Baron [bar-uhn]

Baron

[bar-uhn]
Audley of Walden, Thomas Audley, Baron, 1488-1544, lord chancellor of England (1533-44) under Henry VIII. He was made speaker of the House of Commons in 1529 and lord keeper of the great seal in 1532. A loyal servant of Henry VIII, he supported the king's divorce (1533) from Katharine of Aragón and as chancellor presided (1535) over the trials of Sir Thomas More and John Fisher. He also aided in the prosecution of Anne Boleyn (1536), Sir Thomas Cromwell (1540), and other notables. He was created baron in 1538.
Somers, John Somers or Sommers, Baron, 1651-1716, English jurist and statesman. In the Glorious Revolution he secured Parliament's acceptance of the official statement that James II had "abdicated" the throne, and he presided over the framing of the Bill of Rights (1689). William III rewarded him with the office of solicitor general (1689), and he advanced to become attorney general (1692), lord keeper of the seal (1693), and lord chancellor (1697), taking the title Baron Somers of Evesham. He was politically influential throughout the reign of William, but was forced to resign as lord chancellor in 1700 after repeated attacks directed against him, in part for his support of the ventures of Capt. William Kidd. He was a leader of the Whig Junto under Queen Anne and supported the Act of Union with Scotland (1707). He was made (1708) president of the council, but he lost office (1710) when the Tories came to power. A friend of such writers as John Locke and Jonathan Swift, Somers himself wrote a number of political tracts. His valuable collection of papers and manuscripts was edited by Sir Walter Scott as the Somers Tracts (13 vol., 1809-15).
Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron, 1881-1964, British field marshal. He served in the South African War and World War I and in 1939 became commander of the British forces in Egypt. He led the ill-fated British expedition in Greece in 1941 and served as commander in chief in the Middle East (1943-44) and as supreme Allied commander in the Mediterranean (1944-45). "Jumbo" Wilson was head of the British joint staff mission in Washington from 1945 to 1947. In 1946 he was created baron.
Brooke, Fulke Greville, 1st Baron, 1554-1628, English author and statesman. A favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, he held many official positions during his lifetime. His Life of Sir Philip Sidney (1652) was more a historical and personal commentary than a biography. The bulk of his work (published posthumously) reflects his concern with the degeneration of the monarchy, foreshadowed by the death of Elizabeth. Many young poets of the time were indebted to him for his patronage.

See his Poems and Dramas ed. by G. Bullough (1939) and selected writings ed. by J. Rees (1973); biographies by J. Rees (1971) and R. A. Rebholz (1971).

Ashburton, Alexander Baring, 1st Baron: see Baring, family.
Ashburton, John Dunning, 1st Baron: see Dunning, John, 1st Baron Ashburton.
Ashley, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Baron: see Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of.
Cronstedt, Axel Fredrik, Baron, 1722-65, Swedish mineralogist and chemist. In 1751 he discovered in niccolite an impure form of nickel, reported it as a newly discovered element, and proposed the name nickel for it. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of the chemical constituents of minerals and rocks and to use the blowpipe in the study of minerals. He wrote An Essay towards a System of Mineralogy (1758; tr., 2d ed. 1788).
Tedder, Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron, 1890-1967, British air marshal. He saw service in the infantry and the Royal Flying Corps in World War I. After 1919 he held important positions in the Royal Air Force and the air ministry. Tedder was sent to the Middle East in 1940 and, as air chief there (1941-43), helped sweep the Germans from Tunisia. In 1943 he held a Mediterranean command and later that year was appointed deputy supreme commander of the Allied invasion forces. Raised to the peerage in 1946, he served as air chief of staff (1946-50) and in 1950 became chancellor of the Univ. of Cambridge.

See his memoirs, With Prejudice (1966).

Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron, 1809-92, English poet. The most famous poet of the Victorian age, he was a profound spokesman for the ideas and values of his times.

Early Life and Works

Tennyson was the son of an intelligent but unstable clergyman in Lincolnshire. His early literary attempts included a play, The Devil and the Lady, composed at 14, and poems written with his brothers Frederick and Charles but entitled Poems by Two Brothers (1827). In his three years at Cambridge, Tennyson wrote a prizewinning poem, Timbuctoo (1829), and Poems, Chiefly Lyrical (1830) and began his close friendship with Arthur Henry Hallam, son of the historian Henry Hallam.

Upon the death of his father in 1831, Tennyson became responsible for the family and its precarious finances. His volume Poems (1832) included some of his most famous pieces, such as "The Lotus-Eaters," "A Dream of Fair Women," and "The Lady of Shalott." In 1833 he was overwhelmed by the sudden death of Hallam.

Mature Works and Later Life

Tennyson's next published work, Poems (1842), expressed his philosophic doubts in a materialistic, increasingly scientific age and his longing for a sustaining faith. The new poems included "Locksley Hall," "Ulysses," "Morte d'Arthur," and "Break, Break, Break." With this book he was acclaimed a great poet, and in addition, he was granted an annual government pension of £200 in 1845.

The Princess (1847) was followed in 1850 by the masterful In Memoriam, an elegy sequence that records Tennyson's years of doubt and despair after Hallam's death and culminates in an affirmation of immortality. The same year saw his appointment as poet laureate and his marriage to Emily Sellwood, whom he had courted since 1836 but had been unable to marry because of his precarious financial position. Occasional poems, such as the "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" (1852) and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1855), were part of his duties as laureate.

The first group of Idylls of the King appeared in 1859; it was expanded in 1869 and 1872, and in 1885 Tennyson added the final poem. He arranged the 12 poems chronologically in 1888 to constitute a somber ethical epic of the glory and the downfall of King Arthur. In the Arthurian legend, Tennyson projected his vision of the hollowness of his own civilization. Included among his other works are Maud (1855), a "monodrama"; Enoch Arden (1864); several poetic dramas, most notably Becket (1879; produced 1893); Ballads and Other Poems (1880); and Demeter and Other Poems (1889), which contained "Crossing the Bar."

Tennyson passed his last years in comfort. In 1883 he was created a peer and occupied a seat in the House of Lords. Throughout much of his life he was a popular as well as critical success and was venerated by the general public. Unappreciated early in the 20th cent., Tennyson has since been recognized as a great poet, notable for his mastery of technique, his superb use of sensuous language, and his profundity of thought.

Bibliography

See biographies by his son H. Tennyson (4 vol., 1897), his grandson C. Tennyson (1949, repr. 1968), H. L. Fausset (1923, repr. 1968), and P. Levi (1993); studies by J. H. Buckley (1960), C. Ricks (1972), and D. J. Palmer, ed. (1973).

Leighton, Frederick Leighton, Baron, 1830-96, English painter and sculptor. He studied in Florence. His first exhibited picture, which showed Cimabue's Madonna being carried through the streets of Florence, was purchased by Queen Victoria in 1855. Leighton was president of the Royal Academy from 1878 until his death. His popular pictures dealt with subjects taken from antiquity.

See biography by E. Rhys (3d ed. 1900); M. H. Shackford, The Brownings and Leighton (1942); W. Gaunt, Victorian Olympus (1952).

Bosio, François Joseph, Baron, 1769-1845, French sculptor. He was employed by Napoleon I to make the bas-reliefs for the column of the Place Vendôme and also as portraitist to the imperial family. At that time he produced one of his best portrait busts—that of Empress Josephine (Dijon). Louis XVIII made him court sculptor, and Charles X conferred the title baron on him. Of his larger works the most important are the equestrian statue of Louis XVI (Place de Victoires); the quadriga (four-horse chariot) of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel; and Hercules Struggling with a Serpent (garden of the Tuileries).
Boyd Orr, John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron, 1880-1971, British nutritionist and agricultural scientist, b. Scotland, grad. Univ. of Glasgow. He was professor of agriculture at the Univ. of Aberdeen (1942-45), government consultant on nutrition and health, and director-general (1946-47) of the Food and Agriculture Organization. He made notable contributions to the science of nutrition and the solution of world food problems, and he worked toward establishing world government. Knighted in 1935, he was created baron in 1949. He was awarded the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize for advocating a world food policy based on human needs rather than trade interests. His writings include The National Food Supply and Its Influence on Public Health (1934), Food and the People (1943), Food—the Foundation of World Unity (1948), and The White Man's Dilemma (1953).
Lawrence, John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron, 1811-79, British colonial administrator in India; brother of Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence. He went to India in 1829 and served in many administrative posts. In 1846, after the first Sikh War, he was made commissioner of the newly acquired Sikh territory. After the total annexation (1849) of the Punjab, Lawrence and his brother Henry reorganized the province, creating a system of administration by which all government functions in each district were concentrated in the hands of a single official, the district commissioner. The Punjab remained quiet during the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), and Lawrence directed the British troops in the recapture of Delhi. He returned to England in 1859 but in 1863 was appointed viceroy of India. Lawrence was a vigorous opponent of the expansionist policies that led to the Afghan Wars.

See studies by D. Pal (1952) and M. Edwardes (1958).

Olivier, Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron, 1859-1943, British colonial administrator. Olivier was one of the first members of the Fabian Society, contributing to the famous Fabian Essays (1889). He was colonial secretary in Jamaica from 1899 to 1904 and later governor of the island (1907-13). In 1924 he was secretary of state for India during Ramsay MacDonald's brief Labour government and was raised to the peerage. A number of his works deal with colonial questions, among them White Capital and Coloured Labour (1906, rev. ed. 1927) and The Anatomy of African Misery (1927).
Hiranuma, Kiichiro, Baron, 1865-1952, Japanese statesman, founder of the Kokuhonsha, a powerful militaristic and reactionary society. He became minister of justice in 1923. The following year he founded the Kokuhonsha, which drew support from high military, business, and political circles. By 1926, Hiranuma was vice president of the privy council. He influenced Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations, the abrogation of the Washington Naval Treaty, and the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact. After the abortive military coup of Feb., 1936, Hiranuma became president of the privy council. He was prime minister for eight months in 1939, resigning after the Russo-German pact was signed. He continued to serve as president of the privy council, was home minister in 1940, and supported Tojo's call for a fight to the finish in 1945. Arrested as a war criminal in 1946, he was condemned to life imprisonment, but was released in 1951.
Ellenborough, Edward Law, 1st Baron, 1750-1818, British jurist and statesman. He achieved fame through his successful defense of Warren Hastings in the impeachment trial (1788-95), but his principal influence on England lay in his lifelong conservatism. As attorney general (1801) and lord chief justice (1802-18), he opposed Catholic Emancipation and supported the repressive measures against radicals.
Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron, 1540?-1617, jurist and statesman. A distinguished early career at law brought him appointment (1581) as solicitor general, and he became a favorite and adviser of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1592 he was appointed attorney general and in 1596 lord keeper of the great seal. A friend of Robert Devereux, 2d earl of Essex, he tried to curb the earl's impetuosity, was lenient to him at the time of his first trial (1600), but abandoned him after his rebellion (1601) and was a witness against him in the trial that resulted in his execution. On his accession in 1603, James I made Egerton Baron Ellesmere and lord chancellor. A staunch supporter of royal prerogative, he championed the courts of chancery and high commission against those of common law and helped to secure the dismissal (1616) of Sir Edward Coke. As a man of learning and an incorruptible judge, he was highly regarded by such contemporaries as Francis Bacon and Ben Jonson. John Donne was Egerton's secretary (1597-1601) and married his niece. Ellesmere was created Viscount Brackley in 1616.
Ensor, James Ensor, Baron, 1860-1949, Belgian painter and etcher. Ensor's imagery reflected one of the most bizarre and powerful visions of his era. He left his native Ostend to study painting (1877-80) at the Académie de Bruxelles. In Brussels he became one of the original members of "Les XX," a group of avant-garde, politically and aesthetically progressive artists, writers, and musicians. Ensor exhibited with them regularly until 1888, when his pictures, particularly the Entry of Christ into Brussels, (1888, J. Paul Getty Mus., Los Angeles) were rejected as scandalous. While the public and press were at first hostile to his work, his paintings continued to be exhibited, and he gradually won worldwide acclaim. In 1929, Ensor was made a baron by King Albert. His home in Ostend became a museum after his death.

Ensor's early style of painting is characterized by somber color, thick impasto, and an earthy realism with some elements of the fantastic. Toward 1883 his palette lightened, and by 1887 his paintings were flooded with intense light and strong color. From the 1880s to 1900 he produced his most inventive and original work. Ensor's sources included the grotesque fantasies of Bosch, Bruegel, and Callot. He portrayed a fractured world, filled with leering masks, clowns, skulls and skeletons, and carnivallike scenes as well as scathingly satirical tableaux of doctors, clergy, lawyers, politicians, and other emblems of respectable society. Among his masterpieces is The Temptation of St. Anthony (1887, Mus. of Modern Art, New York City). By 1900 the significant part of his work was finished; during the last 50 years of his life his paintings show hesitant draftsmanship and an absence of internal structure. Ensor ranks as one of the great innovators of the late 19th cent.; his art transformed reality, opening the way for such 20th-century movements as surrealism and expressionism.

See J. Elesh, ed., James Ensor: The Complete Graphic Works (2 vol., 1981); D. Lesko, James Ensor: The Creative Years (1985); C. de Zegher, ed., Between Street and Mirror: The Drawings of James Ensor (museum catalog, 2001); A. Swinbourne, James Ensor (museum catalog, 2009).

Eötvös, József, Baron, 1813-71, Hungarian writer and statesman. A vigorous reformer and a Christian Liberal, he was minister of public instruction and religious affairs in 1848 and again in 1867. His novel The Village Notary (1844-46, tr. 1850) exposed the corrupt practices of county governments.
Denon, Dominique-Vivant, Baron, 1747-1825, French artist, writer, and archaeologist. He had a brilliant career as an artist and diplomat during the ancien régime and followed Napoleon on his campaign in Egypt. In 1802 he became the director of the Louvre and two years later was named the first director-general of French museums. He was instrumental in bringing foreign masterpieces into the Louvre as the spoils of conquest. His accounts of his travels and his treatise on ancient monuments contain collections of his engravings of works of art. Denon was partly responsible for the design of the Vendôme Column, a monument to Napoleon. He was also the author of an elegant erotic novella, Point de Lendemain (1777, tr. No Tomorrow, 2003).
Dieskau, Ludwig August, Baron, 1701-67, French general in the French and Indian Wars. In 1755 he was sent to take command of French troops in America. He led them and their Native American allies in an attack against British and colonial forces at Lake George and was defeated by the British commander Sir William Johnson. Dieskau was captured but was exchanged in 1763.
Wappers, Gustave, Baron, 1803-74, Belgian historical and genre painter. For many years director of the Antwerp Academy, he introduced the romantic school into Belgium. The last 15 years of his life were spent in Paris. His most famous work is Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830 (Brussels).
Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, 1st Baron, 1834-1902, English historian, b. Naples; grandson of Sir John Francis Edward Acton and of Emmerich Joseph, duc de Dalberg. Denied entrance into Cambridge because of his Roman Catholicism, he traveled to Munich, where he studied with Fr. Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger. Acton became (1859) a Liberal member of Parliament and editor of the Rambler, a Roman Catholic monthly. William E. Gladstone, his close friend, nominated him to the peerage (1869), and in 1892, Acton was made lord-in-waiting. Acton's genuine and ardent liberalism gave frequent offense to Roman Catholic authorities. His hatred of arbitrary power and all forms of absolutism led him to oppose the syllabus of errors issued by Pius IX and the promulgation of the dogma of papal infallibility, but he accepted them after their pronouncement rather than risk excommunication.

In 1895 Acton was appointed professor of modern history at Cambridge and in the following years planned the Cambridge Modern History, of which only the first volume appeared before his death. Acton never completed a book. Rather, his influence was felt through his lectures, his writings for periodicals, and his personal contacts with the leading historians of his time. Many articles, essays, and lectures were brought together after his death in Lectures on Modern History (1906), History of Freedom (1907), and Historical Essays and Studies (1907). Some of these were reprinted in Essays on Freedom and Power (1948) and Essays on Church and State (1952). His impressive personal library, consisting of more than 59,000 volumes, was bought by Andrew Carnegie after his death and donated to Cambridge.

See his correspondence with Richard Simpson, ed. by J. L. Altholz (2 vol., 1970-73); biographies by H. Tulloch (1989) and R. Hill (2000).

Jeffreys of Wem, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron, 1645?-1689, English judge under Charles II and James II. A notoriously cruel judge, he presided over many of the trials connected with the Popish Plot (see Oates, Titus) and was responsible for the judicial murder of Algernon Sidney and for the brutal trials of Richard Baxter and many others. He was created baron in 1685 and was soon sent to W England to punish those concerned in the rebellion of the duke of Monmouth. In the resulting Bloody Assizes he caused nearly 200 persons to be hanged, some 800 transported, and many more imprisoned or whipped. James II made him lord chancellor later that year. When James fled the country in 1688, Jeffreys was imprisoned and died in the Tower of London.

See biography by P. J. Helm (1967); study by G. W. Keeton (1966).

Jenkins of Hillhead, Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron, 1920-2003, British politician, b. Abersychan, Wales; grad. Oxford. He entered the House of Commons in 1948 as a Labour member and soon became one of the most formidable debaters in Parliament. When the Labour party returned to power (with Harold Wilson as prime minister) in 1964, Jenkins became minister of aviation. As home secretary from 1965 to 1967 he worked for broader laws against racial discrimination and played a large part in liberalizing laws on abortion, homosexuality, divorce, and censorship. As chancellor of the exchequer (1967-70) he instituted a program of austerity in an effort to solve Britain's financial crisis. In 1971, in defiance of the Labour party majority, he supported Britain's entry into the European Community (now the European Union). He resigned (1972) as deputy opposition leader, but again served as home secretary (1974-76) under Harold Wilson until he resigned to become president of the European Commission (1977-81). In 1981 he cofounded the Social Democratic party as a moderate alternative to Labour and Conservative extremism. He returned to Parliament in 1982 but lost his seat in 1987. He was created a life peer in 1987 and became chancellor of the Univ. of Oxford the same year, serving until his death. His historical writings include Truman (1986), Baldwin (1987), and Churchill (2001).

See his memoirs (1991); biography by J. Campbell (1983).

Vansittart, Robert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron, 1881-1957, British diplomat. After serving in a number of diplomatic positions, he was (1920-24) private secretary to Lord Curzon, who was then foreign secretary. In 1930 he became permanent undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. In this position, he advocated an anti-German, though noninterventionist, policy. Vansittart served as chief diplomatic adviser to the foreign secretary from 1938 to 1941, when he was raised to the peerage. He continued throughout the war to advocate a "hard peace" for Germany.

See his memoirs, Lessons of My Life (1945) and The Mist Procession (1958); study by I. G. Colvin (1965).

Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville, Baron, 1759-1834, British statesman; youngest son of George Grenville. He was foreign secretary in the ministry of his cousin William Pitt from 1791 to 1801. During the French Revolutionary Wars, Grenville led the British war party and favored Pitt's repressive internal measures. He was also a champion of free trade and of Catholic Emancipation. In 1806 he formed the "ministry of all the talents," which abolished (1807) the slave trade.
Grimm, Friedrich Melchior, Baron, 1723-1807, German man of letters in France. He contributed to the Encyclopédie articles on music that were belligerently partial to Italian opera buffa. His Correspondance littéraire (1st complete ed. 1829-30) is an important source for the study of the Enlightenment.
Gros, Antoine-Jean, Baron, 1771-1835, French painter. He studied with his father, a miniaturist, and with J.-L. David, whose classical theory he adopted. Napoleon appointed him painter of war campaigns, and his realistic treatment of this subject was much admired. In 1797 he was commissioned to select Italian masterpieces, the spoils of war, to enrich the Louvre. Between 1802 and 1808 he painted his best-known works, The Plague at Jaffa and The Battle of Eylau (both: Louvre) and The Battle of Aboukir (Versailles). His romantic treatment of color and the emotional tone of his works were at odds with the painter's professed classicism. His fame endured until, after the Restoration (see Restoration, in French history), he tried to reinstate the classical manner in his work. He failed and, condemned to obscurity, drowned himself in the Seine. Delacroix and Géricault were influenced by his vivid color and his sense of movement.
Morris, Edward Patrick Morris, 1st Baron, 1859-1935, Newfoundland political leader, b. St. John's. He sat (1885-1918) in the Newfoundland parliament and was a delegate to the conference called (1895) at Ottawa to discuss the possible entry of Newfoundland into the dominion of Canada. Later he represented Newfoundland at many imperial conferences and was (1910) counsel for the British government in the N Atlantic fisheries dispute. From 1909 to 1918 he was prime minister of Newfoundland. After World War I he went to England to live. He was created a baron in 1918.
Guérin, Pierre Narcisse, Baron, 1774-1833, French painter. He won enthusiastic recognition in 1799 for his Marius Sextus (Louvre). A defender of the classicism of J. L. David, he became director of the École de Rome in 1822. He counted among his pupils Delacroix, Géricault, and Ary Scheffer, who were to launch the romantic school. Among his best-known works are Aeneas and Dido, Clytemnestra, and Andromache, all in the Louvre.
Guyton de Morveau, Louis Bernard, Baron, 1737-1816, French chemist and lawyer. He wrote the chemical section of the Encyclopédie méthodique (Vol. I, 1786) and collaborated with Lavoisier and others in establishing a system of chemical nomenclature. He taught chemistry (1794-1811) at the École Polytechnique, Paris, served in the Legislative Assembly and in the National Convention during the French Revolution, and was master of the mint (1799-1814). He was created baron in 1811.
Hankey, Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron, 1877-1963, British soldier and civil servant. Educated at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, he served in the Royal Marines artillery (1895-1901) and in naval intelligence (1902-6). As secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence (1912-38) and secretary to the cabinet (1916-38), he represented Great Britain at imperial and international conferences and was extremely influential in a back-room capacity. In 1939 he was made a baron and a privy councillor, and he held minor cabinet posts until 1942. He became an active member of the House of Lords, a director of the Suez Canal Company, and an author. His writings include Government Control in War (1945), Diplomacy by Conference (1946), and The Supreme Command, 1914-1918 (1961).

See biography by S. W. Roskill (2 vol., 1970-72).

Adrian, Edgar Douglas Adrian, Baron, 1889-1977, English physiologist, M.D. Trinity College, Cambridge, 1915. He was research professor (1929-37) of the Royal Society and professor of physiology (1937-51) at Cambridge. In 1951 he became master of Trinity College. His research was chiefly on the physiology of the nervous system. He wrote The Basis of Sensation (1928), The Mechanism of Nervous Action (1932), and, with others, Factors Determining Human Behavior (1937). With Sir Charles S. Sherrington he shared the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on the function of the neuron. He was awarded a barony in 1955.
Rawlinson, Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron, 1864-1925, British general; son of Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson. He served in the Myanmar expedition of 1886-87, in the Sudan campaign (1898), and in the South African War (1899-1902). In World War I he commanded (1914-15) the IV Corps and became (1916) lieutenant general in command of the British 4th Army. In 1918 he was a member of the Supreme War Council at Versailles, and later, returning to his previous command, he achieved notable success in piercing the German line in a breakthrough between St. Quentin and Cambrai (Aug.-Nov., 1918). He was raised to the peerage in 1919 and commanded the British forces in India from 1920 until his death. Under him high army posts were assigned to Indians for the first time, and the northwest frontier was pacified.
Rayleigh, John William Strutt, 3d Baron, 1842-1919, English physicist. He was professor at Cambridge (1879-84) and at the Royal Institution (1887-1905), and chancellor of Cambridge from 1908. He won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery (with Sir William Ramsay) of argon. He is known for his extensive and important research in sound (resonance, vibration, diffraction, hearing) and light (scattering, polarization, optics, color vision); for his determinations of electrical units; and for his investigation of the application of Boyle's law to gases at low pressures. His works include The Theory of Sound (1877-78) and Scientific Papers (1899-1920).
Forrest, John Forrest, 1st Baron, 1847-1918, Australian explorer and statesman. In 1869 he led an expedition to the west of Lake Barlee in search of the missing Friedrich Leichhardt, and the following year he returned from Perth along the Great Bight to Adelaide. After other explorations he became surveyor general of Western Australia (1883) and its first premier (1890-1901). In 1901 he became postmaster general of the commonwealth. Successively he was commonwealth minister of defense (1901-3), minister of home affairs (1903-4), and treasurer (1905-7, 1909-10, 1913-14, and 1917-18). His writings include Explorations in Australia (1875) and Western Australia (1884-87).

See biography by F. K. Crowley (1971).

Fourier, Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron, 1768-1830, French mathematician and physicist. He was noted for his researches on heat and on numerical equations. He originated Fourier's theorem on vibratory motion and the Fourier series, which provided a method for representing discontinuous functions by a trigonometric series. Fourier was professor (1795-98) at the École polytechnique, Paris; accompanied Napoleon I to Egypt; and was prefect of Isère (1802-15). In 1808 he was made a baron. He wrote Théorie analytique de la chaleur (1822; tr. 1878, repr. 1955). His scientific writings were collected in two volumes (1888-90).
Raglan, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron, 1788-1855, British general. He entered the army in 1804 and was made (1814) a lieutenant colonel for his services on the duke of Wellington's staff in the Peninsular War. He was secretary of the embassy in Paris when Napoleon reentered Paris (1815), and he lost an arm at the battle of Waterloo. Raglan became secretary to Wellington in 1818, retaining that position until the latter's death (1852) when Raglan succeeded him as master general of ordinance. He was raised to the peerage in the same year. As commander of the British force in the Crimean War, Raglan again showed himself a brave officer and was made field marshal after the battle of Inkerman. However, he was handicapped by his joint command with the French commander, Marshal Saint-Arnaud, by weather conditions, and by the inefficiency of government departments and became the object of bitter criticism because of slow military progress and the sufferings of the troops. The failure of the attack on Sevastopol hastened his death from disease before the end of the war. The raglan, an overcoat in which the sleeves go directly to the neck without shoulder seams, was named for Lord Raglan.

See C. Hibbert, The Destruction of Lord Raglan (1961, repr. 1963).

Ramsey of Canterbury, Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron, 1904-88, archbishop of Canterbury (1961-74), b. Cambridge, England. He was educated at Repton School; Magdalene College, Cambridge; and Cuddesdon Theological College. After his ordination in 1928 he held various teaching posts. In 1940 he was appointed canon of Durham Cathedral and professor of divinity at the Univ. of Durham, and in 1950 he became regius professor of divinity at Cambridge. In 1952 he was consecrated bishop of Durham and from 1956 to 1961 was archbishop of York. In June, 1961, he succeeded Geoffrey Francis Fisher as archbishop of Canterbury. Although a member of the High-Church group, Ramsey pressed for increased autonomy for the Church of England and was active in the ecumenical movement. He retired as archbishop in 1974 and was succeeded by Donald Coggan; he was subsequently created a life peer. A noted scholar, his works include The Gospel and the Catholic Church (1931), The Resurrection of Christ (1945), F. D. Maurice and the Conflict of Modern Theology (1951), and From Gore to Temple (1960).

See biography by J. B. Simpson (1962).

Pauncefote of Preston, Julian Pauncefote, 1st Baron, 1828-1902, British diplomat. He served in various positions in the colonies before becoming (1882) permanent undersecretary for foreign affairs. As minister (ambassador after 1893) to Washington from 1889 until his death, Pauncefote dealt successfully with the problems concerning seal fishing in the Bering Sea, the Venezuela Boundary Dispute, and the Panama Canal question, which was readjusted by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaties (1899-1901). He preserved friendly relations between Great Britain and the United States during the Spanish-American War and in 1899, as senior British delegate to the First Hague Conference, was a leading figure in the formation of a permanent tribunal of arbitration. He was created baron in 1899.
Holberg, Ludvig, Baron, 1684-1754, Danish dramatist, essayist, poet, and historian, apostle of the Enlightenment in Scandinavia. Born in Norway, he studied theology in Bergen and in Copenhagen. After 1708 he made Denmark his home, residing there between European travels. Professor of metaphysics and later of history at the Univ. of Copenhagen, Holberg was the foremost Danish author of his time. His comedies, which brought him world stature, include the early mock-heroic epic poem Pedar Paars (1719-20), the satirical drama The Political Tinker (1722), and numerous other plays (he wrote 26 in the period 1722-24 alone). The ideas of the Enlightenment were publicized in Niels Klim's Subterranean Journey (1740, tr. 1960), a utopian novel, and in Moral Thoughts (1744) and Epistles (5 vol., 1748-54), collections of essays. He also wrote many popular scientific works; histories of Denmark, of Christianity, and of the Jews; and an autobiography (3 parts, in Latin, 1728-43, tr. 1827). Translations of his works include selected plays (1914, 1946, 1950) and essays (1955).
Holland, Henry Richard Vassall Fox, 3d Baron, 1773-1840, British politician, nephew of Charles James Fox. He was a member of the Whig opposition party from 1797 and served as lord privy seal in the coalition ministry of 1806-7. An opponent of the Act of Union with Ireland (1801), he continually advocated its repeal, at the same time working for Catholic Emancipation. Although a loyal and active member he was never personally powerful in the Whig party. When the Whigs returned to power, he served as the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (1830-34, 1835-40). Lord Holland is, perhaps, best known for his influence on literature, politics, and letters through the hospitality that Holland House in London provided for the brilliant and distinguished people of his day. His son, the 4th baron, edited Holland's Foreign Reminiscences (1850) and Memoirs of the Whig Party (1852).

See L. Mitchell Holland House (1980).

Berners, John Bourchier, 2d Baron, 1467-1533, English diplomat and man of letters. A member of Parliament from 1495 to 1529, he later became chancellor of the exchequer (1516) and ambassador to Madrid (1518). He was English governor of Calais from 1520 until his death. Berners's literary work includes such translations as Froissart's Chronicles (2 vol., 1523-25); Huon of Bordeaux (1534?); and The Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius (1535; from a French version of Guevara's work).
Berzelius, Jöns Jakob, Baron, 1779-1848, Swedish chemist, M.D. Univ. of Uppsala, 1802. He was noted for his work as teacher at the medical school and other institutions in Stockholm and for his discoveries in diverse fields of chemistry. He developed the modern system of symbols and formulas in chemistry, prepared a remarkably accurate table of atomic weights, analyzed numerous chemical compounds, and discovered the elements selenium, thorium, and cerium. Silicon in the amorphous form was first prepared by Berzelius, and he was the first to isolate zirconium. Berzelius coined the words isomerism, allotropy, and protein. He also contributed to the science of electrochemistry and wrote numerous books.

See study by J. Eric Jorpes (tr. 1971).

Conway of Allington, William Martin Conway, 1st Baron, 1856-1937, English explorer, art historian, and writer. Conway filled several university positions and in 1918-31 represented the combined English universities as Conservative member in the House of Commons. He began mountain climbing at 16 and conducted expeditions of exploration in Spitsbergen (1896-97) and the Bolivian Andes (1898). His numerous books on art and exploration include Mountain Memories (1920), Art Treasures of Soviet Russia (1925), and Giorgione as a Landscape Painter (1929).
Corvo, Baron: see Rolfe, Frederick William.
Carrington, Peter Carington, 6th Baron, 1919-, British politician. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he succeeded to the peerage in 1938. After serving in World War II, he took his seat in the House of Lords, where he held ministerial positions under the Conservative governments of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and Edward Heath. These included high commissioner to Australia (1956-59), first lord of the admiralty (1959-63), leader of the House of Lords (1963-64), and secretary of state for defense (1970-74). In the first government of Margaret Thatcher he was foreign secretary (1979-82), where he played a major role in negotiating an end to the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He resigned after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. He subsequently served as secretary-general of NATO (1984-88) and until 1992 was a European Community envoy working for peace in the Balkans.
Carson, Edward Henry Carson, Baron, 1854-1935, Irish politician. After a successful legal career in Dublin, he was elected to the British Parliament (1892) and called to the English bar (1893). He soon established himself as a prominent London trial lawyer, especially after his brilliantly devastating cross-examination of Oscar Wilde in the Queensberry libel case (1895). Carson was solicitor general in the Conservative government from 1900 to 1905. He had long opposed Home Rule for Ireland, fearing dominance of Protestant Ulster by the Catholic South, and in 1912 he organized military resistance in Ulster against the attempt of the Liberal government to impose it. Faced with the threat of civil war, the government eventually conceded that Ulster should be excluded from the Home Rule settlement. During World War I, Carson served as attorney general (1915) in Herbert Asquith's coalition government and as first lord of the Admiralty (1916-17) and member of the war cabinet (1917-18) under David Lloyd George. He resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionists in 1921, was made a baron in the same year, and served (1921-29) as lord of appeal in ordinary.

See biography by H. M. Hyde (1953).

Sackville, Lionel Sackville-West, 2d Baron, 1827-1908, British diplomat. He served in numerous diplomatic posts before being appointed (1881) ambassador to the United States. He helped to settle (1887-88) the quarrel between the United States and Canada over fishing rights in the North Atlantic. In 1888 he was tricked, by a letter falsely purporting to come from a nonpolitical source, into making a statement implying that the reelection of Grover Cleveland would be to the British interest. His reply was publicized to further the Republican campaign for Benjamin Harrison. He was recalled (1888) to London upon President Cleveland's demand. He succeeded to his brother's title in 1888 and retired the following year.
Beaverbrook, William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron, 1879-1964, British financier, statesman, and newspaper owner, b. Canada. The son of a Scottish Presbyterian clergyman, he grew up near Beaverbrook, N.B. He made a fortune in business and was probably a millionaire when he went to England in 1910. There he immediately entered political life as a member of Parliament and secretary to a fellow Canadian, Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law. Politically ambitious, he was involved in the intrigues that led to the replacement (1916) of Herbert Asquith as prime minister by David Lloyd George. He was not given a place in the new cabinet, but he received a peerage (1917). Beaverbrook obtained control of the Daily Express (1916) and the Evening Standard (1923) and began the Sunday Express (1918). Both in Parliament and in his newspapers he advocated strong imperial ties and free trade within the empire, regardless of commercial agreements with other countries, but he never succeeded completely in his attempts to have his imperial isolationist policies adopted by the Conservative party. In World War II, Lord Beaverbrook was prominent in Winston Churchill's coalition government as minister of aircraft production (1940-41), minister of supply (1941-42), minister of war production (Feb., 1942), special envoy to the United States on supplies (1942), and lord privy seal (1943-45). After the fall of the Churchill government in 1945, he continued his supervision of his newspapers. His books include Success (1922), Politicians and the War 1914-1916 (1928), Men and Power: 1917-1918 (1956), and Friends (1959).

See biographies by T. Driberg (1956) and A. J. P. Taylor (1972).

Gérard, François Pascal Simon, Baron, 1770-1837, French portrait and historical painter, b. Rome. In Paris, after brief study under Pajou and others, he became a favorite pupil of J. L. David, who influenced such works as Psyche Receiving the Kiss of Cupid and Daphnis and Chloë, both in the Louvre. As a leading portraitist, Gérard was patronized by the court during the Empire and the Bourbon restoration. His portrait of Mme Récamier, of this period, is in the Louvre. Louis XVIII appointed him court painter in 1814. Many examples of his historical paintings are in the Versailles Museum. His portrait of the Countess Regnault de Saint-Jean-d'Angély (1798; Louvre) exemplifies his style of studied elegance and meticulous finish.
Clifford of Chudleigh, Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron, 1630-73, English statesman. Member (1667-73) of the Cabal at Charles II's court, he held a number of offices, rising to acting secretary of state and lord treasurer (1672). He was created Baron Clifford in 1672. Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, and Clifford, both alleged Roman Catholics, knew of the secret clauses of the Treaty of Dover (1670), which provided for the reestablishment of Roman Catholicism in England. He was forced to resign by passage of the Test Act (1673), which excluded Roman Catholics from office. He died soon afterward, possibly by suicide.
Clyde, Colin Campbell, Baron: see Campbell, Colin, Baron Clyde.
Tweedsmuir, John Buchan, 1st Baron: see Buchan, John.
Jósika, Miklós, Baron, 1794-1865, Hungarian novelist and patriot. The originator of the Hungarian historical novel, he was often superficial and inaccurate, but was nevertheless responsible for a renewed interest in Hungary's history. His many novels include Abafi (1836) and Az utólsó Bátory (1840). Forced to flee abroad after his part in the unsuccessful revolution of 1848-49, he directed the central office of Polish émigrés in Brussels.
Rowton, Montagu William Lowry Corry, 1st Baron, 1838-1903, English philanthropist. He was called to the bar in 1863. From 1866 until 1881 he served as private secretary to Disraeli, who recommended him for the title of Baron Rowton (1880) and made him his literary executor. Lord Rowton became interested in London housing conditions and promulgated a scheme for a pauper's hotel, which was opened in Vauxhall in 1892. Its success led to the formation of a company that constructed a number of similar establishments, known as Rowton Houses.
Avebury, John Lubbock, 1st Baron: see Lubbock, Sir John.
Fairfax of Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 3d Baron, 1612-71, English general. He was the son of Ferdinando Fairfax, 2d Baron Fairfax of Cameron (1584-1648), whose title he inherited and under whom he fought in the early stages of the English civil war. In 1645 he was given command of the New Model Army, which he organized and trained and led to victory against Charles I at Naseby. Fairfax was conservative by nature, and when the quarrel developed between the army and Parliament he exercised little influence over army policies. Nominated as a judge of Charles I, he resigned when he realized the king's execution was predetermined. He resigned (1650) his command rather than invade Scotland, withdrew from public life during the Protectorate, and played some part in securing the Restoration (1660) of the monarchy.
Fairfax of Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Baron, 1693-1781, proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia, b. England. He inherited the Northern Neck, comprising the land between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, through his mother from his grandfather, the 2d Baron Culpeper, colonial governor of Virginia. Virginia disputed the extent of his grant, and both parties had surveys made, Fairfax journeying (1735-37) to the colony for that purpose. In 1745 the British privy council, in return for certain concessions made by Fairfax, confirmed his claim in full (a minimum of 5,282,000 acres/2,137,500 hectares), and two years later he returned to Virginia to live permanently. He spent several years with his cousin and former agent, Col. William Fairfax, the patron of the youthful George Washington, at "Belvoir" on the Potomac before moving (1752) to the Shenandoah valley, where he built "Greenway Court," near Winchester. Although a Loyalist in sentiment (he was the only resident peer in the colonies), he went unharmed during the American Revolution. The state of Virginia canceled the proprietorship in 1785.

See biography by S. E. Brown (1965).

Farnborough, Thomas Erskine May, 1st Baron: see May, Thomas Erskine.
Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron, 1731-1806, lord chancellor of England. Called to the bar in 1754, he enjoyed considerable success in legal practice. He was made a king's counsel in 1762 and entered Parliament in 1765. He was appointed solicitor general (1770) and attorney general (1771). His support of the policies of George III and Lord North with respect to the American colonies brought him a peerage and the lord chancellorship (1778). He held the latter office until Charles James Fox insisted upon his dismissal in 1783. William Pitt reappointed him in 1783, and he retained office until 1792. Then his opposition to Pitt's sinking fund and his intrigues against the ministry caused Pitt to demand his retirement. He had presided ably over the first part of the trial of Warren Hastings. Thurlow consistently opposed parliamentary reform, abolition of the slave trade, and other reforms. His manner inspired Charles James Fox's remark, "No man ever was so wise as Thurlow looks."
Lovat, Simon Fraser, 11th Baron, 1675?-1747, Scottish nobleman and Jacobite conspirator. The nephew of the 9th baron, he and his father contested the passing of the title to his cousin Amelia. In an attempt to assert his claim he eloped with Amelia, but she returned to her mother. He then abducted her mother, widow of the 9th baron, and forced her to marry him, for which he was outlawed in 1701. He returned to Scotland in 1703 to join James Douglas, 2d duke of Queensberry, in plotting against John Murray, 2d marquess and later 1st duke of Atholl, brother of the aunt he had abducted. When the plot failed he fled abroad and was imprisoned by the exiled Jacobites for betraying them to the English in an attempt to regain his estates. Returning to Scotland in 1714, he again betrayed the Jacobites in the uprising of 1715 by siding with the Hanoverians at the last minute. He thus won a pardon. In 1730 he successfully contested his cousin's claim to the peerage and was decreed Baron Lovat. In the Jacobite rising of 1745, however, having posed as loyal to the crown, he sent his son and clan to fight for the Pretender. He was captured in hiding, tried by impeachment before the House of Lords, and convicted. He was the last British peer to be executed for high treason.
Lugard, Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron, 1858-1945, British colonial administrator. After an early military career, he entered (1889) the service of the British East Africa Company and was sent (1890) to Uganda. After securing British predominance in the area he returned (1892) to England and was instrumental in persuading the British government to assume (1894) a protectorate over Uganda. Appointed British commissioner for N Nigeria, he created the West African Frontier Force in 1897 and by 1903 had subdued N Nigeria. Lugard was governor of all Nigeria from 1912 to 1919, welding its diverse territories into a single administrative unit. He developed the doctrine of indirect rule, which Great Britain employed in many of its African colonies. According to his views the colonial administration should exercise its control of the subject population through traditional native institutions. Lugard expounded his theory in The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (1922). He was raised to the peerage in 1928.

See biography by M. Perham (2 vol., 1956; repr. 1968).

Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron, 1772-1863, British jurist, b. Boston, Mass.; son of John Singleton Copley, the American painter. Educated in England, he was called to the bar in 1804. He attained notice by his successful defense of Arthur Thistlewood and James Watson (1817). He entered (1818) Parliament, became solicitor general (1819), attorney general (1824), and master of the rolls (1826). Between 1827 and 1846 he was three times lord chancellor. Although he defended radicals earlier in his career, in political life he was a Tory and a leader of his party in the House of Lords.

See biography by Sir Theodore Martin (1883).

Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron: see Bulwer-Lytton.
Russell of Killowen, Charles Russell, Baron, 1832-1900, British jurist, b. Ireland. He practiced law in Belfast and London before his election to Parliament as a Liberal in 1880. In the Commons he worked for the conciliation of Ireland, and he was the leading counsel for Charles Stewart Parnell before the Parnell Commission (1888-90). He served as William Gladstone's attorney general (1886, 1892-94) and in 1894 became lord chief justice, the first Roman Catholic to hold that office since the Reformation. Russell served as counsel (1893) in the Bering Sea Fur-Seal Controversy and in 1899 was one of the Venezuela Boundary Arbitration Tribunal.

See biography by R. B. O'Brien (1909).

Rutherford, Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron, 1871-1937, British physicist, b. New Zealand. Rutherford left New Zealand in 1895, having earned three degrees from the Univ. of New Zealand but having failed to secure a post as a schoolteacher. After working under J. J. Thomson at Cambridge he was professor of physics at McGill Univ. (1898-1907), professor and director of the physical laboratory at the Univ. of Manchester (1907-19), and in 1919 succeeded Thomson as professor and director of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge.

Rutherford is known for his studies of radioactivity and for his discovery of the atomic nucleus. He discovered and named alpha and beta radiation and with Frederick Soddy proposed a theory of radioactive transformation of atoms; for this work he was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. On the basis of experiments with alpha rays carried out under his direction by H. Geiger and E. Marsden he was led (1911) to a description of the atom as a small, heavy nucleus surrounded by orbital electrons; this nuclear model of the atom was taken by Niels Bohr (1913) and combined with the new quantum theory to provide the basic description of the atom still accepted today. In the course of his researches, Rutherford produced hydrogen by bombarding atoms of various elements, e.g., nitrogen, with helium nuclei (alpha rays); these results, published in 1919, were the first evidence of artificially produced splitting of atomic nuclei. In addition to his own work, he was known for his outstanding leadership in directing the research of others.

Rutherford was knighted in 1914 and elevated to the peerage in 1931. His works include Radioactive Transformations (1906), The Electrical Structure of Matter (1926), The Artificial Transmutation of the Elements (1933), and The Newer Alchemy (1937). His collected papers were compiled by Sir James Chadwick (3 vol., 1962-65).

See biographies by A. S. Eve (1939), E. N. da C. Andrade (1964, repr. 1990), D. Wilson (1983), and J. Campbell (1999); studies by M. Oliphant (1972), T. J. Trenn (1977) and W. R. Shea and M. A. Bunge, ed. (1979).

Amherst, Jeffery Amherst, Baron, 1717-97, British army officer. He served in the War of the Austrian Succession and in the early part of the Seven Years War. In 1758 he was sent to America as a major general to lead the Louisburg campaign in the last of the French and Indian Wars. The capture (1758) of the French fortress gave Britain her first important victory in the war, and Amherst replaced James Abercromby as supreme commander in America. The next year (1759), pushing northward from Albany, he took Crown Point and Ticonderoga, but he arrived too late to help General Wolfe take Quebec. He directed (1760) the capture of Montreal and returned (1763) to England. In the American Revolution, Amherst refused to command British troops in New England, but in 1778 he became commander in chief of home defenses. Amherst, for whom Amherst and Amherst College is named, was created baron in 1776 and was made a field marshal in 1796.

See his journal (ed. by J. C. Webster, 1931); biography by J. C. Long (1933).

Haussmann, Georges Eugène, Baron, 1809-91, French civic official and city planner. Distinguished for his bold alterations in the layout of Paris under Napoleon III, he is largely responsible for the city's present appearance. To create adequate traffic circulation, old streets were widened and new ones cut, while the great railway stations were placed in a circle outside the old city and provided with broad approaches. For the enhancement of monuments, open spaces and vistas were contrived, including the Place de l'Opéra, the Étoile, and the Place de la Nation, which became focusing points for radiating avenues. The Bois de Boulogne was laid out, as well as a number of smaller parks. The Boulevard Haussmann in Paris commemorates his name.

See H. Saalman, Haussman: Paris Transformed (1971).

Hawke of Towton, Edward Hawke, 1st Baron, 1705-81, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1720 and first saw fighting as commander of a ship in the battle of Toulon (1744). He was promoted (1747) to rear admiral and in the same year inflicted a major defeat on a French squadron off La Rochelle. In the Seven Years War, Hawke relieved (1756) Admiral John Byng as commander in the Mediterranean and was appointed an admiral. In Nov., 1759, after blockading the French ports in the Bay of Biscay for six months, he won a decisive victory over the French fleet in Quiberon Bay. His victory averted the danger of a French invasion of Great Britain. He served (1766-71) as first lord of the admiralty and was raised (1776) to the peerage. During his long career Hawke did much to improve conditions in the fleet.

See biography by R. F. Mackay (1965).

Anson, George Anson, Baron, 1697-1762, British admiral. In his famous voyage (1740-44) around the world, Anson, in spite of shipwrecks and scurvy, inflicted great damage on Spanish shipping and returned to England with a rich prize. He was raised to the peerage after his popular naval victory (1747) off Cape Finisterre. Appointed then as first lord of the admiralty, he assisted William Pitt, Lord Chatham, in reorganizing naval administration.

See A Voyage round the World (comp. by R. Walter, rev. ed. 1911); biographies by M. V. Anson (1912) and S. W. C. Pack (1960); L. A. Wilcox, Anson's Voyage (1970).

Seaton, John Colborne, 1st Baron, 1778-1863, British soldier and colonial administrator. He served in Egypt (1801) and Sicily (1806), participated (1808-14) in the Peninsular War, and helped to defeat Napoleon's "Old Guard" at Waterloo. He was appointed lieutenant governor of Guernsey (1825) and lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (1828), serving in the latter post until 1836. In 1835 he was made commander in chief of Canadian forces, and he suppressed the rebellions of 1837 and 1838. He was governor in chief of British North America in 1839, the year he was made a baron. After he left Canada he served as lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands (1843-49) and commanded the forces in Ireland (1855-60). He was made a field marshal in 1860.
Seillière, Ernest, Baron, 1866-1955, French critic and philosopher. He is best known as an opponent of romanticism and for his philosophy of "imperialism." His theories were expounded in many works, notably in La Philosophie de l'impérialisme (4 vol., 1903-8). A collection of his essays was translated as Romanticism (1929).
Horta, Victor, Baron, 1861-1947, Belgian architect. The Tassel House in Brussels (1892-93), his first mature work, was the earliest monument of art nouveau. It was excelled only by his later works, such as the Baron von Eetvelde house (1895) and the demolished Maison du Peuple (1896-99), both in Brussels. The houses are especially significant for their interior architecture. The irregularly shaped rooms open freely onto one another at different levels. The plantlike design of the iron balustrade is echoed in the curving decorative lines of the mosaic floors, plaster walls, and other surfaces. Horta later reverted to a more traditional mode of architectural expression.
Houghton, Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron, 1809-85, English author. Throughout much of his life he was an active member of Parliament. He was among the first to recognize the genius of Keats and in 1848 published his Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats. In addition he secured a pension for Tennyson and widely proclaimed Swinburne's genius. His poetical works include Poems of Many Years (1838) and Palm Leaves (1844).
Howard of Effingham, Charles Howard, 2d Baron: see Nottingham, Charles Howard, 1st earl of.
Culpeper, Thomas Culpeper, 2d Baron, 1635-89, English colonial governor of Virginia. In 1673, with the earl of Arlington, he was granted all lands in Virginia not previously patented. In addition, Culpeper was granted (1675) the right of succession to the governorship of Virginia and soon replaced Sir William Berkeley. He remained in England and ruled through deputies until 1680, when Charles II required him to go in person to Virginia. His general pardon of all those who had participated in Bacon's Rebellion made him popular for a brief time, but after about four months he returned to England. When disturbances arising out of the low price of tobacco broke out in the colony, he was threatened with removal unless he remained in Virginia. During his second stay (1682-83) Culpeper hanged some of the planters who had destroyed tobacco plants and quarreled violently with the burgesses. Upon leaving the colony again in 1683 he was deprived of the governorship. However, in 1688 he procured from James II a renewal in perpetuity of his vast Northern Neck proprietary (see Fairfax of Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Baron).
Cuvier, Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron, 1769-1832, French naturalist, b. Montbéliard, studied at the academy of Stuttgart. From 1795 he taught in the Jardin des Plantes. He became permanent secretary (1803) of the Academy of Sciences and later was made chancellor of the Univ. of Paris. A pioneer in the science of comparative anatomy, he originated a system of zoological classification that comprised four phyla based on differences in structure of the skeleton and organs. His reconstruction of the soft parts of fossils deduced from their skeletal remains greatly advanced the science of paleontology. The flying reptile pterodactyl (see pterosaur) was identified and named by Cuvier. He rejected the theory of evolution in favor of catastrophism. Cuvier held various high posts in the government and did much to develop higher education in France. Among his more important works are Tableau élémentaire de l'histoire naturelle des animaux (1798); Mémoires sur les espèces d'éléphants vivants et fossiles (1800); with A. M. C. Dumeril and G. L. Duvernoy, Leçons d'anatomie comparée (5 vol., 1801-5); Recherches sur les ossements fossiles des quadrupèdes (1812); and Le Règne animal destribué d'après son organisation (1817).

See study by W. Coleman (1964).

De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron, 1577-1618, English colonial governor of Virginia. He saw fighting in the Netherlands and was knighted when serving in Ireland. He succeeded to the peerage in 1602. In 1609 he was appointed first governor of Virginia (Sir Thomas Gates governed as deputy until De la Warr arrived). He sailed in Apr., 1610, with an expedition including Sir Samuel Argall. On his arrival at Jamestown he found the settlers in such dire need that they were ready to return to England. He encouraged them to remain, sent Argall for supplies, and had forts built. Argall, on his voyage, sailed into the bay later called (after the governor) Delaware Bay. Lord De la Warr returned to England, and the colony was governed by Sir Thomas Gates and Sir Thomas Dale. De la Warr in his Relation … of the Colonies Planted in Virginia (1611) pleaded for the colony. He died during his second voyage to Virginia.
Metcalfe, Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron, 1785-1846, British colonial administrator, b. India. He entered the Indian civil service as a young man, rose quickly, and was provisional governor-general in 1835. He later served (1839-42) as governor of Jamaica. He was appointed governor-general of Canada in 1843. His experience in India and Jamaica had little prepared Metcalfe for service in a colony in which the movement for self-government was strongly under way. In 1843 his ministers, headed by Robert Baldwin and Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine of the Reform parties, resigned. He formed a Conservative administration, and a general election resulted in his favor. Impaired in health, he retired in 1845, the same year in which he was created a baron.

See D. N. Panigrahi, Charles Metcalfe in India (1968).

Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron, 1841-1920, British admiral. Entering the navy in 1854, he specialized in gunnery and in 1872 was responsible for instituting the developmental work that perfected the torpedo. He was director of ordnance and torpedoes at the admiralty (1886-90), third sea lord and controller of the navy (1892-97), and commander in chief of the Mediterranean fleet (1899-1902). As second sea lord (1902-3) he reorganized and improved the method of training naval officers. Returning to the admiralty as first sea lord (1904), Fisher redistributed British naval forces to meet the newly recognized threat from Germany. In 1905 he began construction of the Dreadnought (see battleship) and thereafter pressed hard for an expanded program of naval construction. He encouraged the development of submarines and supervised the conversion of the navy from coal-fired to oil-fired steam power. Created a baron in 1909, Fisher resigned as first sea lord in 1910 but returned to that position after the outbreak (1914) of World War I. He advocated an amphibious strike against Germany in the Baltic but opposed the Dardanelles expedition and resigned (1915) because of it. His reforms proved crucial to Britain's wartime naval supremacy.

See his correspondence, ed. by A. J. Marder (3 vol., 1952-59); biographies by R. H. Bacon (1929), R. A. Hough (1969), R. F. Mackay (1973), and J. Morris (1995); A. J. Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow (5 vol., 1961-70).

Trimble of Lisnagarvey, William David Trimble, Baron, 1944-, Northern Irish political leader, grad. Queens Univ., Belfast (LL.B.). A Protestant Unionist, he became (1969) a barrister and taught law at his alma mater. In the early 1970s he was a member of the radical loyalist Ulster Vanguard party but later joined (1978) the more moderate Ulster Unionist party (UUP). Elected to the British parliament in 1990, he became leader of the UUP in 1995. Despite his pro-British sentiments and his close associations with Ian Paisley and other hardliners, Trimble proved to be a flexible negotiator and played an integral part in the multiparty peace negotiations, facilitated by the United States, that began in 1997 and ended in the peace agreement of April, 1998. For their work in securing this historic accord, Trimble and John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, were awarded the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize. Trimble subsequently (1999) became Northern Ireland's first minister, serving in the post (with interruptions) until 2002, when conflicts with Sinn Féin forced a government suspension. In 2005 Trimble lost his parliamentary seat and resigned as UUP leader. He was created a life peer in 2006.

See his To Raise Up a New Northern Ireland, Articles and Speeches 1998-2000 (2001); biographies by H. McDonald (2001), D. Godson (2004), and F. Millar (2005); M. Kerr, Transforming Unionism: David Trimble and the 2005 General Election (2005).

Noel-Baker, Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron, 1889-1982, British statesman, b. Philip John Baker. After helping to draft (1919) the Covenant of the League of Nations, he served (1929-31, 1936-70) as a Labour member of Parliament and held cabinet posts (1946-50) under Prime Minister Clement Attlee. After World War II he helped draft the United Nations Charter and worked actively for world disarmament. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959.
Nordenskjöld, Nils Adolf Erik, Baron, 1832-1901, Swedish geologist and arctic explorer, first to navigate the Northeast Passage, b. Finland. He served as geologist on several expeditions to Spitsbergen under Otto Torrell, the noted Swedish geologist, on one of which he found plant fossils of the Tertiary period. From 1864 he commanded a series of expeditions in the course of which he mapped Spitsbergen, reached (1868) lat. 81°42'N (the highest then attained), made a journey (1870) on the inland ice of Greenland, and at Spitsbergen (1872-73) gathered extensive zoological and botanical collections. After 1872 he became interested in discovering the Northeast Passage as a possible route of trade. He reached Novaya Zemlya, crossed the Kara Sea, and ascended (1875) the Yenisei River, which he explored again in 1876. After these reconnoitering trips, he set out in the Vega in 1878, rounded Cape Chelyuskin, but was stopped by ice at the entrance to the Bering Strait. In 1879 he passed East Cape and sailed into the Bering Sea (northward extension of the Pacific). He completed the trip to China and returned to Sweden in 1880 and was created baron. In 1883 he penetrated for about 75 mi (120 km) the great ice barrier E of Greenland and in 1890 paid his sixth visit to Spitsbergen. During the last twenty years of his life Nordenskjöld wrote several valuable books on geography, cartography, and travel. Among his translated works is The Voyage of the Vega (1881). His Facsimile-Atlas (1889) and Periplus (1897) are especially interesting for their collections of early maps, charts, and geographical documents.

See The Arctic Voyages of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (ed. by A. Leslie, 1879).

North, Frederick North, 8th Baron, 1732-92, British statesman, best known as Lord North. He entered Parliament in 1754 and became a junior lord of the treasury (1759), privy councilor (1766), and chancellor of the exchequer (1767). In 1770, North, who had proved himself an able parliamentarian, was appointed prime minister; the support of George III kept him in that office for 12 years. North was a capable administrator, who introduced financial reforms and began reform of the East India Company with the Regulating Act of 1772. However, he is chiefly remembered for his incompetent colonial policies. His stern response to the Boston Tea Party (see Intolerable Acts) helped unite the American colonists against England. After the outbreak of the American Revolution, North offered to resign, but since no acceptable replacement could be found, he remained in office until after news of the British surrender at Yorktown. In 1783 he formed a coalition with his former opponent, the Whig Charles James Fox, but George III secured its collapse by the defeat of Fox's East India bill. For the remainder of his career North supported the opposition against William Pitt, but he was forced to retire from active political life when his sight failed. He succeeded his father to the earldom of Guilford two years before his death.

See biography by A. C. Valentine (2 vol., 1967); C. R. Ritcheson, British Politics and the American Revolution (1954); C. D. Smith, The Early Career of Lord North the Prime Minister, 1754-1770 (1979).

Hailsham of Saint Marylebone, Quintin McGarel Hogg, Baron, 1907-2001, British politician, b. London. A lawyer, he served (1938-50) as a Conservative member of Parliament for Oxford. In 1950, he succeeded his father as Viscount Hailsham and sat in the House of Lords, but in 1963 renounced the title for his lifetime and returned to the House of Commons, where he served until 1970. He was first lord of the admiralty (1956-57), deputy party leader and then leader in the House of Lords (1957-60 and 1960-63), and minister for science and technology (1959-64). With the encouragement of resigning prime minister Harold Macmillan, he contested (1963) Sir Alec Douglas-Home for the party leadership. Unsuccessful, he went back to his law career. He accepted a life peerage (1970) and served two terms as lord chancellor (1970-74, 1979-87). His writings include an autobiography, A Sparrow's Flight (1990), and two political works, The Purpose of Parliament (1946) and Science and Politics (1963).
Burghley or Burleigh, William Cecil, 1st Baron, 1520-98, English statesman. He first rose to prominence during the protectorate of Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, and he served as secretary of state (1550-53) during the ascendancy of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. He avoided direct involvement in Northumberland's seizure (1553) of the throne for Lady Jane Grey and thus did not lose favor when Mary I succeeded. Although he held no office during her reign, he was sent on several diplomatic missions and sat in Parliament. He was reappointed to office by Elizabeth I, whom he served faithfully for 40 years—as secretary (1558-72) and as lord treasurer (1572-98). He continued to sit in Parliament, as a commoner until 1571 and as Lord Burghley thereafter, and was Elizabeth's chief spokesman there, as well as administrative head of her government. One of his greatest skills was his ability to function as a liaison, representing royal policy to Parliament and keeping Elizabeth in touch with its feelings. His personal religious sympathies were with the Puritans, but politically he considered the interests of the country best served by a middle-of-the-road Anglican church, which he supported against both Protestant and Roman Catholic extremes. He urged Elizabeth to marry and perpetuate a Protestant Tudor house, and he supported the cause of the Scottish Protestants against the Roman Catholic Mary Queen of Scots. He was not able to maintain a policy of moderation, however. A succession of Catholic plots against Elizabeth led to increasing harshness toward Catholics generally and finally the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. In the privy council Burghley took a decisive role in the suppression of the Catholic revolts, but he was opposed to the entrance of England into European wars on behalf of the Protestants. This policy was defeated (1585) by the Puritan wing of the council under Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Sir Francis Walsingham. Although Elizabeth's favorites often opposed Burghley's influence, his role as chief adviser was never seriously challenged.

See biography by B. W. Beckingsale (1967); C. Read, Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth (1955) and Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth (1960).

Burleigh, William Cecil, 1st Baron: see Burghley.
Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron, 1788-1824, English poet and satirist.

Early Life and Works

He was the son of Capt. John ("Mad Jack") Byron and his second wife, Catherine Gordon of Gight. His father died in 1791, and Byron, born with a clubfoot, was subjected alternately to the excessive tenderness and violent temper of his mother. In 1798, after years of poverty, Byron succeeded to the title and took up residence at the family seat, Newstead Abbey. He subsequently attended Dulwich school and Harrow (1801-5) and then matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Although the academic atmosphere did nothing to lessen Byron's sensitivity about his lameness, he made several close friends while at school.

His first volume, Fugitive Pieces (1806), was suppressed; revised and expanded, it appeared in 1807 as Poems on Various Occasions. This was followed by Hours of Idleness (1807), which provoked such severe criticism from the Edinburgh Review that Byron replied with English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), a satire in heroic couplets reminiscent of Pope, which brought him immediate fame.

Byron left England the same year for a grand tour through Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the Balkans. He returned in 1811 with Cantos I and II of Childe Harold (1812), a melancholy, philosophic poem in Spenserian stanzas, which made him the social lion of London. It was followed by the verse tales The Giaour (1813), The Bride of Abydos (1813), The Corsair (1814), Lara (1814), The Siege of Corinth (1816), and Parisina (1816).

Byron's name at this time was linked with those of several women, notably Viscount Melbourne's wife, Lady Caroline Lamb. In Jan., 1815, he married Anne Isabella Milbanke, a serious, rather cold, young woman with whom he had little in common. She gave birth to a daughter, Augusta Ada, the following December. In 1816 she secured a separation. Although her reasons for such an action remain obscure, evidence indicates that she discovered the existence of an incestuous relationship between Byron and his half-sister, Mrs. Augusta Leigh. Although his many attachments to women are notorious, Byron was actually ambivalent toward women. There is considerable evidence that he also had several homosexual relationships.

Later Life and Works

In Apr., 1816, by then a social outcast, Byron left England, never to return. He passed some time with Shelley in Switzerland, writing Canto III of Childe Harold (1816) and The Prisoner of Chillon (1816). With the party was Shelley's sister-in-law, Claire Clairmont, who had practically forced Byron into a liaison before he left England, and who, in Jan., 1817, bore him a daughter, Allegra.

Settling in Venice (1817), Byron led for a time a life of dissipation, but produced Canto IV of Childe Harold (1818), Beppo (1818), and Mazeppa (1819) and began Don Juan. In 1819 he formed a liaison with the Countess Teresa Guiccioli, who remained his acknowledged mistress for the rest of his life. Byron was induced to interest himself in the cause of Greek independence from the Turks and sailed for Missolonghi, where he arrived in 1824. He worked unsparingly with Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos to unify the divergent Greek forces, but caught a fever and died the same year.

Assessment

Ranked with Shelley and Keats as one of the great Romantic poets, Byron became famous throughout Europe as the embodiment of romanticism. His good looks, his lameness, and his flamboyant lifestyle all contributed to the formation of the Byronic legend. By the mid-20th cent. his reputation as a poet had been eclipsed by growing critical recognition of his talents as a wit and satirist.

Byron's poetry covers a wide range. In English Bards and Scotch Reviewers and in The Vision of Judgment (1822) he wrote 18th-century satire. He also created the "Byronic hero," who appears consummately in the Faustian tragedy Manfred (1817)—a mysterious, lonely, defiant figure whose past hides some great crime. Cain (1821) raised a storm of abuse for its skeptical attitude toward religion. The verse tale Beppo is in the ottava rima (eight-line stanzas in iambic pentameter) that Byron later used for his acknowledged masterpiece Don Juan (1819-24), an epic-satire combining Byron's art as a storyteller, his lyricism, his cynicism, and his detestation of convention.

Bibliography

See his letters and diaries, ed. by L. Marchand (12 vol., 1973-85), supplemental vol., What Comes Uppermost (1994); biographies by A. Maurois (1930, repr. 1964), L. Marchand (3 vol., 1957; and 1 vol., 1970, repr. 1979), P. Grosskurth (1997), B. Eisler (1999), F. MacCarthy (2002), and E. O'Brien (2009); studies by P. Quennell (rev. ed. 1967; and 1941, repr. 1957), G. W. Knight (1952, 1957), L. Marchand (1965), M. G. Cooke (1969), J. J. McGann (1980, 1986), M. Corbett (1988), and I. Gilmour (2003).

Balmerino, Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Baron, 1688-1746, Scottish nobleman. He resigned a command in the English army to join the Jacobite rising of 1715, escaping after its suppression to France. He returned and took part in the 1745 rising, was captured at the battle of Culloden, and was executed.
Baltimore, Cecilius Calvert, 2d Baron: see Calvert, Cecilius.
Baltimore, Charles Calvert, 3d Baron: see Calvert, Charles.
Baltimore, George Calvert, 1st Baron: see Calvert, George.
Baron or Boyron, Michel, 1653-1729, one of the first great French actors. A protégé of Molière, he acted at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and at the Comédie Française. He brought a naturalness to the bombastic acting style established by Montfleury. In 1691 he retired at the height of his power only to return (1720) in perfect form to act with Adrienne Lecouvreur. He wrote several plays, of which L'Homme à bonnes fortunes (1686) was the most popular.
Baron, Salo Wittmayer, 1895-1989, Jewish historian and educator, b. Galicia. He was taken as a child to Vienna, where he later studied at the university, earning doctorates in philosophy (1917), political science (1922), and law (1923), and where he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary (1920). He taught history at the Jewish Teachers College in Vienna (1919-26) before going to the United States to teach at the Jewish Institute of Religion (1927-30). From 1930 to 1963 he taught at Columbia, holding the first professorship of Jewish history in an American university. Among his works are The Jewish Community (3 vol., 1942) and Jews of the United States, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (ed. with J. L. Blau, 3 vol., 1963). In his monumental A Social and Religious History of the Jews (27 vol., 2d ed. 1952-83)—uncompleted at the time of his death—Baron stresses the social history of the Jewish people in the wider context of world history.
O'Neill of the Maine, Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron, 1914-90, Ulster Unionist politician. A member of one of the oldest Protestant families in Ireland, he entered the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1946. He served as minister of finance (1956-63) and prime minister (1963-69). Regarded as one of the most liberal Unionists, he favored broadening Roman Catholic civil rights, although his party did not. His main concern was improving the economy of the province; his government stressed industrial expansion, training facilities for skilled trades, and the development of tourism, with considerable success. His formal meetings with Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch were regarded as too compromising by right-wing Unionists, and the gradual increase in prosperity, along with his limited civil-rights reform in 1968, did not satisfy Roman Catholic grievances. After failing to win a mandate for moderation in the 1969 elections, he resigned. He was created a life peer in 1970.

See his autobiography (1972).

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 1st Baron, 1800-1859, English historian and author, b. Leicestershire, educated at Cambridge. After the success of his essay on Milton in the Edinburgh Review (Aug., 1825), he contributed regularly to that journal. He was called to the bar in 1826 and, elected to Parliament in 1830, distinguished himself as a Whig orator. In India, 1834-38, as a member of the supreme council of the East India Company he reformed the Indian educational system and composed a legal code for the colony. On his return to England, Macaulay devoted himself to writing history, but returned to public office as secretary of war (1839-41), paymaster of the forces (1846-47), and member of Parliament (1839-47, 1852-56). In 1857 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Macaulay of Rothley. Macaulay's greatest work and one of the great works of the 19th cent. was The History of England from the Accession of James the Second (5 vol., 1849-61). Its brilliant narrative style and its vivid recreation of the social world of the 17th cent. made it an unprecedented success. The work has been criticized, however, for its failure to achieve objectivity, primarily because of Macaulay's Whig and Protestant bias. He also wrote several notable short biographical essays on Bacon, Johnson, Warren Hastings, and others. His poetical work, the Lays of Ancient Rome (1842), celebrated the great events of Roman history.

See his letters, ed. by T. Pinney (6 vol., 1974-77); Sir G. O. Trevelyan (his nephew), The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay (1876; repr., 2 vol., 1961); biographies by R. C. Beatty (1938, repr. 1971), J. Clive (1987), O. D. Edwards (1988), and R. E. Sullivan (2009).

Citrine, Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron, 1887-1983, English trade union leader. An electrician, he became district secretary of the electrical trade union in 1914 and rose to be general secretary of the Trades Union Congress in 1926, president of the International Federation of Trades Unions in 1928, and president of the World Trade Union Conference in 1945. A skillful organizer, he led the conservative wing in labor and became powerful in the Labour government of Clement Attlee. He was created baron in 1946 and was chairman of the Central Electricity Authority (1947-57). His writings include My Finnish Diary (1940), In Russia Now (1942), and British Trade Unions (1942).

See his autobiography, Two Careers (1967).

Seymour of Sudeley, Thomas Seymour, Baron, 1508?-1549, English nobleman. After the marriage (1536) of his sister Jane to Henry VIII, he served on various diplomatic missions, was in command of the English army in the Netherlands in 1543, and was admiral of the fleet in 1544. When, on the death of Henry in 1547, his brother Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, became the protector of the young Edward VI, Thomas was made lord high admiral and Baron Seymour of Sudeley. Thereafter he tried to supplant his brother as guardian of the king. In 1547 he married the dowager queen, Catherine Parr. He was influential in securing an act of Parliament (1547) that made the duration of the protectorate dependent on the king's pleasure instead of being fixed until the king was 18, and he carefully cultivated the friendship of Edward. He also used his position as admiral to come to an understanding with pirates, in the hope of securing their support. After his wife's death (1548) he sued unsuccessfully for the hand of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I), to whom he had already made advances. His activities provoked questioning by the council, and he was convicted of high treason and executed.
Cauchy, Augustin Louis, Baron, 1789-1857, French mathematician. He was professor simultaneously (1816-30) at the École polytechnique, the Sorbonne, and the Collège de France in Paris. While a political exile (1830-38) he taught at the Univ. of Turin. He returned to the Sorbonne in 1848. Besides his influential work in every branch of mathematics (especially the theory of functions, integral and differential calculus, and algebraic analysis) he contributed to astronomy, optics, hydrodynamics, and other fields. Among his nearly 800 publications are works on the theory of waves (1815), algebraic analysis (1821), elasticity (1822), infinitesimal calculus (1823, 1826-28), differential calculus (1827), and the dispersion of light (1836).
Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron, 1820-1914, Canadian fur trader, financier, and railroad builder, b. Scotland. Coming to Canada in 1838, he was hired by the Hudson's Bay Company, of which he later was governor (1889-1914). Smith's skill in finance was early apparent. He came into public notice in 1869 when he was sent by the government to deal with Louis Riel, leader of the Red River Rebellion. From 1871 to 1880 and from 1887 to 1896 Smith sat in the dominion Parliament. His break with John Macdonald at the height of the Pacific scandal (1873) was in part responsible for the downfall of Macdonald's administration. With associates he gained control of the Great Northern lines in 1878 and later was a leading force in the company that completed (1885) the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1886 he was knighted, and while serving (1896-1914) as Canadian high commissioner in England he was created baron (1897). Out of the great fortune that he amassed, he gave large sums to charitable and educational enterprises. A highly controversial figure, Strathcona was characterized by his enemies as a conniving self-seeker and by his admirers as a vigorous empire builder.

See biography by J. Macnaughton (1926).

Goring, George Goring, Baron, 1608-57, English royalist commander in the civil war. He was a court gallant who had previously served in the Dutch army. In 1641 a group of army officers formed the "first army plot" with the intent of asserting the king's will against Parliament by force. Goring, then governor of Portsmouth, was one of the conspirators. Dissatisfied at having to play a secondary role, he betrayed the plot to the parliamentarians. In 1642 after playing a double game, Goring declared for the king. He held high commands until 1645, but his considerable ability as a general was offset by his ambition and intrigues that were disastrous for the royalist cause. He lived on the Continent from 1645 until his death.
Graves, Thomas Graves, Baron, 1725?-1802, British admiral. During the American Revolution his fleet was routed (1781) by the comte de Grasse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, a defeat that led directly to Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown (see Yorktown campaign). In the French Revolutionary Wars, Graves was second in command to Admiral Richard Howe in the victory over the French in 1794 and was subsequently raised to the peerage.
Inverchapel of Loch Eck, Archibald John Kerr Clark Kerr, 1st Baron, 1882-1951, British diplomat. He entered the diplomatic service in 1906 and served in numerous countries before becoming (1938) ambassador to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1942 he was shifted to the ambassadorial post at Moscow, a position he held until 1946. In that year he went as special British envoy to Indonesia in an effort to end Dutch-Indonesian conflict. He was also made a baron in 1946 and served (1946-48) as ambassador to the United States.
Lister, Joseph Lister, 1st Baron, 1827-1912, English surgeon, educated at University College, London. He brought to surgery the principle of antisepsis, an outgrowth of Pasteur's theory that bacteria cause infection. In 1865, Lister proved the effectiveness of his methods, thus founding modern antiseptic surgery. Using carbolic acid as the antiseptic agent, he devised techniques of applying it that, when used in conjunction with his heat sterilization of instruments, brought about dramatic decreases in postoperative fatality. He developed absorbable ligatures and the drainage tube, both of which have come into general use for wounds and incisions. He was professor of clinical surgery at Edinburgh Univ. (1869-76) and at King's College, London (1877-93).

See biography by L. Farmer (1962); M. Goldman, Lister Ward (1987).

Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron, 1878-1957, Anglo-Irish author. His life was spent as a soldier and sportsman. Often dealing with the fantastic and the supernatural, his works are frequently set in wholly imaginary worlds and involve myths and legends of his own making. Lord Dunsany's plays include The Glittering Gate (1909), The Gods of the Mountain (1911), The Golden Doom (1912), and the one-act play A Night at an Inn (1916). His prose works include A Dreamer's Tales (1910), The Book of Wonder (1912), My Talks with Dean Spanley (1936), The Story of Mona Sheehy (1937), and A Glimpse from a Watch Tower (1946). Enormously popular in the early years of the century, Dunsany's work fell out of favor as modernism claimed literary taste in the years following World War I.

See his selected tales in In the Land of Time (2004); biography by M. Amory (1972).

Dupuytren, Guillaume, Baron, 1777-1835, French surgeon. As professor at the Hôtel Dieu, Paris, from 1812, he was noted as diagnostician, lecturer, and surgeon. He wrote on surgery, described a fracture of the fibula and a contraction of the hand that bear his name, and founded the chair of pathological anatomy at the Univ. of Paris. He was made a baron in 1823.
Ironside, William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron, 1880-1959, British general. After serving with distinction in the South African War and World War I, he was chosen (1918) to command the Allied forces at Archangel to aid Aleksandr Kolchak in fighting the Bolsheviks. After service in the Middle East, he became commandant of the staff college at Camberley. Other commands followed, including several years in India, and in 1938 Ironside became governor of Gibraltar. On the outbreak of World War II, he was recalled to England to be chief of the imperial general staff. In 1940 he was briefly chief of the home forces in England. He was made a field marshal in 1940 and created baron in 1941.
Ismay, Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron, 1887-1965, British general, known as "Pug" Ismay. He served in India and, during World War I, in Africa. During World War II he held simultaneously the posts of chief of staff to Winston Churchill and deputy secretary to the war cabinet. In 1946 he retired from the army and received a peerage. In 1951 he was appointed secretary of state for commonwealth relations. He resigned the following year to become secretary-general to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, remaining in that post until 1957.

See his memoirs (1960, repr. 1974).

Sydenham, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson, Baron, 1799-1841, British statesman. Entering Parliament (1826) as a Liberal with the aid of Jeremy Bentham, he became a proponent of free trade and financial reform. He was a leader of the colonial reformers, a group that promoted liberalized but permanent imperial ties. He supported the views of Edward Gibbon Wakefield on systematic colonization. He was made president of the Board of Trade in 1834, and in 1839 he was appointed governor-general of Canada. There, in accordance with the policy of his predecessor, the 1st earl of Durham, he successfully carried through the union of Upper and Lower Canada, accomplished by the Act of Union (1840). He was raised to the peerage in 1840.
Rodney, George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron, 1719-92, British admiral. He served with distinction in the Seven Years War (1757-63), his most notable achievement being the capture (1762) of Martinique in the West Indies. Pressed by debts, he lived in France from 1775 to 1778. In 1778 he was recalled, made an admiral, and dispatched again to the West Indies. On the way he defeated (1780) a Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, thus relieving Gibraltar, and became a national hero. In 1781 he captured St. Eustatius in the West Indies and confiscated large quantities of goods belonging to British merchants illegally trading with the American revolutionary forces. He was hounded with lawsuits for the rest of his life by the outraged merchants. Because of ill health, he resigned (1781) his command to Samuel Hood, but he returned to the West Indies in 1782 and won a resounding victory over the French fleet of Admiral de Grasse off Dominica. He was rewarded with a peerage.

See G. B. Mundy, The Life and Correspondence of the late Admiral Lord Rodney (1973); biographies by D. Macintyre (1962) and D. Spinney (1969).

Callaghan of Cardiff, Leonard James Callaghan, Baron, 1912-2005, British statesman. He was first elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1945. As chancellor of the exchequer (1964-67), he introduced extremely controversial taxation policies, including employment taxes; he resigned when he was forced to accept devaluation of the pound. Prime Minister Harold Wilson then appointed him home secretary (1967-70), and in that post he ordered British troops into Northern Ireland to deal with the rising violence there. Callaghan also served as foreign secretary (1974-76). He succeeded Wilson when the latter resigned as prime minister in 1976. Callaghan was by nature a moderate man, but his government was plagued by inflation, unemployment, and its inability to restrain trade unions' wage demands, and foundered after a series of paralyzing labor strikes in the winter of 1978-79. In the elections later in 1979, the Labour party lost to the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher. Callaghan resigned as party leader in 1980 and was created a life peer in 1987.

See his autobiography Time and Chance (1987); biography by B. Donoughue, Prime Minister (1987).

Dacre of Glanton, Baron: see Trevor-Roper, Hugh Redwald.
Darcy, Thomas Darcy, Baron, 1467-1537, English nobleman. He served in a number of military expeditions for Henry VII and for the young Henry VIII. He disapproved of Henry VIII's divorce from Katharine of Aragón, and he became involved in intrigues with the agents of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V against Henry. After the outbreak of the rebellion in the N of England known as the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536), Darcy yielded Pontefract Castle to the rebels and became one of their leaders. He was pardoned at first, but later convicted of treason and beheaded.
Ernle, Rowland Edmund Prothero, 1st Baron, 1851-1937, British agriculturist, editor, and writer. He edited the Quarterly Review (1894-99) and was president of the Board of Agriculture (1916-19). Among his books are Pioneers and Progress of English Farming (1887), Life and Correspondence of Dean Stanley (1893), and The Land and Its People (1925).

See his autobiography (1938).

Dorchester, Guy Carleton, 1st Baron: see Carleton, Guy.
Herbert of Cherbury, Edward Herbert, 1st Baron, 1583-1648, English philosopher, poet, and diplomat; elder brother of George Herbert, the metaphysical poet. He was ambassador to France (1619-24) and was created Baron Herbert of Cherbury in 1629. A precursor of deism, Lord Herbert laid down his principles of natural religion in De veritate (1624), De religione laici (1645), and De religione gentilium (1663). His secular metaphysical poetry also shows the influence of his philosophy, for even his love poems in Poems (1665) reflect the serious, analytic approach of the rationalist. He also wrote a biography of Henry VIII (1649) and an autobiography, first published by Horace Walpole in 1764.
Hervey of Ickworth, John Hervey, Baron, 1696-1743, English memoirist. A temperamental figure who served in various minor offices under Robert Walpole, he is chiefly remembered for his Memoirs of the Reign of George II, which provide an excellent source for the politics and intrigue of the court of George II.

See edition by R. Sedgwick (3 vol., 1931, repr. 1970); biography by R. Halsband (1973).

Mount Stephen, George Stephen, 1st Baron, 1829-1921, Canadian financier and railroad builder, b. Scotland. He emigrated to Canada in 1850, became a manufacturer, and was (1876-81) president of the Bank of Montreal. With his cousin, Lord Strathcona, and others, including James J. Hill, he helped to construct the Canadian Pacific Railway, lending to the project his considerable skill in finance. From 1881 to 1888 he was president of the railroad. His philanthropies were numerous. He was created baron in 1891.
Collingwood, Cuthbert Collingwood, Baron: see Trafalgar, battle of.
Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron, 1857-1941, British soldier, founder of the Boy Scouts. He saw much active service in India and Africa prior to the South African War, in which he defended Mafikeng for seven months (1899-1900) and subsequently organized the South African constabulary. For his enduring work in organizing (1908) the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements, he received a peerage in 1929. His writings include Scouting for Boys (1908), Rovering to Success (1922), and Scouting and Youth Movements (1929).

See biographies by W. Hillcourt and O. S. Baden-Powell (1964), M. Rosenthal (1986), and T. Jeal (1990).

Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st Baron, 1824-1907, British mathematician and physicist, b. Belfast. He was professor of natural philosophy at the Univ. of Glasgow (1846-99). He is known especially for his work on heat and electricity. In thermodynamics his work of coordinating the theories of heat held by various leading scientists of his time established firmly the law of the conservation of energy as proposed by Joule. He introduced the Kelvin temperature scale, or absolute scale, of temperature. He also discovered the Thomson effect in thermoelectricity. The importance of the discoveries and improvements that he made in connection with the transmission of messages by submarine cables led to his establishment as a leading authority in this field. He invented the reflecting galvanometer and the siphon recorder, an instrument by which telegraphic messages are recorded in ink fed from a siphon.

His brother, James Thomson, 1822-92, an engineer, was professor at Queen's College, Belfast, from 1857 to 1873. He is known for his studies of the variation in melting point with pressure as well as for his research in hydraulics.

See biographies of Baron Kelvin by S. P. Thompson (1910) and A. G. King (1925).

Keyes, Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron, 1872-1945, British admiral. In World War I he achieved his greatest fame as commander of the Dover patrol when he raided Zeebrugge and Ostend in Belgium (Apr. 23, 1918) to cripple the last German submarine campaign in the English Channel. He became admiral of the fleet in 1930 and retired in 1935, but he was recalled to active duty in World War II. As director of combined operations (1940-41) he influenced the early developments in amphibious warfare. From 1934 to 1943 he served as a Conservative member of Parliament, and in 1943 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover.

Title of nobility, ranking in modern times immediately below a viscount or a count (in countries without viscounts). The wife of a baron is a baroness. Originally, in the early Middle Ages, the term designated a tenant of whatever rank who held a tenure of barony direct from the king. Gradually, it came to mean a powerful personage, and therefore a magnate. The rights and h1 may be conferred for military or other honorable service.

Learn more about baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 11, 1890, Glenguin, Stirling, Scot.—died June 3, 1967, Banstead, Surrey, Eng.) British air marshal. He joined the British army in 1913, transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, and after World War I commanded a branch of the Royal Air Force (RAF). As head of the RAF Middle East Command in World War II, he commanded Allied air operations in North Africa and Italy, and in 1944 he was appointed head of Allied air operations in western Europe. His policy of bombing German communications and providing close air support of ground operations contributed significantly to the success of the Normandy Campaign and the Allied advance into Germany. He later became the first peacetime chief of the air staff (1946–50).

Learn more about Tedder (of Glenguin), Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Ernest Rutherford, oil painting by J. Dunn, 1932; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

(born Aug. 30, 1871, Spring Grove, N.Z.—died Oct. 19, 1937, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.) New Zealand-born British physicist. After studies at Canterbury College, he moved to Britain to attend Cambridge University, where he worked with J.J. Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory. He would later teach at McGill University in Montreal (1898–1907) and Victoria University in Manchester (1907–19) before becoming chair of the Cavendish Laboratory (from 1919). At the laboratory in the years 1895–97 he discovered and named two types of radioactivity, alpha decay and beta decay. He later identified the alpha particle as a helium atom and used it in postulating the existence of the atomic nucleus. With Frederick Soddy he formulated the transformation theory of radioactivity (1902). In 1919 he became the first person to disintegrate an element artificially, and in 1920 he hypothesized the existence of the neutron. His work contributed greatly to understanding the disintegration and transmutation of radioactive elements and became fundamental to much of 20th-century physics. In 1908 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was knighted in 1914 and ennobled in 1931. Element 104, rutherfordium, is named in his honour.

Learn more about Rutherford of Nelson, Ernest Rutherford, Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 6, 1861, Ghent, Belg.—died Sept. 8, 1947, Brussels) Belgian architect. From 1892 he designed numerous buildings in Brussels, becoming a leading exponent of the Art Nouveau style. His Hôtel Tassel (1892–93) was a pioneering example of the new style. His chief work was the Maison du Peuple (1896–99), the first structure in Belgium to have a largely iron-and-glass facade. From 1912 he directed the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and he designed the Palais des Beaux-Arts (1922–28).

Learn more about Horta, Victor, Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 16, 1771, Paris, Fr.—died June 26, 1835, Paris) French painter. He was trained by his father, a painter of miniatures, and later byJacques-Louis David in Paris. In the 1790s he accompanied Napoleon on his campaigns as his official battle painter. The dramatic power of such paintings as Napoleon Visiting the Pesthouse at Jaffa (1804) influenced Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix. When David went into exile after Napoleon's defeat, Gros took over his studio and tried to work in the Neoclassical style. His best works after 1815 were portraits. Haunted by a sense of failure, he drowned himself in the Seine. He was a leading figure in the development of Romanticism.

Learn more about Gros, Antoine-Jean with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born , March 10, 1788, near Ratibor, Prussia—died Nov. 26, 1857, Neisse) German poet and novelist. Born to the nobility, he and his family lost their castle in the Napoleonic Wars, and he later worked in the Prussian civil service. He became associated with the national leaders of the Romantic movement while studying in Berlin. His most important prose work, Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing (1826), is considered a high point of Romantic fiction. In the 1830s he wrote poetry that achieved the popularity of folk songs and inspired such composers as Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, and Richard Strauss.

Learn more about Eichendorff, Joseph, Baron von with a free trial on Britannica.com.

later Baron Dupuytren

(born Oct. 5, 1777, Pierre-Buffière, near Limoges, Fr.—died Feb. 8, 1835, Paris) French surgeon and pathologist. Dupuytren was the first to excise the lower jaw and to clearly describe the pathology of congenital hip dislocation. He revised the classification of burns and devised surgery for cervical cancer and for creation of an artificial anus, among other advances. He is best known for surgical procedures to alleviate Dupuytren contracture, in which fibrosis in the palm causes permanent retraction of one or more fingers.

Learn more about Dupuytren, Guillaume with a free trial on Britannica.com.

or Baron Delaware

(born July 9, 1577—died June 7, 1618, at sea off the coast of Virginia or New England) English founder of Virginia. After serving under the earl of Essex in the Netherlands and Ireland, he became a member of the Virginia Company and was appointed governor of the colony in 1610. He and 150 settlers arrived at Jamestown as another group was abandoning it. He established two forts at the mouth of the James River and rebuilt Jamestown. Delaware Bay, the Delaware River, and the state of Delaware were named for him.

Learn more about De La Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 13, 1520, Bourne, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died Aug. 5, 1598, London) English statesman, principal adviser to Elizabeth I through most of her reign and a master of Renaissance statecraft. Having served as a councillor and cosecretary to Edward VI, he was appointed Elizabeth's sole secretary when she became queen in 1558. A dedicated and skillful adviser to the queen, Cecil was created Baron Burghley in 1571 and appointed lord high treasurer (1572–98). He obtained the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, thus securing the Protestant succession, and his preparations enabled England to survive the Spanish Armada. But he failed to induce Elizabeth to marry or to reform her church along more Protestant lines.

Learn more about Cecil, William, 1st Baron Burghley with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 9, 1854, Dublin, Ire.—died Oct. 22, 1935, Minster, Kent, Eng.) Irish lawyer and politician. In 1892 he was elected to the British House of Commons and was appointed Irish solicitor general. He served as British solicitor general (1900–05), attorney general (1915), first lord of the Admiralty (1916–17), and lord of appeal (1921–29). Known as the “uncrowned king of Ulster,” he successfully led Northern Irish resistance to the British government's attempts to introduce Home Rule for all of Ireland.

Learn more about Carson (of Duncairn), Edward Henry, Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born circa 1748, Noyelles, Flanders—died Aug. 10, 1807, Quito, Viceroyalty of New Granada) Spanish governor of the territory of Louisiana and western Florida (1791–97). When he arrived in New Orleans, he formed alliances with local Indian tribes to defend disputed territory north of the 31st parallel of latitude against U.S. settlers. He negotiated with Gen. James Wilkinson to effect the secession of the trans-Appalachian territories from the U.S. and to secure their alliance with Spain. These efforts were terminated in 1795 with the signing of Pinckney's Treaty (see Thomas Pinckney). Carondelet was recalled in 1797 and went to South America to become governor-general of Quito.

Learn more about Carondelet, (Francisco Luis) Hector, baron de with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Nov. 18, 1897, London, Eng.—died July 13, 1974, London) British physicist. He graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1921 and spent 10 years at the Cavendish Laboratory, where he developed the Wilson cloud chamber into an instrument for the study of cosmic radiation. He was awarded a 1948 Nobel Prize for his discoveries and was made a life peer in 1969.

Learn more about Blackett (of Chelsea), Patrick M(aynard) S(tuart), Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 9, 1854, Dublin, Ire.—died Oct. 22, 1935, Minster, Kent, Eng.) Irish lawyer and politician. In 1892 he was elected to the British House of Commons and was appointed Irish solicitor general. He served as British solicitor general (1900–05), attorney general (1915), first lord of the Admiralty (1916–17), and lord of appeal (1921–29). Known as the “uncrowned king of Ulster,” he successfully led Northern Irish resistance to the British government's attempts to introduce Home Rule for all of Ireland.

Learn more about Carson (of Duncairn), Edward Henry, Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born 1578/79, Kipling, Yorkshire, Eng.—died April 15, 1632) English colonialist. He served in the House of Commons from 1621; charged with communicating the policy of James I, he was distrusted by Parliament. After declaring himself a Roman Catholic (1625), he gave up his office and was created Baron Baltimore, receiving land grants in Ireland. To assure the prosperity of his New World holdings, he took his family to his Newfoundland colony in 1628. Because of conflict over his Catholicism and the severe climate, he petitioned Charles I for a land grant in the Chesapeake Bay area. He died before the charter was granted, and his son Cecil became proprietor of the colony of Maryland.

Learn more about Baltimore (of Baltimore), George Calvert, 1st Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 22, 1857, London, Eng.—died Jan. 8, 1941, Nyeri, Kenya) British army officer and founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides (later Girl Scouts; see scouting). He was noted for his use of observation balloons in warfare in Africa (1884–85). In the South African War, he became a national hero in the Siege of Mafikeng. Having learned that his military textbook Aids to Scouting (1899) was being used to train boys in woodcraft, he wrote Scouting for Boys (1908) and that same year established the Boy Scout movement. In 1910, with his sister Agnes and his wife, Olave, he founded the Girl Guides.

Learn more about Baden-Powell (of Gilwell), Robert Stephenson Smyth, 1st Baron with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Baron is a specific title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and latin (liber) baro meaning "(free) man, (free) warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."

Western European feudal and modern titles

Barons in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth

In the British peerage system, barons rank below viscounts, and form the lowest rank in the peerage. A female of baronial rank has the honorific baroness. A baron may hold a barony (plural baronies), if the title relates originally to a feudal barony by tenure, although such tenure is now obsolete in England and any such titles are now held in gross, if they survive at all, as very few do, sometimes along with some vestigial manorial rights, or by grand serjeanty.

William I introduced "baron" as a rank in England to distinguish the men who had pledged their loyalty to him (see Feudalism). Previously, in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England, the king's companions held the title of earls and in Scotland, the title of thane. All who held their barony "in chief of the king" (that is, directly from William and his successors) became alike barones regis (barons of the king), bound to perform a stipulated service, and welcome to attend his council. Before long, the greatest of the nobles, especially in the marches, such as the Earls of Chester or the Bishops of Durham, might refer to their own tenants as "barons", where lesser magnates spoke simply of their "men" (homines).

Initially those who held land direct of the crown by military service, from earls downwards, all alike bore the title of baron, but under Henry II, the Dialogus de Scaccario already distinguished greater (who held in baroniam by knights' service) or lesser baronies (generally smaller single manors). Within a century of the Norman Conquest, as in Thomas Becket's case (1164), there arose the practice of sending to each greater baron a special summons to the council that evolved into the House of Lords, while the lesser barons, Magna Carta (1215) stipulated, would receive summons only in general, through the sheriffs. Thus appeared a definite distinction, which eventually had the effect of restricting to the greater barons the rights and privileges of peerage.

Later, the sovereign could create a new barony in one of two ways: by a writ of summons directing someone to Parliament, or by letters patent. Writs of summons featured in medieval times, but creation by letters patent has become the norm. Baronies thus no longer directly relate to land ownership, following the Modus Tenendi Parliamenta (1419), the Feudal Tenure Act (1662), and the Fines and Recoveries Act (1834) which enabled such titles to be dis-entailed.

In the twentieth century Britain introduced the concept of non-hereditary life peers. All appointees to this distinction have taken place at the rank of baron.

In addition, Baronies are often subsidiary titles, thus being used as courtesy titles by the eldest sons of earls.

Scotland

In Scotland, the rank of baron is a rank related to feudal nobility of Scotland and refers to a holder of a feudal barony, a feudal superiority over a proper territorial entity erected into a free barony by a Crown Charter, and not a rank of Peerage. The Scottish equivalent of an English baron is a Lord of Parliament.

Style of address

Normally one refers to or addresses Baron [X] as Lord [X] and his wife as Lady [X]. In the case of women who hold baronies in their own right, they can be referred to as Baroness [X] as well as Lady [X]. In direct address, they can also be referred to as My Lord or My Lady. The husband of a Baroness in her own right does not receive a style. Children of Barons and Baronesses in their own right, whether hereditary or for life, have the style The Honourable [Forename] [Surname]. After the death of the father or mother, the child may continue to use the style Honourable.

Scottish feudal barons style their surnames similarly to Clan Chiefs, with the name of their barony following their name, as in John Smith of Edinburgh. Most formally, and in writing, they are styled as The Much Honoured Baron of Edinburgh. Their wives are styled Lady Edinburgh, or The Baroness of Edinburgh. The phrase Lady of Edinburgh is wrong, if the lady in question does not hold a Scottish barony in her own right. Verbally, Scottish barons may be addressed with the name of their barony, as in Edinburgh or else as Baron without anything else following, which if present would suggest a peerage barony. Informally, when referring to a Scots feudal baron in the third person, the name Laird of [X] is used or simply [X].

Non-Scottish barons are styled The Right Honourable The Lord [Barony]. Barons' wives are styled The Right Honourable The Lady [Barony]. Baronesses in their own right are either titled The Right Honourable The Baroness [Barony] or The Right Honourable The Lady [Barony], mainly based on personal preference (cf, Margaret, Lady Thatcher and Brenda, Baroness Hale hold the same title). Note the order of the names. 'Lady Margaret Thatcher' would denote that she was the daughter of an earl, marquess or duke. Right Honourable is frequently abbreviated to Rt Hon. When referred to by the Sovereign in public instruments, The Right Honourable is changed to Our right trusty and well-beloved, with counsellor attached if they are a Privy Counsellor.

Courtesy barons are styled simply Lord [Barony], and their wives are Lady [Barony]. The style of Right Honourable is not used for them.

Coronet

An English Peerage baron is entitled to a coronet bearing six silver balls (or pearls) around the rim. The actual coronet is mostly worn on certain ceremonial occasions, but a baron can bear his coronet of rank on his coat of arms above the shield. Scottish feudal barons are entitled to a red cap of maintenance (chapeau) turned up ermine. The chapeau is identical to the red cap worn by an English baron, but without the silver balls or gilt. This is sometimes depicted in armorial paintings between the shield and the helmet. Additionally, if the baron is the head of a family he may include a chiefly coronet which is similar to a ducal coronet, but with four strawberry leaves.

Continental Europe

France

During the Ancien Régime, French baronies were very much like Scottish ones. Feudal landholders were entitled to style themselves baron if they were nobles; a roturier (commoner) could only be a seigneur de la baronnie (lord of the barony). Theses baronies could be sold freely, until the abolition of feudalism in 1789. The title of baron was actually assumed by many petty nobles who did not hold baronies. Napoléon created a new empire nobility, in which baron was the second lowest title. The titles followed a male-only line of descent and could not be purchased. In 1815, King Louis XVIII created a new peerage system based on the British model. Baron-peer was the lowest title, but the heirs to pre-1789 barons could remain barons, as could the elder sons of viscount-peers and youngest sons of count-peers. This peerage was abolished in 1848, though some titles still exist today.

Germany

In pre-republican Germany all the knightly families (sometimes distinguished by the prefix "von") eventually were recognised as of baronial rank. Families which had always held this status were called Original Nobility, or Uradel, and were heraldically entitled to a seven pointed coronet. Families which had been ennobled at a definite point in time had only five points on their coronet. These families held their titles from their lord. The holder of an allodial (i.e. free-standing) barony was thus called a Free Lord, or Freiherr, and its many variations occupied the same rank as a foreign Baron, exclusively (as in the Holy Roman Empire) or concurrently.

Today there is no legal privilege associated with hereditary titles. The offspring of holders of original titles may choose to distinguish themselves from a later-ennobled family by abbreviating "von" as "v.", however, many baron surnames do not contain any such prefix. Generally, all male members of a baronial family inherited the title Baron equally, and were so called from birth. As a result, it was much easier to inherit a German title than, say, a French or English one.

Spain

In Spain the title is immediately inferior to "Vizconde". The wife of a Baron carries the title of "Baronesa". The term Baronesa is also used for a woman who has been granted the title in her own right. In general the title of "Baron" previous to the nineteenth century corresponds to the nobility originating from the Crown of Aragon. The title lost territorial jurisdiction around the middle of the nineteenth century and from then on it has been used only as an honorific title.

In other languages

The title was quite common in most European countries, in various languages (whether Germanic, Romance, Slavonic or other), often in a slightly modified form.

Elsewhere

Like other major Western noble titles, Baron is sometimes used to render certain titles in non-western languages with their own traditions, even though they are necessarily historically unrelated and thus hard to compare, which are considered 'equivalent' in relative rank.

This is the case with China's Nan (男), hereditary title of nobility of the fifth rank (男爵), as well as its derivatives and adaptations:

  • the Korean Namjak (男爵) or Chamise
  • the Japanese equivalent Danshaku (男爵)
  • the Vietnamese equivalent Nam tước
  • the Manchu equivalent ashan-i hafan

In some republics of continental Europe, the unofficial title of "Baron" retains a purely social prestige, with no particular political privileges.

In the Polynesian island monarchy of Tonga, as opposed to the situation in Europe, barons are granted this imported title (in English), alongside traditional chiefly styles, and continue to hold and exercise some political power.

Furthermore it is customary in Western languages to use the word Baron to render somewhat 'equivalent' ranks in non-related aristocratic hierarchies in exotic cultures.

References

  • Sanders, I. J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent, 1086–1327. Clarendon Press, 1960.
  • Heraldica
  • The Royal Ark

Search another word or see baronon Dictionary | Thesaurus |Spanish
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature