Baron Heytesbury, of Heytesbury

Heytesbury

Heytesbury is a village in Wiltshire, England, in the Wylye Valley, about three miles south of Warminster.-History:...

 in the County of Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Peerage of the United Kingdom

The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...

. It was created in 1828 for the prominent politician and diplomat Sir William à Court, 2nd Baronet

William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury

William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury GCB PC , known as Sir William à Court, Bt, from 1817 to 1828, was a British diplomat and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

, who later served as Ambassador to Russia and as Viceroy of Ireland. His son, the second Baron, sat as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight (UK Parliament constituency)

Isle of Wight is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created by the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, it covers the whole of the Isle of Wight and elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system.-...

. On his marriage in 1837 to Elizabeth Holmes, daughter of Sir Leonard Worsley Holmes, Lord Heytesbury assumed the additional surname of Holmes. the titles are held by his great-great-great-grandson, the seventh Baron, who succeeded his father in 2004.

The Baronetcy, of Heytesbury House in the County of Wiltshire, was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 4 July 1795 for the first Baron father, William à Court

Sir William à Court, 1st Baronet

Sir William Pierce Ashe à Court, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.à Court was the son of General William Ashe-à Court and Anne Vernon. He represented Heytesbury in the House of Commons from 1781 to 1790 and again from 1806 to 1807. In 1795 he was created a Baronet, of...

. He was a colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 in the army and represented Heytesbury

Heytesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Heytesbury was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire which elected two Members of Parliament. From 1449 until 1707 it was represented in the House of Commons of England, and then in the British House of Commons until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Reform Act 1832.-History:The borough...

 in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

. His father, William Ashe-à Court

William Ashe-à Court

William Ashe-à Court was a British military commander and Member of Parliament.Born William à Court, he was the son of Pierce à Court and Elizabeth Ashe. He achieved the rank of General in the British Army and also sat as Member of Parliament for Heytesbury between 1751 and 1781. In 1768 he...

, was a general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 in the army and also sat as a Member of Parliament for Heytesbury.

A junior line of the family has attained fortune and fame in Australia, thanks to the business empire of Robert Holmes à Court

Robert Holmes à Court

Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court was an entrepreneur who became Australia's first businessman worth over a billion dollars before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990.Holmes à Court was one of the world's most feared corporate raiders through the 1980s, having built his empire...

, who was of South African birth, and his Western Australian wife Janet Holmes à Court

Janet

Janet may refer to:* Janet , a female given name* Janet Jackson, American recording artist, actress, and author* JANET , the computer network which connects universities in the United Kingdom...

, now one of Australia's richest women. Their vast business interests are managed through Heytesbury Pty Ltd

Heytesbury Pty Ltd

Heytesbury Pty. Ltd. is the privately owned company of the Holmes à Court family in Western Australia.Originally called Heytesbury Holdings, the company was formed by Robert Holmes à Court in the 1970s as the holding company of his rapidly expanding financial empire...

, a company named after the family peerage. The current heir presumptive, Peter Holmes à Court

Peter Holmes à Court

Peter Holmes à Court is an Australian businessman and a joint owner of the National Rugby League team South Sydney Rabbitohs together with Russell Crowe....

, belongs to the Australian branch of the family.http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index998.htm

à Court, Baronets of Heytesbury (1795)

• Sir William Pierce Ashe à Court, 1st Baronet
  Sir William à Court, 1st Baronet
  Sir William Pierce Ashe à Court, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.à Court was the son of General William Ashe-à Court and Anne Vernon. He represented Heytesbury in the House of Commons from 1781 to 1790 and again from 1806 to 1807. In 1795 he was created a Baronet, of...
  
   (c. 1747–1817)
• Sir William à Court, 2nd Baronet
  William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury
  William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury GCB PC , known as Sir William à Court, Bt, from 1817 to 1828, was a British diplomat and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
  
   (1779–1860) (created Baron Heytesbury in 1828)

Barons Heytesbury (1828)

• William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury
  William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury
  William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury GCB PC , known as Sir William à Court, Bt, from 1817 to 1828, was a British diplomat and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
  
   (1779–1860)
• William Henry Ashe à Court-Holmes, 2nd Baron Heytesbury
  William à Court-Holmes, 2nd Baron Heytesbury
  William Henry Ashe à Court-Holmes, 2nd Baron Heytesbury , was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament....
  
   (1809–1891)
• William Frederick Holmes à Court, 3rd Baron Heytesbury (1862–1903)
• Leonard Holmes à Court, 4th Baron Heytesbury (1863–1949)
• William Leonard Frank Holmes à Court, 5th Baron Heytesbury (1906–1971)
• Francis William Holmes à Court, 6th Baron Heytesbury (1931–2004)
• James William Holmes à Court, 7th Baron Heytesbury (b. 1967)

The heir presumptive

Heir Presumptive

An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...

 is Peter Holmes à Court

Peter Holmes à Court

Peter Holmes à Court is an Australian businessman and a joint owner of the National Rugby League team South Sydney Rabbitohs together with Russell Crowe....

(b. 1968)