Baron Northbourne

For the Barons Northbourne of Betteshanger, see James baronets.
Baron Northbourne

Arms of James, Barons Northbourne: Gules, a dolphin, naiant, in fesse, or.[1]
Creation date5 November 1884[2]
Created byQueen Victoria
PeeragePeerage of the United Kingdom
First holderWalter James, 1st Baron Northbourne
Present holderCharles James, 6th Baron Northbourne
Heir apparentHenry Christopher William James
Subsidiary titlesBaronet James, of Langley Hall
MottoJ'amie à Jamais

Baron Northbourne, of Betteshanger in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[3] It was created in 1884 for Sir Walter James, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Kingston upon Hull in the House of Commons as a Conservative. His son, the second Baron, sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Gateshead. The latter's great-grandson, the fifth Baron, who succeeded his father[4] in 1982, was 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 sat as a cross-bencher until his retirement in 2018.[5] As of 2019, the titles are held by his son, the sixth baron, who succeeded his father in that year.

The James baronetcy, of Langley Hall, in the County of Berkshire, was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain in 1791[6] for the first Baron's grandfather Sir Walter James, the last Warden of the Mint. Born Walter James Head, he assumed by Act of Parliament the surname of James only in 1778, on inheriting the estates of his brother William (himself having inherited the estates of their uncle-in-law, John James of Denford Court). His son and heir John James notably served as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands. The latter was the father of the second Baronet, who was raised to the peerage in 1884.

The Hon. Cuthbert James, second son of the second Baron, represented Bromley in the House of Commons as a Conservative between 1919 and 1930.

The first Baron Northbourne was the grandson of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry,[2] making him first cousin twice removed of Sir Winston Churchill, who was the grandson of his first cousin Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane, Duchess of Marlborough. He was also the great grandson of Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden.[7]

  1. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (1865). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage... (27 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 550.
  2. ^ a b "Northbourne, Baron (UK, 1884)". Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  3. ^ "No. 25411". The London Gazette. 4 November 1884. p. 4753.
  4. ^ Paull, John (2014) [1] Lord Northbourne, the man who invented organic farming, a biography. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(1), 31–53.
  5. ^ "Lord Northbourne". UK Parliament.
  6. ^ "No. 13318". The London Gazette. 21 June 1791. p. 363.
  7. ^ "Sir Walter James". Freshford Manor. Retrieved 22 April 2019.