Baron Grey, of Codnor

Codnor

Codnor is a Derbyshire village in the Amber Valley district, and a former mining community, with a population of nearly 5,000. It is approximately 12 miles from the city of Derby and 14 miles from Nottingham by road.-History:...

 in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of England

Peerage of England

The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain....

. Sir Henry Grey, grandson of Richard de Grey

Richard de Grey

Richard de Grey of Codnor, Derbyshire, was a landowner who held many important positions during the reign of Henry III of England, including governor of the Channel Islands and later both constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1258 irregularly to 1264.-Family:Richard, 1 Dec...

 and who saw military service under Edward I

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

, was summoned to Parliament by writ in 1299. However it was held in 1989 that he and his two successors did not sit in Parliament after being summoned, and the barony was therefore dated 1397 after evidence was found that Richard Grey, known as the fourth Baron

Richard Grey, 4th Baron Grey of Codnor

Richard Grey, 1st or 4th Baron Grey of Codnor KG was an English soldier and diplomat.-Military and diplomatic service:In 1400 he was appointed Admiral of the king's fleet from the Thames to the north, and in the same year was made Governor of Roxburgh Castle...

, did sit in Parliament. The title fell into abeyance

Abeyance

Abeyance is a state of expectancy in respect of property, titles or office, when the right to them is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true owner. In law, the term abeyance can only be applied to such future estates as have not yet vested or possibly...

 in 1496 on the death of Henry Grey, known as the seventh Baron, and after 493 years was terminated in the favour of Charles Cornwall-Legh, subsequently fifth Baron after the re-dating. The title is currently held by his son, Richard Cornwall-Legh, 6th Baron Grey of Codnor.

The barony, though technically simply Grey as it was created by writ, is often termed "Grey of Codnor" or "Grey (of Codnor)" to distinguish it from the other Grey baronies

Baron Grey

Baron Grey may refer to:* Baron Grey, of Howick, a subsidiary title of the Earl Grey, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom* Baron Grey of Codnor, a title in the Peerage of England...

 throughout history and from the extant Grey earldom

Earl Grey

Earl Grey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. He had already been created Baron Grey, of Howick in the County of Northumberland, in 1801, and was made Viscount Howick, in the County of Northumberland, at the same time as...

; though the holder is by convention styled simply as "The Right Honourable The Lord Grey".

This branch of the Grey family was based at Codnor Castle

Codnor Castle

Codnor Castle is a ruined thirteenth-century castle in Derbyshire, England. The land around Codnor came under the jurisdiction of William Peverel after the Norman conquest. Although registered as a Scheduled Ancient Monument the site is officially, as at 2008, a Building at Risk.The castle is a...

. Together with the other branches of the Grey nobility, they share descent from the Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 knight Anchetil de Greye

Anchetil de Greye

Anchetil de Greye was a vassal of William the Conqueror, whom he accompanied in the Norman conquest of England.-Life:Anchetil de Greye is specifically named in the Domesday Book of 1086...

, a vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

 of William the Conqueror.

Abeyance and termination

In 1496, the title became abeyant on the death of the seventh Baron between his aunts, the three daughters of the fourth Baron: Elizabeth Zouche, Eleanor Newport, and Lucy Lenthall. A termination petition was first made by Charles Walker, later Cornwall-Legh, who claimed one twelfth of the title in 1926. Later that year a select committee chaired by John Hamilton, Baron Sumner

John Hamilton, 1st Viscount Sumner

John Andrew Hamilton, 1st Viscount Sumner GCB, PC was a British lawyer and judge. He was appointed a judge of the High Court of Justice in 1909, a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1912 and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1913...

 recommended that, inter alia, no abeyance should be considered which is longer in date than 100 years and that only claims where the claimant lays claim to at least one third of the dignity by considered. Cornwall-Legh died in 1934, and his son, Charles Legh Shuldham Cornwall-Legh, was permitted a relaxation of these conditions in 1936 as the original claim was begun before the committee reported. After grants for extensions of time for various reasons submitted by Cornwall-Legh, in 1989 the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 Committee for Privileges, chaired by Richard Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce

Richard Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce

Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce, PC was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the House of Lords from 1964 to 1982....

, examined the claim.

It found that although the first, second and third Barons were summoned to Parliament, there was no evidence that they sat in a properly constituted Parliament. Richard Grey, fourth Baron

Richard Grey, 4th Baron Grey of Codnor

Richard Grey, 1st or 4th Baron Grey of Codnor KG was an English soldier and diplomat.-Military and diplomatic service:In 1400 he was appointed Admiral of the king's fleet from the Thames to the north, and in the same year was made Governor of Roxburgh Castle...

 was summoned, in 1397, and did sit, and they held that the barony should be dated from then. It was satisfied that all proper and possible inquiries had been made to trace the descendants of Lucy, Eleanor and Elizabeth, which included Richard Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford

Richard Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford

Richard Thomas Orlando Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford is a British peer.-Biography:Richard Bradford is the son of Gerald Bridgeman, 6th Earl of Bradford and Mary Willoughby Montgomery. He was educated at St...

 (a descendant of Eleanor). The abeyance was subsequently terminated by Elizabeth II in favour of Cornwall-Legh, a descendant of Lucy, who succeeded as the fifth Baron.

Historic Barons Grey of Codnor (1299)

The following have been historically referred to as holders of the title. During the 1989 abeyance termination it was found that they were summoned to Parliament, but there was no evidence that they sat in a properly constituted Parliament.

• Henry Grey, 1st Baron Grey of Codnor (died 1308)
• Richard Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Codnor (–1335)
• John Grey, 3rd Baron Grey of Codnor (1305 or 1311 – 1392)

Barons Grey of Codnor (1397)

The 1989 termination of the 1496 abeyance held that the barony be dated 1397, as there was evidence the fourth Baron sat in parliament. The holders of the title from that date were renumbered, with Charles Cornwall-Legh succeeding as the fifth Baron in 1989.

• Richard Grey, 1st (4th) Baron Grey of Codnor
  Richard Grey, 4th Baron Grey of Codnor
  Richard Grey, 1st or 4th Baron Grey of Codnor KG was an English soldier and diplomat.-Military and diplomatic service:In 1400 he was appointed Admiral of the king's fleet from the Thames to the north, and in the same year was made Governor of Roxburgh Castle...
  
  (–1418)
• John Grey, 2nd (5th) Baron Grey of Codnor (1396–1431)
• Henry Grey, 3rd (6th) Baron Grey of Codnor (1406–1444)
• Henry Grey, 4th (7th) Baron Grey of Codnor (1435–1496) (abeyant 1496)
• Charles Legh Shuldham Cornwall-Legh, 5th Baron Grey of Codnor (1903–1996) (abeyance terminated 1989)
• Richard Henry Cornwall-Legh, 6th Baron Grey of Codnor (born 1936)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son the Hon. Richard Stephen Cayley Cornwall-Legh (born 1976). The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son Caspian Richard Cornwall-Legh (born 2008).

External links

• Codnor & District Local History & Heritage website - Lord Grey of Codnor Pedigree