Baron Braybrooke

Baron Braybrooke

Lord Braybrooke, Baron of Braybrooke, in the County of Northampton, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1788 for John Whitwell, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, with remainder to his kinsman Richard Neville-Aldworth. Lord Howard de Walden was the son of William Whitwell and Anne Griffin, daughter of James Griffin, 2nd Baron Griffin of Braybrooke, who was the son of Edward Griffin, 1st Baron Griffin of Braybrooke, and his wife Lady Essex Howard, eldest daughter of James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk and 3rd Baron Howard de Walden. In 1749 Whitwell assumed the surname of Griffin, and the same year he was elected to Parliament for Andover, a seat he held until 1784. The latter year the barony of Howard de Walden, which had been in abeyance since the death of his great-great-grandfather the third Earl of Suffolk in 1689, was called out of abeyance in favour of him, and he was summoned to the House of Lords as the fourth Baron Howard de Walden. Moreover, the barony of Griffin of Braybrooke held by his maternal ancestors had become extinct on the death of his uncle, the third Baron, in 1743. In 1788 the Braybrooke title was revived when Griffin was created Baron Braybrooke.

On Lord Braybrooke and Howard de Walden's death in 1797, the barony of Howard de Walden again fell into abeyance (it was called out of abeyance in 1799; see the Baron Howard de Walden). He was succeeded in the barony of Braybrooke according to the special remainder by his kinsman Richard Neville-Aldworth, the second Baron. He also inherited the family seat of Audley End in Essex, to add to his own at Billingbear Park in Berkshire. The same year he succeeded in the barony, Neville-Aldworth assumed by Royal Licence the surname of Griffin for himself, his eldest son and one of his daughters (one of his younger sons was the Very Revd and Hon George Neville-Grenville, Dean of Windsor). He had previously represented Grampound, Buckingham and Reading in Parliament and later served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Lord Braybrooke was the husband of Catherine Grenville, daughter of the former Prime Minister George Grenville.

Their eldest son, the third Baron, sat in the House of Commons as a representative for Thirsk, Saltash, Buckingham and Berkshire.

Latimer Neville, 6th Baron Braybrooke was Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge for over 50 years from 1853-1904 (a record unlikely ever to be surpassed), but described as "a good but dull man lacking intellectual powers.".

As of 2010 the title is held by the latter's great-great-grandson, the tenth Baron, who succeeded his father in 1990. He notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex from 1992 to 2002. Lord Braybrooke was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Essex in July 2000. Lord Braybrooke has seven daughters (and one deceased daughter) but no sons. Consequently, the heir presumptive to the peerage is his fifth cousin Richard Ralph Neville (b.1977). He is a great-great-great-grandson of the Very Revd and Hon George Neville-Grenville, third son of the second Baron.

The family seat of Billingbear House burnt down in 1924. Audley End was sold to the Ministry of Works in 1948 and later came into the care of the English Heritage. Lord Braybrooke remains the Hereditary Visitor of Magdalene College, Cambridge.