| Barony of Middleton | |
|---|---|
  Quarterly, 1st & 4th: Or fretty azure (for Willoughby of Parham and Eresby); 2nd & 3rd: Or on two bars gules three water bougets argent, two and one (for Willoughby of Middleton and Wollaton, formerly Bugge)[1] | |
| Creation date | 1 January 1711[2] |
| Created by | Queen Anne |
| Peerage | Peerage of Great Britain |
| First holder | Sir Thomas Willoughby, 2nd Baronet |
| Present holder | Michael Willoughby, 13th Baron Middleton |
| Heir apparent | Hon. James Willoughby |
| Seat(s) | Birdsall House |
| Former seat(s) | Middleton Hall Wollaton Hall |
| Motto | Vérité sans peur ("True without fear") |
Baron Middleton, of Middleton in the County of Warwick, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, created in December 1711 for Sir Thomas Willoughby, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Nottinghamshire and Newark in Parliament. It was one of twelve new peerages created together and known as Harley's Dozen, to give a Tory majority in the House of Lords.
The Willoughby Baronetcy, of Wollaton in the County of Nottingham, had been created in the Baronetage of England in 1677, for the first baron’s elder brother Francis Willoughby, who at the time was aged only about nine, with special remainder to him, the first baronet’s only brother, and he duly succeeded him when his brother died at the age of twenty in 1688. Their father, the landowner and naturalist Francis Willughby (1635–1672), of Middleton Hall, Warwickshire, had died when they were both small children.[3][4]
The first Lord Middleton was followed by his eldest son, the second Baron (1692–1758), who had previously sat as one of the Members of Parliament for Nottinghamshire and Tamworth. He was succeeded by his son, the third baron, who died unmarried, and then by a younger son, the fourth Baron. The direct line then failed, and Henry Willoughby, 5th Baron Middleton (1726–1800) was the son of The Hon Thomas Willoughby (c. 1694–1742), second son of the first Baron. On the death of his son, the sixth Baron (1761–1835) this line also failed.[2]
Digby Willoughby, 7th Baron Middleton (1769–1856) was a grandson of the second son of the first Baron, a captain in the Royal Navy. He died unmarried and was succeeded by his cousin, the eighth Baron, the grandson of Reverend The Hon James Willoughby, younger son of Thomas Willoughby, second son of the first Baron. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the ninth Baron, who in his turn was succeeded by his younger brother, the 10th Baron.[2] On the latter's death, the titles passed to his second but eldest surviving son, the 11th Baron. He was Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Since 2011, the titles are held by his grandson, the 13th Baron.[5]
Extensive estate and personal papers of the Willoughby family are held in the Middleton collection at the department of Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham. They include the Wollaton Antiphonal.
The current family seat is Birdsall House, near Malton, North Yorkshire. The Middleton family owned Wollaton Hall, a stately home near Nottingham on which Mentmore Towers was based, and Middleton Hall in Warwickshire until they were sold by the 11th Baron in the 1920s.[5]
