Baron Methuen

Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen

Baron Methuen, of Corsham in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for the former Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and Wiltshire North, Paul Methuen. His grandson, the third Baron (who succeeded his father), was a distinguished soldier. His son, the fourth Baron, was a professional artist and Royal Academician. On his death the title passed to his younger brother, the fifth Baron. As of 2009 the title is held by the latter's younger son, the seventh Baron, who succeeded his elder brother in 1994. Lord Methuen is one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that were allowed to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sits on the Liberal Democrat benches.

The first Baron's grandfather, Paul Methuen, was the cousin and heir of the wealthy Sir Paul Methuen, a well-known politician, courtier, diplomat and patron of art and literature, who was the son of John Methuen (c. 1650–1706), Lord Chancellor of Ireland between 1697 and 1703 and ambassador to Portugal. It was the last-named who in 1703 negotiated the famous Methuen Treaty, which, in return for the admission of English woollens into Portugal, granted differential duty favoring the importation of Portuguese wines into England to the disadvantage of French wines, and thus contributed to the replacement of the drinking of burgundy by that of port.

The family seat is the country house and estate of Corsham Court.

Barons Methuen (1838)

• Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen (1779–1849)
• Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen (1818–1891)
• Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen (1845–1932)
• Paul Ayshford Methuen, 4th Baron Methuen (1886–1974)
• Anthony Paul Methuen, 5th Baron Methuen (1891–1975)
• Anthony John Methuen, 6th Baron Methuen (1925–1994)
• Robert Alexander Holt Methuen, 7th Baron Methuen (b. 1931)

The Heir Presumptive is the present holder's first cousin once removed, James Paul Archibald Methuen-Campbell (b. 1952). He is the grandson of the Hon. Laurence Paul Methuen (1898-1970), third son of the third Baron.

References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Methuen, Barony of". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.