Baron Methuen

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Baron Methuen, of Corsham in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for Paul Methuen, a former Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and Wiltshire North. He sat as a Tory for Wiltshire from 1812 to 1819, and then as a Whig for Wiltshire North from 1833 to 1838. He was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1831.

Lord Methuen's grandfather, Paul Methuen, was the cousin and heir of the wealthy Sir Paul Methuen (1672-1757), a well-known politician, courtier, diplomat and patron of art and literature, who was the son of John Methuen (c. 1650-1706), Lord Chancellor of Ireland between 1697 and 1703 and ambassador to Portugal. It was the last-named who in 1703 negotiated the famous Methuen Treaty, 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.

The first Baron's 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. As of 2007 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 elected hereditary peers that were allowed to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sits on the Liberal Democrat benches.

The family seat is the country house and estate of Corsham Court.

[edit] Barons Methuen (1838)

• Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen (1779-1849)
• Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen (1818-1891)
• Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen (1845-1932)
• Paul Ayshford Methuen, 4th Baron Methuen (1886-1974)
• Anthony Paul Methuen, 5th Baron Methuen (1891-1975)
• Anthony John Methuen, 6th Baron Methuen (1925-1994)
• Robert Alexander Holt Methuen, 7th Baron Methuen (b. 1931)

Heir Presumptive: James Paul Archibald Methuen-Campbell (b. 1952)

[edit] References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Methuen, Barony of", a publication now in the public domain.