Arms: Sable, a Stag's Head cabossed between two Flaunches Argent. Crest: A Cubit Arm erect couped below the elbow, the sleeve Azure, cuffed and slashed Argent, the hand grasping a Stag's Attire Gules. Supporters: Dexter: A Stag Argent, colared Or, suspended therefrom an Escutcheon Vert, charged with a Horse's Head couped Argent, bridled Or. Sinister: A Greyhound Sable, collared Or, suspended therefrom an Excutcheon Gules, charged with a Ducal Coronet Or.
There existed between 1299 and 1697 an ancient Barony of Morley first held by the de Morley family, lords of the manor of Morley Saint Botolph in Norfolk, which passed in 1489 by marriage to the Parker family, apparently unrelated to the Parker family of Saltram, Devon which latter had emerged in the 16th century from seemingly humble origins in North Molton in Devon. It can thus be no co-incidence that in 1815 John Parker, 2nd Baron Boringdon (1772–1840), on his elevation to the dignity of an earl in 1815, chose the title Earl of Morley, ostensibly referring to his recent purchase of the relatively minor Devon manor of Morley[4] (modern spelling Moreleigh), midway between Totnes and Kingsbridge. It had become common in the 19th century for members of the post-mediaeval nobility when elevated further in the peerage to adopt defunct mediaeval titles which bore some ostensible link to the family, thus lending it an air of great antiquity. Such actions were often adopted in all innocence based on erroneous pedigrees produced by genealogists overly eager to please their patrons.[5] An example is the Russell family, Dukes of Bedford, of which a younger son when himself elevated to the peerage adopted the title "Baron Russell of Kingston Russell", an ancient Dorset manor with which his family had in fact no historic connection.[6]
Baron Boringdon
Escutcheon on heraldic oak screen dated 1609 formerly in Court House, North Molton, the Parker family residence, now in North Molton Church, showing Parker impaling Mayhew of Boringdon: Gules, a chevron vair between three ducal crowns or.Escutcheon on granite fireplace, great hall, Boringdon Hall, showing Parker arms, 1640
Lord Morley was succeeded by his only son, the second Earl. He held minor office in the first Whig administration of Lord John Russell. His son, the third Earl, was a Liberal politician and notably served under William Ewart Gladstone as Under-Secretary of State for War and as First Commissioner of Works. His grandson, the sixth Earl, succeeded his uncle in 1962 (who in his turn had succeeded his elder brother in 1951). He was the eldest son of John Holford Parker, third and youngest son of the third Earl. Lord Morley served as Lord Lieutenant of Devon from 1982 to 1998. He was succeeded by his only son in 2015.
The family seat was Saltram House in Plymouth. It was sold to the National Trust in 1957 and remained the family seat until the fifth Earl died in 1962. Their seat is now Pound House, near Yelverton, Devon.
Mark Lionel Parker, 7th Earl of Morley (born 22 August 1956) is the only son of the 6th Earl and his wife Johanna Katherine Molesworth-St. Aubyn, a daughter of Sir John Molesworth-St Aubyn, 14th Baronet. Styled formally as Viscount Boringdon between 1962 and 2015, he was educated at Eton College and was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets, rising to the rank of Captain. In 2003, his address was Pound House, Yelverton, Devon.[9]
On 20 September 2015 he succeeded as Earl of Morley, Viscount Boringdon, and Baron Boringdon of Boringdon.[9]
On 12 November 1983, as Boringdon, he married Carolyn Jill McVicar, a daughter of Donald McVicar, and they have three daughters:[9]
Lady Alexandra Louise Parker (1985)
Lady Olivia Clare Parker (1987)
Lady Helena Georgia Parker (1991)
The heir presumptive is the present peer's first cousin, Edward Geoffrey Parker (born 1967), only son of Nigel Geoffrey Parker, younger brother of the 6th Earl, whose heir apparent is his son Oliver James Parker (born 1996).[9]
↑ 1810 Additions to Tristram Risdon's "Survey of Devon", p.386: "The manor of Morley did belong to John Shapleigh, Esq., who sold it to John Seale, of Mount Boon, Esq., from whom it was purchased by Lord Boringdon, the present proprietor"
↑ e.g. Wiffen, the librarian at Woburn of the Duke of Bedford, who produced a pedigree of the Russells containing a fabricated link to the mediaeval Russell family of Kingston Russell
↑ Scott-Thomson, Gladys, F.R.H.S. Two Centuries of Family History, London, 1930. (A study of the Bedford Russell early pedigree). Several similar mis-appropriations of lineages of ancient families are given in this work.
Cokayne, George E; Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, Harry A. (1953). The Complete Peerage of the Peerage and Baronetage in Great Britain and Ireland including abeyant, dormant and extinct titles. Vol.XIV volumes. St Catherine's Press.
Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (1990). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. New York: St Martin's Press.
§: Disclaimed.Italics: This title is held by a peer who holds another earldom of higher precedence.
Related Research Articles
Earl Fortescue is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created in 1789 for Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Baron Fortescue (1753–1841), a member of parliament for Beaumaris and Lord-Lieutenant of Devon.
Saltram House is a grade I listed George II era house in Plympton, Devon, England. It was deemed by the architectural critic Pevsner to be "the most impressive country house in Devon". The house was designed by the architect Robert Adam, who altered and greatly expanded the original Tudor house on two occasions. The Saloon is considered one of Adam's finest interiors. Saltram is one of Britain's best preserved examples of an early Georgian house and retains much of its original decor, plasterwork and furnishings. It contains the Parker family's large collection of paintings, including several by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), born and educated at Plympton and a friend of the Parker family.
John Clotworthy, 1st Viscount Massereene was a prominent Anglo-Irish politician.
Baron Morley was a title in the peerage of England. On 29 December 1299 William Morley, lord of the manor of Morley Saint Botolph in Norfolk, was summoned to Parliament, regarded as the creation of a hereditary barony. At the death of the sixth baron in 1443, the title was inherited by his daughter Eleanor Morley, the wife of Sir William Lovel, who was summoned to parliament as Baron Morley in right of his wife and died in 1476, shortly before her. It was then inherited by their son Henry Lovel, following whose death in 1489 it came to his sister Alice Lovel, who was married to Henry Parker. The title was then held by her descendants in the Parker family until 1697 when, on the death of the fifteenth baron without children, the title came to an end.
Albert Edmund Parker, 3rd Earl of Morley PC, DL, JP, styled Viscount Boringdon until 1864, was a British peer and Liberal, later Liberal Unionist politician.
Edmund Henry Parker, 2nd Earl of Morley, styled Viscount Boringdon from 1817 to 1840, was a British peer and Whig politician.
John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon was a British peer and Member of Parliament.
John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley FRS, known as 2nd Baron Boringdon from 1788 to 1815, was a British peer and politician.
Robert Stayner Holford (1808–1892), of Westonbirt, in the village of Weston Birt, Gloucestershire, MP for East Gloucestershire, was a wealthy landowner, gardening and landscaping enthusiast, and an art collector. With his vast wealth, he rebuilt Westonbirt House from the Georgian mansion erected only decades earlier by his father, and founded the Westonbirt Arboretum after succeeding his uncle and father between 1838 and 1839. His London home was Dorchester House.
John St. Aubyn Parker, 6th Earl of Morley was a British peer, a professional soldier, and county dignitary. Morley was a staunch monarchist and royal servant.
Sir John Fowell, 2nd Baronet of Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, was thrice elected a Member of Parliament for Ashburton in Devon, between 1659 and 1677. He fought in the Parliamentary army during the Civil War and following the Restoration of the Monarchy was appointed in 1666 by King Charles II Vice-Admiral of Devon.
Sir John Fowell, 3rd Baronet of Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1689 to 1692.
Sir John Davie, 2nd Baronet (1612–1678) of Creedy in the parish of Sandford, Devon, was Member of Parliament for Tavistock, Devon, in 1661 and was Sheriff of Devon from 1670 to 1671.
Boringdon Hall is a 16th-century Grade I listed manor house in the parish of Colebrook, about two miles north of Plympton, Devon.
Whiteway House in the parish of Chudleigh in Devon is a Grade II* listed Georgian house set in parkland. It was built in the 1770s by John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735–1788) of Saltram House, Plympton, and has early 19th-century alterations. It is situated 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) north of Chudleigh, at the foot of the Haldon Hills. The house had formerly a 5-bay north-east wing, a service range and a separate 19th-century service block to the rear, all demolished since 1962.
Edmund Robert Parker, 4th Earl of Morley JP, styled Viscount Boringdon from his birth until 1905, was a British peer and Devon landowner.
Blagdon historically in the parish of Paignton in Devon, England (today in the parish of Collaton St Mary), is a historic Manor, the seat of the Kirkham family from the 13th to 17th centuries. The manor house known as Blagdon Manor (House) (or Blagdon Barton) survives as a grade II* listed building about two miles west of the historic centre of the town of Paignton, situated behind the "Blagdon Inn" public house (former stables), and almost surrounded by the "Devon Hills Holiday Park" of caravans and mobile homes, set-back at the end of a short driveway off the A385 Paignton to Totnes road. The settlements or farms of Higher Blagdon, Middle Blagdon and Lower Blagdon are situated to the north of the manor house.
Sir John Henry Seale, 1st Baronet (1780–1844) of Mount Boone in the parish of Townstal near Dartmouth in Devon, was a Whig Member of Parliament for Dartmouth in 1838. He was created a baronet on 31 July 1838. He owned substantial lands in Devon, mainly at Townstal and Mount Boone. Together with the Earl of Morley of Saltram House near Plymouth, he built several bridges in Dartmouth, most notably the Dart crossing. Arthur Howe Holdsworth's, the previous Member of Parliament in Dartmouth, influence over the pocket borough of Dartmouth ceased after the 1832 Reform Act and subsequently he was in competition for that parliamentary seat with John Seale, who won the seat.
Montagu Edmund Parker (1737–1813) of Whiteway House, near Chudleigh and of Blagdon in the parish of Paignton, both in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1789. Portraits of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds and John Downman survive at Saltram House.
The Hon. Theresa Parker, was an English noblewoman, designer and art patron. She bought paintings by Joshua Reynolds and Angelica Kauffman and oversaw the interior design and golden age of Saltram House.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
