Baron Margadale, of Islay

Islay

-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...

 in the County of Argyll, 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 1965 for the Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician John Morrison

John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale

Major John Granville Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale, TD, DL was a British Conservative Party politician.He was appointed High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1938 and was Member of Parliament for Salisbury from 1942 until 1965....

. As of 2009 the title is held by his grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his father in 2003. The barony of Margadale is the latest hereditary barony given to a non-Royal.

The Hon. Sir Charles Morrison

Charles Morrison

Sir Charles Andrew Morrison was a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, MP for Devizes constituency from 1964 until 1992.-Background:...

 and the Hon. Sir Peter Morrison

Peter Morrison

Sir Peter Hugh Morrison PC was a British Conservative politician, MP for Chester from 1974 to 1992, and Parliamentary Private Secretary to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.-Education:...

, younger sons of the first Baron, were both Conservative politicians.

The family seat is Fonthill House, Fonthill Bishop

Fonthill Bishop

Fonthill Bishop is a small village in Wiltshire, England.The village is close to Fonthill Gifford, where William Thomas Beckford built Fonthill Abbey. The estate now belongs to Lord Margadale....

, 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...

.

Barons Margadale (1965)

• John Granville Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale
  John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale
  Major John Granville Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale, TD, DL was a British Conservative Party politician.He was appointed High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1938 and was Member of Parliament for Salisbury from 1942 until 1965....
  
   (1906–1996)
• James Ian Morrison, 2nd Baron Margadale
  James Morrison, 2nd Baron Margadale
  James Ian Morrison, 2nd Baron Margadale was the son of Major John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale and Hon. Margaret Esther Lucie Smith....
  
   (1930–2003)
• Alastair John Morrison, 3rd Baron Margadale
  Alastair Morrison, 3rd Baron Margadale
  Alastair John Morrison, 3rd Baron Margadale is the son of James Morrison, 2nd Baron Margadale and Clare Barclay.He married, firstly, Lady Sophia Cavendish, daughter of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire and The Honourable Deborah Mitford, on 19 July 1988...
  
   (b. 1958)

The heir apparent

Heir apparent

An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....

 is the present holder's son the Hon. Declan James Morrison (b. 1993)

Origins of family wealth

James Morrison

James Morrison (businessman)

James Morrison was a British millionaire businessman and Member of Parliament.Alternatively he was born in 1790, probably at Middle Wallop, Hampshire, and died 30 October 1857 at Basildon, Berkshire possessed of property in England valued at between three and four million pounds,...

, great-grandfather of the 1st Baron Margadale, was a Hampshire innkeeper's son who became the greatest textile wholesaler in England and a prominent merchant banker. He left circa £4 million in 1857, the second largest non-landed fortune in Britain up to that time after Nathan Mayer Rothschild

Nathan Mayer Rothschild

Nathan Mayer, Freiherr von Rothschild , known as Nathan Mayer Rothschild, was a London financier and one of the founders of the international Rothschild family banking dynasty...

's £5 million. James's son Charles Morrison continued in the same lines of business, and left £10.9 million in 1909, which was the largest British estate for probate

Probate

Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...

 purposes up to that time. He was probably the second richest man in Britain at his death, after the Duke of Westminster

Duke of Westminster

The title Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. The current holder of the title is Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster....

. (All Rubinstein, Men of Wealth pages 59–60)