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 Great Britain (1784). The first creation was forfeit and the second creation is extinct.

Arms of Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton

History

First creation

The first creation was generally dated to 23 June 1295, when Reginald de Grey was summoned to an assembly prior to the Model Parliament that was summoned that November, as Lord Grey de Wilton. Burke's Peerage[1] notes that the June "assembly in question is not now recognized as a bona fide Parl[iament]", but that Reginald had earlier been summoned to the "assembly called a full Parl[iament] of 29 May 1290". This branch of the Grey family of aristocrats was based at Wilton Castle on the Welsh border in Herefordshire. The Greys of Wilton, as well as the other old noble families bearing the name of Grey/Gray, are descended from the Norman knight Anchetil de Greye. Wilton Castle itself passed from the family when the thirteenth Baron was forced to sell it to raise his ransom after being captured in France. 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. Grey never married. The attainder against him was not reversed prior to his death. His two sisters would have been his co-heiresses but for the attainder; one of them, Bridget, married Sir Roland Egerton, 1st Baronet and they were ancestors of the recipient of the second creation below.[2]

Second creation
Thomas Egerton, who became Baron Grey de Wilton in 1784, then Viscount Grey de Wilton and Earl of Wilton in 1801

The second creation was in 1784, when Sir Thomas Egerton (1749–1814) was created Baron Grey de 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 de Wilton was also made Viscount Grey de Wilton and Earl of Wilton, of Wilton Castle in the County of Hereford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The latter titles were created with remainder to the second and younger sons successively of his daughter Eleanor, wife of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster.

On the 1st Earl of Wilton's death in 1804, the Grey de Wilton barony became extinct as he had no sons, while the Grey Egerton baronetcy passed 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.

Grey family

Ancestors

Barons Grey de Wilton (1295)

Egerton family

Barons Grey de Wilton (1784)
succeeded as Earl of Wilton according to the special remainder by his grandson, Thomas Grosvenor (1799–1882)
see Earl of Wilton

References
  1. 1999 edition page 1226 (article "Grey, Baron" primarily on the only more senior branch, the Lords Grey (of Codnor), but lists all Barons Grey de Wilton).
  2. Burke, John (1 January 1831). A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England. H. Colburn & R. Bentley.
  3. Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta ancestry : a study in colonial and medieval families (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City, UT.: Douglas Richardson. pp. 345–346. ISBN 9781460992708.
  4. Craik, George Lillie (1 January 1849). The Romance of the Peerage: Or Curiosities of Family History. Chapman & Hall.
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