Baron de Villiers, of Wynberg in the Cape of Good Hope Province and the Union of South Africa

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...

, 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 1910 for the prominent South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n lawyer and judge John de Villiers

John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers

John Henry de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers KCMG PC , was a South African lawyer and judge..John de Villiers was the son of Charles Christian de Villiers, of Paarl, Cape of Good Hope. He studied in Berlin and London , was called to the English bar in 1865 and the Cape bar the next year...

. He served as Chief Justice of South Africa

Chief Justice of South Africa

The Chief Justice of South Africa is the head of the judiciary of South Africa, who exercises final authority over the functioning and management of all the courts...

 between 1910 to 1914. the title is held by his great-grandson, the fourth Baron, who succeeded his father in 2001.

Asked how to say his name, the third Baron told The Literary Digest

Literary Digest

The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...

: "In England it is pronounced 'Villars.' But the pronunciation which is used by English-speaking South Africans, and which I myself use, would be written duh vil'yers. There is a suspicion of an i sound between the l and the y." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)

Barons de Villiers (1910)

• John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers
  John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers
  John Henry de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers KCMG PC , was a South African lawyer and judge..John de Villiers was the son of Charles Christian de Villiers, of Paarl, Cape of Good Hope. He studied in Berlin and London , was called to the English bar in 1865 and the Cape bar the next year...
  
  (1842–1914)
• Charles Percy de Villiers, 2nd Baron de Villiers (1871–1934)
• Arthur Percy de Villiers, 3rd Baron de Villiers (1911–2001)
• Alexander Charles de Villiers, 4th Baron de Villiers (b. 1940)

There is no heir to the barony.