Baron Cranworth is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Peerage of the United Kingdom

The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...

. The first creation came in 1850 when the lawyer and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician Sir Robert Rolfe

Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth

Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth PC was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...

 was made Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth in the County of Norfolk. He later served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

. This creation became extinct on his death in 1868.

The second creation came in 1899 when Robert Gurdon

Robert Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth

Robert Thornhagh Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth was a British Member of Parliament.Cranworth was the eldest son of Brampton Gurdon of Letton Hall in Norfolk and of Grundisbugh Hall in Suffolk. He was elected to the House of Commons for South Norfolk as a Liberal in 1880, a seat he held until 1885,...

 was created Baron Cranworth, of Letton and Cranworth in the County of Norfolk. He had earlier represented South Norfolk

South Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

South Norfolk is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1868 until 1885 it returned two members but thereafter elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 and Mid Norfolk in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

. the title is held by his great-grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his grandfather in 1964. He is the son of the Hon. Robert Brampton Gurdon, who was killed in action in Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

 in July 1942.

Barons Cranworth, First creation (1850)

• Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth
  Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth
  Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth PC was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...
  
   (1790–1868)

Barons Cranworth, Second creation (1899)

• Robert Thornhagh Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth
  Robert Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth
  Robert Thornhagh Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth was a British Member of Parliament.Cranworth was the eldest son of Brampton Gurdon of Letton Hall in Norfolk and of Grundisbugh Hall in Suffolk. He was elected to the House of Commons for South Norfolk as a Liberal in 1880, a seat he held until 1885,...
  
   (1829–1902)
• Bertram Francis Gurdon, 2nd Baron Cranworth
  Bertram Gurdon, 2nd Baron Cranworth
  Bertram Francis Gurdon, 2nd Baron Cranworth KG, MC was a British peer and soldier.Gurdon was the eldest son of Robert Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1900, he joined the Norfolk Artillery as a Second Lieutenant and promoted as a Lieutenant whilst...
  
   (1877–1964)
• Philip Bertram Gurdon, 3rd Baron Cranworth (b. 1940)

The heir apparent

Heir apparent

An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....

is the present holder's son the Hon. Sacha William Robin Gurdon (b. 1970)