returned the crown to King Edward, the monarch never again found a servant who served his thirst for blood so zealously as John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester.