Baron Latimer - Barons Latimer (of Corby; 1299)

Barons Latimer (of Corby; 1299)

By modern law the existence of a barony by writ requires three things: a (recorded) writ, evidence that the recipient of the writ actually sat in Parliament, and that the Parliament meets the modern legal definition by including representatives of the shires or towns. The oldest writs for the Latimers date from 1299, although the first Baron Latimer also sat in the Parliament of 1290.

• William Latimer, 1st Baron Latimer (d. 1305)
• William Latimer, 2nd Baron Latimer (d. 1327), son.
• William Latimer, 3rd Baron Latimer (c. 1300–1335), son.
• William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer (c. 1329–1381), son.
• Elizabeth Latimer, 5th Baroness Latimer (c. 1356–1395), only surviving child.

  Elizabeth Latimer, married, within five months of her father's death, John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, as his second wife. After his death she married Robert Willoughby, 4th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, by whom she had three children, John, Elizabeth and Margaret.

• John Nevill, 6th Baron Latimer (c. 1383–1430)

John Neville secured a divorce from his wife, and had no children. He left his lands to his half-brother, Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, although he was not descended from the Latimers. The Earl died in 1425, and the lands were passed on to George Neville, one of his younger sons, who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Latimer.

By modern law, however, the ancient Latimer title could not be transferred by will. John Neville's sisters had both predeceased him. Margaret had died unmarried, and Elizabeth had married Sir Thomas Willoughby, one of her step-father's younger sons, so the Barony of Latimer is held to have passed to her son and heir, Sir John Willoughby.

Three generations of Willoughbys succeeded, and are in modern law heirs to the barony of Latimer; the numbers are their ordinal as Baron(ess) Latimer, if the title is ever claimed:

7 John Willoughby (c. 1400–1450)

8 John Willoughby (d. 1480)

9 Robert Willoughby (c.1452–1502)

In the intervening seventy years, it had been generally accepted that peers had an inheritable right to receive a writ, but it was not yet decided exactly how the right was inherited.

Robert Willoughby, who was one of Henry VII's military commanders, was summoned to Parliament under the style of Baron Willoughby de Broke in 1491. Richard Neville, 2nd Baron Latimer, the grandson of George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer above, sat in the same Parliament, having just come of age. There were land disputes between the two families, and the new Baron Willoughby de Broke claimed that he should have been summoned as Baron Latimer. Richard Neville responded through his counsel that baronies by writ were inherited in the male line; when John Neville died, his barony became extinct; his grandfather had been granted a new Barony of Latimer, because there wasn't one.

The decision was that there were two baronies of Latimer. Robert Willoughby was heir to the older one, created in 1299, and had a right to claim it, but the summons to George Neville in 1432 had created a second barony of Latimer. The land dispute was settled by a marriage between the younger members of the family, and Robert Willoughby chose not to claim the barony of Latimer. He already had a seat in the House of Lords.

9 Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke (c.1452–1502; repeated from above)

10 Robert Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby de Broke (1472–1521), often called Lord Broke or Brooke.

• His son, Edward Willoughby, (c.1495 - November 1517) married Margaret Neville, eldest daughter of Richard Neville, 2nd Baron Latimer, and died in his father's lifetime.

The death of the second Baron Willoughby de Broke gave rise to another clarification of peerage law. His son, Edward Willoughby, who predeceased him, left three daughters, two of whom, Anne and Blanche, died childless. The survivor, Elizabeth Willoughby (the greatest heiress of her time), married Sir Fulke Greville. Neither she nor her eldest son, another Fulke Greville, nor her grandson, Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, claimed the title. His grand-nephew and heir general, Sir Richard Verney, claimed the title of Lord Brooke in 1694 as the heir of Robert Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby de Broke; this petition was rejected. However in 1696 he made a second application, and it was decided that Elizabeth Willoughby had succeeded to the title about 1535, at her youngest sister's death - and Richard Verney therefore became Baron Willoughby de Broke.

11 Elizabeth Willoughby, 3rd Baroness Willoughby de Broke, granddaughter.

12 Sir Fulke Greville (c.1526–1606), son.

13 Sir Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke (1554–1628), son; cr. Baron Brooke 1621; by special remainder in the patent, that title passed to his Greville cousin and adoptive son Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke.

14 Margaret Verney née Greville, (c.1561–1631), sister.

15 Sir Greville Verney (c.1586–1642), son.

16 Greville Verney (c.1620–1648), son.

17 Sir Greville Verney (1649–1668), posthumous son.

18 William Verney (1668–1683), son, succeeded at the age of six weeks.

19 Richard Verney, 11th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1621–1711), great-uncle.

20 George Verney, 12th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1659–1728), son.

21 Richard Verney, 13th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1693–1752), son.

22 John Verney, 14th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1738–1816), nephew (brother's son).

• He later took the surname Peyto-Verney as beneficiary of the will of his cousin, Margaret Peyto; married the sister of Frederick North, Lord North, the prime minister.

23 John Peyto-Verney, 15th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1762–1820), son.

24 Henry Peyto-Verney, 16th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1773–1852), brother.

25 Robert John Verney, 17th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1809–1862), sororal nephew; born Robert John Barnard but assumed the name of Verney shortly after his accession.

26 Henry Verney, 18th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1844–1902), son.

27 Richard Greville Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1869–1923), son.

• Leader of the Ditchers in the dispute over the Parliament Act 1911.

28 John Henry Peyto Verney, 20th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1896–1986), son.

29 Leopold David Verney, 21st Baron Willoughby de Broke (b. 1938), son.

• One of the 92 representative peers under the House of Lords Act 1999 (UKIP).

All of the Lords Willoughby de Broke have also been heirs to the Barony of Latimer, but none of them have claimed it. The 21st Baron Willoughby de Broke, Leopold David Verney, would be the 29th Baron Latimer if he chose to claim it; his heir apparent is the Hon. Rupert Greville Verney (b. 1966).