Earl of Cranbrook, in the County of Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, 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 1892 for the prominent 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 Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook. He notably held office as Home Secretary

Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

, Secretary of State for War

Secretary of State for War

The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first held by Henry Dundas . In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The position was re-instated in 1854...

 and Secretary of State for India

Secretary of State for India

The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...

. Gathorne-Hardy had already been created Viscount Cranbrook, of Hemsted in the County of Kent, in 1878, and was made Baron Medway, of Hemsted in the County of Kent, at the same time he was given the earldom. The latter title is used as a courtesy title

Courtesy title

A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...

 for the Earl's eldest son and heir apparent. Lord Cranbrook's eldest son, the second Earl, represented Rye

Rye (UK Parliament constituency)

Rye was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Rye in East Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its representation was halved under the Reform Act 1832....

, Mid Kent and Medway

Medway (UK Parliament constituency)

Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918.-1885–1918:...

 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...

 as a Conservative. the titles are held by the latter's great-grandson, the fifth Earl, who succeeded his father in 1978.

Hon. Alfred Gathorne-Hardy

Alfred Gathorne-Hardy

Alfred Erskine Gathorne-Hardy , styled The Honourable from 1878, was a British Conservative Member of Parliament....

, third son of the first Earl, sat as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Canterbury

Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Canterbury is a county constituency which has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 and East Grinstead

East Grinstead (UK Parliament constituency)

East Grinstead was a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. It first existed as a Parliamentary borough from 1307, returning two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons elected by the bloc vote system...

. Another member of the family is the writer Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy

Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy

Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy is a British author, known for biographies, including one of Alfred Kinsey, and books of social history on the British nanny and public school system. For his autobiography, Half an Arch, he received the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography in 2005...

. He is the son of Hon. Anthony Gathorne-Hardy, youngest son of the third Earl.

The family seat is Great Glemham House, Great Glemham, Saxmundham

Saxmundham

Saxmundham is a small market town in Suffolk, England. It is set in the valley of the River Fromus, a tributary of the River Alde, approximately northeast of Ipswich and west of the coast at Sizewell. The town is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Saxmundham railway station on the East Suffolk...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

.

Earls of Cranbrook (1892)

• Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook (1814–1906)
• John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook
  John Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook
  John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook , known as Lord Medway from 1892 to 1906, was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament....
  
   (1839–1911)
• Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 3rd Earl of Cranbrook (1870–1915)
• John David Gathorne-Hardy, 4th Earl of Cranbrook (1900–1978)
• Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook (b. 1933)

The current and fifth Earl Cranbrook (born 1933) is a zoologist and environmental biologist, who was awarded the Royal Geographical Society

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

's Founder's Gold Medal

Gold Medal (RGS)

The Gold Medal are the most prestigious of the awards presented by the Royal Geographical Society. The Gold Medal is not one award but consists of two separate awards; the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. The award is given for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical...

 in 1995. 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 John Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Lord Medway (b. 1968)