Baron Gerard

Gilbert, 2nd Baron Gerard (d.1622). Gerard Chapel, Church of St John the Baptist, Ashley, Staffordshire.
The Gerard Family: Thomas, 1st Baron Gerard (kneeling); Gilbert Gerard, Attorney General 1559-81; Anne Radcliffe. Gerard Memorial, Ashley.

There have been three baronies created for descendants of the Gerard family who resided at Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire and Kingsley, Cheshire, in the 13th century.

The title Baron Gerard, of Gerards Bromley, was created in the Peerage of England on 21 July 1603 for Sir Thomas Gerard (d. 1617), son of Sir Gilbert Gerard (d. 1593) Attorney General between 1559 and 1581 and Master of the Rolls in 1581, who acquired estates at Gerards Bromley and Hilderstone, Staffordshire. The first Baron was Lord President of Wales between 1616 and 1617. The barony passed in direct line of succession until the death of the fifth Baron in 1684 when it passed to his second cousin Charles, and upon his death without a male heir, to his brother Philip Gerard, a Jesuit priest who died childless in 1773 when the barony expired.

The title of Baron Gerard of Bryn in the County Palatine of Lancaster,[1] was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1876 for Sir Robert Gerard, 13th Baronet. The title followed the line of the first Baron's eldest son until the death of the latter's grandson, the fourth Baron, in 1992. He was succeeded by his second cousin once removed, the fifth and (As of 2010) present holder of the barony. He is the great grandson of Captain the Hon. Robert Joseph Gerard-Dicconson, second son of the first Baron. The family seat was originally Bryn Hall, Ashton-in-Makerfield, but later Garswood Hall, followed by New Hall, a majestic, modernist, building of considerable size.

A Gerard Baronetcy had been created in the Baronetage of England in 1611 for Thomas Gerard, Member of Parliament for Liverpool, Lancashire, and Wigan who was a direct descendant of the family of Bryn. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baronet. He also represented Liverpool in the House of Commons. His son, the third Baronet, was a Royalist during the Civil War and spent a large part of his estate in his support for King Charles I. His great-great-great-grandson was the aforementioned thirteenth Baronet, who was elevated to the peerage in 1876.

For the title Baron Gerard of Brandon, in the County of Suffolk, created in 1645 for a great-grandson of Sir Gilbert Gerard (mentioned above), see Earl of Macclesfield.

Barons Gerard, of Gerards Bromley First creation (1603)

Gerard Baronets, of Bryn (1611)

Barons Gerard, of Bryn Second creation (1876)

"a new peer". Caricature of Robert Tolver Gerard by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1878.

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Rupert Bernard Charles Gerard (b. 1981).

Notes

  1. London Gazette: 11 January 1876
  2. Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
  3. Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages

References

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