Earl of Morley

Earl of Morley, of Morley in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for John Parker, 2nd Baron Boringdon. He was made at the same time Viscount Boringdon, of North Molton in the County of Devon, which title is used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to the earldom.

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 (modern spelling Morleigh), 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. 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.

The title of Baron Boringdon, of Boringdon in the County of Devon, was created in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 for his father John Parker, who had previously represented Bodmin and Devon in the House of Commons.

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