Baron Rokeby

Baron Rokeby, of Armagh in the County of Armagh, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland.^[1] It was created in 1777 for The Most Rev. Dr Richard Robinson, Church of Ireland Lord Primate of All Ireland and Lord Archbishop of Armagh, with remainder to his brothers and his father's second cousin Matthew Robinson and the heirs male of their bodies. In 1785 he also succeeded his elder brother as 3rd Baronet according to a special remainder (see below). Lord Rokeby never married and was succeeded in the barony and baronetcy according to the special remainders in the letters patent by his third cousin Matthew Robinson-Morris, the second Baron and fourth Baronet. He was the son of Matthew Robinson (by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Drake and his wife Sarah, daughter of Thomas Morris, of Mount Morris), son of Thomas Robinson, son of Sir Leonard Robinson, brother of William Robinson, great-grandfather of the first Robinson Baronet (see below) and the first Baron Rokeby. The second Baron was an academic, politician and eccentric. Born Matthew Robinson, he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Morris in 1746 on succeeding to the Mount Morris Estate in Monks Horton, Kent through his mother. He never married and was succeeded by his nephew Morris Robinson, the third Baron. He was the elder son of Morris Robinson.

The third Baron sat as Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge. He never married and on his death, the titles passed to his younger brother Matthew Montagu, the fourth Baron. Born Matthew Robinson, he assumed the surname of Montagu in lieu of his patronymic in 1776 on succeeding to the estates of his uncle Edward Montagu. The 4th Lord Rokeby represented several constituencies in Parliament. His younger son, Henry, the sixth Baron (who succeeded his elder brother), was a general in the British Army. The 6th Lord Rokeby had no surviving male issue and on his death in 1883 the barony and baronetcy became extinct.

The Baronetcy, of Rokeby Park in the County of York, was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 2 March 1730 for the architect, collector and politician Thomas Robinson, with remainder, in default of male issue of his own, to his brothers and to his father’s second cousin Matthew Robinson, and the heirs male of their bodies.^[2] He was a descendant of William Robinson who acquired the Rokeby estate in the North Riding of Yorkshire from Sir Thomas Rokeby in 1610. He died childless and was succeeded according to the special remainder by his younger brother, the second Baronet. He was also childless and succeeded by his younger brother, the aforementioned first Baron Rokeby. See above for further history of the baronetcy.

Elizabeth Montagu, sister of the second Baron, was a social reformer, patron of the arts, hostess, literary critic and writer. Sarah Scott, another sister of the second Baron, was a novelist, translator and social reformer.

The title of the barony was pronounced "Rookbie".