Baron Plunket, of Newtown in the County of Cork, is a title 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...

. It was created in 1827 for the prominent Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 lawyer and Whig politician William Plunket

William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket

William Conyngham Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket PC was an Irish politician and lawyer who eventually became Lord Chancellor of Ireland....

. He served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland

Lord Chancellor of Ireland

The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...

 from 1830 and 1834 and again from 1835 to 1841. His eldest son, the second Baron, was Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry

Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry

The Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry is the Church of Ireland Ordinary of the united Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry in the Province of Armagh. The present incumbent is the Right Reverend Patrick Rooke....

 between 1839 and 1866. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Baron. He was a barrister. His eldest son, the fourth Baron, served as Archbishop of Dublin

Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)

The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland...

 between 1884 and 1897. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the fifth Baron. He was a diplomat and held office as Governor of New Zealand between 1904 and 1910. His grandson, the seventh Baron, was Equerry

Equerry

An equerry , and related to the French word "écuyer" ) is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually upon a Sovereign, a member of a Royal Family, or a national...

 to both King George VI

George VI of the United Kingdom

George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...

 and Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the eighth and present holder of the title.

Two other members of the family have also gained distinction. The Hon. David Plunket

David Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore

David Robert Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore PC, QC was an Irish lawyer and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

, second son of the third Baron, was a Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician and was created Baron Rathmore in 1895. The Most Reverend the Hon. Benjamin Plunket, second son of the fourth Baron, was Bishop of Meath

Bishop of Meath

The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric.-History:...

 from 1919 to 1925.

The seventh and eighth Barons were related to the Marquess of Londonderry

Marquess of Londonderry

Marquess of Londonderry is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1816 for Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Londonderry. He had earlier represented County Down in the Irish House of Commons. Stewart had already been created Baron Londonderry in 1789, Viscount Castlereagh in 1795 and Earl...

. Their mother and wife of the sixth Baron was the illegitimate daughter of the actress Fannie Ward

Fannie Ward

Fannie Ward was an American actress of stage and screen, known for comedic roles as well as The Cheat, a sexually–charged 1915 silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille....

 and Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry

Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry

Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, KG, MVO, PC, PC , styled Lord Stewart until 1884 and Viscount Castlereagh between 1884 and 1915, was an Anglo-Irish peer and had careers in both Irish and British politics...

. After sixth Baron and his wife were killed in an air accident in 1938 the three Plunket brothers were raised by the Lord and Lady Londonderry.

Barons Plunket (1827)

• William Conyngham Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket
  William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket
  William Conyngham Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket PC was an Irish politician and lawyer who eventually became Lord Chancellor of Ireland....
  
   (1764–1854)
• Thomas Span Plunket, 2nd Baron Plunket
  Thomas Plunket, 2nd Baron Plunket
  The Right Reverend Thomas Span Plunket, 2nd Baron Plunket , was Bishop of Tuam, Killaly and Achonry.Plunket was the first son of William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket and his wife, Catherine . He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. On the death of his father in 1854, he became the 2nd Baron...
  
   (1792–1866)
• John Span Plunket, 3rd Baron Plunket
  John Plunket, 3rd Baron Plunket
  John Span Plunket, 3rd Baron Plunket of Newtown, County Cork was a Queen's Counsel He married Charlotte, daughter of the eminent judge Charles Kendal Bushe.-Family:Children of John Span Plunket, 3rd Baron Plunket of Newton...
  
   (1793–1871)
• William Conyngham Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket (1828–1897)
• William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket (1864–1920)
• Terence Conyngham Plunket, 6th Baron Plunket (1899–1938)
• Patrick Terence William Span Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket (1923–1975)
• Robin Rathmore Plunket, 8th Baron Plunket
  Robin Plunket, 8th Baron Plunket
  Captain Robin Rathmore Plunket, 8th Baron Plunket, is a descendent of prominent Irish lawyer and Whig politician William Conyngham Plunket for whom the Peerage of the United Kingdom was created in 1827....
  
   (b. 1925)

The heir presumptive

Heir Presumptive

An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...

is the present holder's brother the Hon. Shaun Albert Frederick Sheridan Plunket (b. 1931)