Baron Gerard

There have been three baronies created for descendants of the Gerard family who resided at Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire and Kingsley, Cheshire, in the 13th century.

The title Baron Gerard, of Gerards Bromley, was created in the Peerage of England on 21 July 1603 for Sir Thomas Gerard (d. 1617), son of Sir Gilbert Gerard (d. 1593) Attorney General between 1559 and 1581 and Master of the Rolls in 1581, who acquired estates at Gerards Bromley and Hilderstone, Staffordshire. The first Baron was Lord President of Wales between 1616 and 1617. The barony passed in direct line of succession until the death of the fifth Baron in 1684 when it passed to his second cousin Charles, and upon his death without a male heir, to his brother Philip Gerard, a Jesuit priest who died childless in 1773 when the barony expired.

The title of Baron Gerard of Bryn in the County Palatine of Lancaster, was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1876 for Sir Robert Gerard, 13th Baronet. The title followed the line of the first Baron's eldest son until the death of the latter's grandson, the fourth Baron, in 1992. He was succeeded by his second cousin once removed, the fifth and (As of 2010^[update]) present holder of the barony. He is the great grandson of Captain the Hon. Robert Joseph Gerard-Dicconson, second son of the first Baron. The family seat was originally Bryn Hall, Ashton-in-Makerfield, but later Garswood Hall, followed by New Hall, a majestic, modernist, building of considerable size.

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