Baron Skelmersdale

Baron Skelmersdale, of Skelmersdale in the County Palatine of Lancaster, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1828 for the former Member of Parliament for Westbury, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Clitheroe and Dover, Edward Bootle-Wilbraham. His grandson, the second Baron (the son of the Hon. Richard Bootle-Wilbraham), was a Conservative politician and served in the Tory administrations of Disraeli and Lord Salisbury. In 1880 he was created Earl of Lathom, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. However, the earldom became extinct on the death of his grandson, the third Earl, in 1930. The barony passed to the last Earl's second cousin, the fifth Baron, who was the grandson of a younger son of the first Baron. On his death the title was inherited by his cousin, the sixth Baron.

Since the death of the sixth Baron in 1973, the title has been held by his son, Roger Bootle-Wilbraham, the seventh Baron. He served in junior ministerial positions in the Conservative administrations of Margaret Thatcher. Lord Skelmersdale is still a member of the House of Lords as one of the ninety-two elected hereditary peers allowed to remain after the passing of the House of Lords Act of 1999. Lord Skelmersdale is President of Somerset Opera, which performs throughout Somerset, UK.

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