The Baron Westbury, of Westbury in the County of Wiltshire, 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 1861 for 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 Richard Bethell

Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury

Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury PC, QC , was a British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician. He served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain between 1861 and 1865.-Background and education:...

 on his appointment as Lord Chancellor

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...

, a post he held until 1865. The title descended in the direct line until the death of his great-great-grandson, the fourth baron (who succeeded his grandfather), in 1961. The fourth baron was succeeded by his younger brother, the fifth baron. He was equerry to His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester

Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester

The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a soldier and member of the British Royal Family, the third son of George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary....

 from 1947 to 1949 and also served as Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 of North Yorkshire in 1973. the title is held by his son, the sixth baron, who succeeded in 2001.

Barons Westbury (1861)

• Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury
  Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury
  Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury PC, QC , was a British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician. He served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain between 1861 and 1865.-Background and education:...
  
  (1800–1873)
• Richard Augustus Bethell, 2nd Baron Westbury (1830–1875)
• Richard Luttrell Pilkington Bethell, 3rd Baron Westbury (1852–20 February 1930: Believed to have thrown himself from his seventh floor St James's apartment. He left a note that read: "I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit." His son The Hon. Captain Richard Bethell was found smothered to death at a Mayfair club.)
• Richard Morland Tollemache Bethell, 4th Baron Westbury (1914–1961)
• David Allan Bethell, 5th Baron Westbury (1922–2001)
• Richard Nicholas Bethell, 6th Baron Westbury (b. 1950)