Baron Methuen
Encyclopedia
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
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 1838 for the former 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 Wiltshire
Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Wiltshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of England from 1290 to 1707, of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament , elected by the bloc vote...
and Wiltshire North, Paul Methuen
Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen
Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen , was a British Whig politician.Methuen was the son of Paul Cobb Methuen of Corsham, Wiltshire, and his wife Matilda . He sat as Member of Parliament for Wiltshire from 1812 to 1819 and for Wiltshire North from 1833 to 1837...
. His grandson, the third Baron (who succeeded his father), was a distinguished soldier. His son, the fourth Baron, was a professional artist and Royal Academician. On his death the title passed to his younger brother, the fifth Baron. the title is held by the latter's younger son, the seventh Baron, who succeeded his elder brother in 1994. Lord Methuen is one of the ninety hereditary peer
Hereditary peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so...
s elected to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
after the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
, and sits on the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
benches.
The first Baron's grandfather, Paul Methuen, was the cousin and heir of the wealthy Sir Paul Methuen
Paul Methuen (diplomat)
Sir Paul Methuen PC, KB was an English diplomat and politician.He was the son of John Methuen and was educated privately then at a Jesuit school in Paris. He went to Lisbon in 1691, when his father was appointed minister there. He gained valuable experience and the esteem of King Pedro...
, a well-known politician, courtier, diplomat and patron of art and literature, who was the son of John Methuen
John Methuen
The Very Reverend John Alan Robert Methuen was an Anglican priest who was eminent in the latter part of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st. He was born on 14 August 1947 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford...
(c. 1650–1706), Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...
between 1697 and 1703 and ambassador to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. It was the last-named who in 1703 negotiated the famous Methuen Treaty
Methuen Treaty
The Methuen Treaty was an offensive military and commercial treaty between Portugal and England signed in 1703 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession....
, which, in return for the admission of English woollens into Portugal, granted differential duty favoring the importation of Portuguese wines into England to the disadvantage of French wines, and thus contributed to the replacement of the drinking of burgundy by that of port
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
.
The family seat is the country house and estate of Corsham Court
Corsham Court
Corsham Court is an English country house in a park designed by Capability Brown. It is in the town of Corsham, 3 miles west of Chippenham, Wiltshire and is notable for its fine art collection, based on the nucleus of paintings inherited in 1757 by Paul Methuen from his uncle, Sir Paul...
.
Barons Methuen (1838)
- Paul Methuen, 1st Baron MethuenPaul Methuen, 1st Baron MethuenPaul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen , was a British Whig politician.Methuen was the son of Paul Cobb Methuen of Corsham, Wiltshire, and his wife Matilda . He sat as Member of Parliament for Wiltshire from 1812 to 1819 and for Wiltshire North from 1833 to 1837...
(1779–1849) - Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron MethuenFrederick Methuen, 2nd Baron MethuenFrederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen , was a British peer and Liberal politician.Methuen was the son of Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen, and his wife Jane Dorothea...
(1818–1891) - Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron MethuenPaul Methuen, 3rd Baron MethuenField Marshal Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen GCB, GCMG, GCVO was a British military commander.-Early life:...
(1845–1932) - Paul Ayshford Methuen, 4th Baron Methuen (1886–1974)
- Anthony Paul Methuen, 5th Baron Methuen (1891–1975)
- Anthony Richard Paul Methuen (1923–1934)
- Anthony John Methuen, 6th Baron MethuenAnthony Methuen, 6th Baron MethuenJohn Methuen, 6th Baron Methuen was a British peer.Anthony John Methuen was the second but eldest surviving son of Anthony Methuen, 5th Baron Methuen, by his wife Grace Durning Holt, daughter of Sir Richard Durning Holt, 1st Baronet. He was educated at West Downs School...
(1925–1994) - Robert Alexander Holt Methuen, 7th Baron MethuenRobert Methuen, 7th Baron MethuenRobert Alexander Holt Methuen, 7th Baron Methuen is a British Liberal Democrat peer. He is one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999....
(b. 1931)
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 the present holder's first cousin once removed, James Paul Archibald Methuen-Campbell (b. 1952). He is the grandson of the Hon. Laurence Paul Methuen (1898–1970), third son of the third Baron.