Baron Grey de Wilton
Baron Grey de Wilton is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England (1295), and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1784).
First Creation
The first creation was on 23 June 1295 when Reginald de Grey was summoned to the Model Parliament as Lord Grey de Wilton. This branch of the Grey family of aristocrats was based at the Wilton Castle on the Welsh border in Herefordshire. The title became definitively extinct in 1603 when Sir Thomas Grey, the fifteenth Baron was attainted in 1603, forfeiting his titles and honours, after being convicted of treason for his alleged involvement in the Bye Plot against King James I. As he had never married and had no legitimate heirs the title vested to the Crown.
Second Creation
The second creation was in 1784, when Sir Thomas Egerton (1749 – 1814) was created Baron Grey of Wilton, of Wilton Castle, with remainder to the heirs male of his body. He was a member of the Egerton family and had in 1756 succeeded to his father's Grey Egerton baronetcy. The 1st Baronet had married Bridget Grey, the sister of Sir Thomas Grey. In 1801 the 1st Baron Grey of Wilton was also made Viscount Grey of Wilton and Earl of Wilton, of Wilton Castle in the County Hereford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The latter titles were created with remainder to the second and the younger sons successively of his daughter Lady Eleanor, wife of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster. On the 1st Earl of Wilton's death in 1804 theGrey de Wilton barony became extinct as he had no sons while the Grey Egerton baronetcy was passed on to a distant relative. The titles of Earl of Wilton and Viscount Grey de Wilton passed, according to the special remainder, to the 1st Earl's grandson Thomas Grosvenor (1799–1882), who adopted the surname of Egerton and became the 2nd Earl. These titles are still extant.[1]
Sources:
- A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England; Burke, page 232
- The Romance of the Peerage: Or Curiosities of Family History, Volume 2; The Last Lord Grey of Wilton
- ↑ See notes on wikipedia for Baron Grey de Wilton