The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain. New peers continued to be created in the Peerage of Ireland until 1898.
John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, PC, known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844, was a British Whig politician. He was notably Home Secretary in 1834 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1846 and 1847, the first years of the Great Famine.
Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749, he was given the additional title of Baron Ponsonby of Sysonby, in the County of Leicester, in the Peerage of Great Britain, which entitled him to a seat in the British House of Lords. The titles Viscount Duncannon, of the fort of Duncannon in the County of Wexford, and Baron Bessborough, of Bessborough, Piltown, in the County of Kilkenny, had been created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1723 and 1721 respectively for Lord Bessborough's father William Ponsonby, who had earlier represented County Kilkenny in the Irish House of Commons.
Baron Hesketh, of Hesketh in the County Palatine of Lancaster, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1935 for Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 8th Baronet, who had previously briefly represented Enfield in the House of Commons as a Conservative. As of 2010 the titles are held by his grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his father in 1955. Lord Hesketh held junior ministerial positions in the Conservative administrations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. However, he lost his seat in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the upper chamber of Parliament.
Baron de Mauley, of Canford in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 10 July 1838 for the Whig politician the Hon. William Ponsonby, who had earlier represented Poole, Knaresborough and Dorset in the House of Commons. He was the third son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough, an Anglo-Irish peer, and the husband of Lady Barbara Ashley-Cooper, one of the co-heirs to the ancient barony by writ of Mauley, which superseded the feudal barony the caput of which was at Mulgrave Castle, Yorkshire, which barony by writ had become extinct in 1415. His son, later the second Baron, sat as Member of Parliament for Poole and Dungarvon.
Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, of Shulbrede in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1930 for the politician Arthur Ponsonby. Ponsonby was the third son of General Sir Henry Ponsonby and the great-grandson of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough. Frederick Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby, was his elder brother. The first Baron's grandson, the third Baron, was also a Labour politician and notably served as Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords in the 1980s. As of 2017 the title is held by the latter's only son, the fourth Baron, who succeeded in 1990. He sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords prior to the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, when he lost his seat. However, in 2000 he was given a life peerage as Baron Ponsonby of Roehampton, of Shulbrede in the County of West Sussex, and was able to retake his seat in the House of Lords.
Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, was a British politician, writer, and social activist. He was the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria and Mary Elizabeth Bulteel, daughter of John Crocker Bulteel. He was also the great-grandson of The 3rd Earl of Bessborough, The 3rd Earl of Bathurst and The 2nd Earl Grey. The 1st Baron Sysonby was his elder brother.
Major General Hon. Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby was an Anglo-Irish military officer.
Roberte Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough (1892–1979), was a French noblewoman who married into the English aristocracy and served as Viceregal Consort of Canada in the 1930s.
Frederick Edward Grey Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby, was a British soldier and courtier.
The Ponsonby baronetcy, of Wootton in the County of Oxford, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 January 1956 for the Conservative politician Charles Ponsonby. He had earlier represented Sevenoaks in the House of Commons and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden from 1941 to 1945. A member of the prominent Ponsonby family headed by the Earl of Bessborough, he was the son of the Hon. Edwin Charles William Ponsonby, fifth son of Charles Ponsonby, 2nd Baron de Mauley. As of 2017, the title is held by the second Baronet's son, the third Baronet, who succeeded in 2010. His father was Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire between 1980 and 1996.
Frederick Ponsonby may refer to:
Baron Ponsonby, of Imokilly in County Cork, also referred to as Baron Ponsonby of Imokilly, in the County of Cork, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for the William Ponsonby, who had previously represented Cork City, Bandonbridge and Kilkenny in the Irish House of Commons and Kilkenny in the British House of Commons. A member of the influential Ponsonby family, he was the eldest son of the Honourable John Ponsonby, second son of Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough. His son, the second Baron, was a prominent diplomat and notably served as Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and Austria. In 1839 he was created Viscount Ponsonby, of Imokilly in the County of Cork, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was childless and the viscountcy became extinct on his death in 1855. He was succeeded in the barony by his nephew, the third Baron. He was the posthumous son of the Honourable Sir William Ponsonby, second son of the first Baron. Lord Ponsonby died childless and was succeeded by his first cousin, the fourth Baron. He was the son of the Right reverend the Honourable Richard Ponsonby, third son of the first Baron. He died unmarried in 1866 when the barony became extinct.
Frederick Edward Neuflize "Eric" Ponsonby, 10th Earl of Bessborough DL, styled Viscount Duncannon from 1920 to 1956, was a British diplomat, businessman, playwright, Conservative politician, and peer.
The Hon. George Ponsonby, was an Irish politician, who served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury in the governments under Earl Grey and Lord Melbourne from 1832 to 1834.
Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough, was a British politician and peer. He was the son of William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon, and Mary Moore. He was an active politician from 1705 to 1757 in Great Britain and Ireland. He represented Newtownards and Kildare County in the Irish House of Commons. He inherited his father's viscountcy in 1724 and was made Earl of Bessborough in the Peerage of Ireland in 1739. He is buried in Fiddown, County Kilkenny, Ireland.
Walter William Brabazon Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough, was a British peer and member of the House of Lords. He was the fifth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Lady Maria Fane. He inherited the earldom on 11 March 1895 when his elder brother Frederick Ponsonby, 6th Earl of Bessborough, died unmarried and without a male heir.
William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough was a British politician and public servant. He was an Irish and English peer and member of the House of Lords. He served in both the Irish and the British House of Commons, before entering the House of Lords, and held office as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, and as Postmaster General of the United Kingdom. He was also a Privy Counsellor, Chief Secretary for Ireland and Earl of Bessborough.
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Gaspard Ponsonsby, 2nd Baron SysonbyDSO, was an officer of the British Army and a member of the House of Lords.
