Previous letters patent had been issued on 14 May 1855 which purported to create this barony for Roche, but these were ruled invalid in 1856. Under the Acts of Union 1800, three pre-1801 Irish peerages had to go extinct for each new Irish peerage created. The three extinct peerages cited in 1855 were Viscounts Melbourne and Tyrconnel, and the Earl of Mountrath. However, although the earldom went extinct in 1802 with the death of the 7th Earl of Mountrath, the subsidiary title of Baron Castle Coote passed by special remainder and remained extant (until 1827). As a result, the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords reasoned that while the number of peerages had reduced in 1802, the number of peers had not, thus the 1855 patent was incompatible with the terms of the Act of Union. The 1856 patent substituted Viscount O'Neill for Earl of Mountrath and was accepted.[1]
The family seat is Nethercote House, near Nethercote, Warwickshire. The first Baron was named after his relative Edmund Burke, and they are descended from the House of Burke.
(Patrick) Maurice Burke Roche, 6th Baron Fermoy (born 1967)
The heir presumptive is the present holder's brother, the Hon. Edmund Hugh Burke Roche (born 1972).
The heir presumptive's heir apparent is his son, Archie Edmund Roche (born 2007).
^Macdonell, John; Wallis, John Edward Power (1888). "The Fermoy Peerage Claim". Reports of state trials. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode for HMSO. pp. 723–786.
