Earl Winterton

Earl Winterton, in the County of Galway, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1766 for Edward Turnour, 1st Baron Winterton, who represented Bramber in the House of Commons. Turnour had already been created Baron Winterton, of Gort in the County of Galway, in 1761, and was made Viscount Turnour, of Gort in the County of Galway, at the same time as he was given the earldom. These titles are also in the Peerage of Ireland. Born Edward Turnour Garth, Lord Winterton was the son of Joseph Garth and his wife Sarah (died 1744), daughter of Francis Gee and his wife Sarah, daughter of Sir Edward Turnor, Member of Parliament for Orford, elder son of Sir Edward Turnour, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1661 to 1671. His mother was sole heiress to the Turnor (or Turnour) estates and on her death in 1744 he assumed by Royal license the surname of Turnour.

Lord Winterton's great-great-great-grandson (the titles having descended from father to son), the sixth Earl, was a Conservative politician. He represented Horsham in the House of Commons for almost fifty years and served as Under-Secretary of State for India and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1951 he was created Baron Turnour, of Shillinglee in the County of Sussex, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. This title became extinct on his death in 1962 while he was succeeded in the Irish titles by his third cousin once removed, the seventh Earl. He lived in Canada. As of 2010 the titles are held by his nephew, the eighth Earl, who succeeded in 1991. He is the eldest son of Noel Turnour, younger brother of the seventh Earl. Lord Winterton also lives in Canada.

The ancestral seat of the Turnour family was Shillinglee, West Sussex.