Barons Court Tube Station - Name

Name

Many people mistakenly believe that name Barons Court is inspired by Earls Court to the east and the association of the area in the early 19th century with the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (died 1806) and his English wife Elizabeth (the Margravine, the widow of the 6th Baron Craven). They had a home at Brandenburg House immediately to the west of the site of Charing Cross Hospital. The Margravine died in 1828 and is commemorated by a number of roads in the area (Margravine Road and Margravine Gardens) and the Margrave possibly by Barons Court Road although the approximate equivalent rank in the British peerage to Margrave is a Marquess.

The name Barons Court is probably inspired by the Baronscourt estate in Ireland, where Sir William Palliser, who built the entire area, had connections. As well as Palliser Road itself, all the roads in the area are named after members of his family.

Perham Road - his wife
Charleville Road - his cousins, the Earls of Charleville
Gledstanes Road - his mother
Barton Road - his grandmother
Challoner Street - his great-grandmother
Fairholme Road - his married sister
Vereker Road - his married aunt, wife of Viscount Gort
Comeragh Road - after the family estate in Ireland
Castletown Road - after the Baronets Pallisers' estate in Ireland

Sir William's brother, John Palliser (the explorer) inherited the Comeragh estate in County Waterford. Sir William did not have an Irish estate of his own. Instead, he tried to develop this London estate. He died very suddenly on 4 February 1882, and the lawyers had a field day, selling everything off, including the 11 acres (45,000 m2) which would become the Queen's Club. Sir William was heavily in debt, though if he had not died so suddenly and had managed to sell many of the houses he could have been a wealthy man. As it was, the family ended up with nothing.

Some wonder if there is a reason why the apostrophe is not used for Barons Court station but is used at the nearby Earl's Court. A book in the Society of Genealogists, annotated in pencil by R. Burnet Morris who knew Sir William personally, provides a history of the area. Morris declared Barons Court was named "after Sir William's Irish Estates". As a result, unlike Earl's Court station, Barons Court is written without an apostrophe.