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Baron Rootes

barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ4862762
Source-derived summary

Baron Rootes, of Ramsbury in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 February 1959 for the businessman Sir William Rootes. He was head of the motor car manufacturer Rootes Ltd and, following his death, his son William Geoffrey Rootes became the new chairman in 1964. The company was acquired during the late 1960s by Chrysler and renamed Chrysler UK in 1970. As of 2010 the title is held by his grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his father in 1992.

Barons Rootes (1959)

William Edward Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes (1894–1964)

(William) Geoffrey Rootes, 2nd Baron Rootes (1917–1992)

Nicholas Geoffrey Rootes, 3rd Baron Rootes (b. 1951)

The heir presumptive and sole heir to the barony is the present holder's first cousin William Brian Rootes (b. 1944).

Arms

References

Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition).

Editorial summary

“Baron Rootes” enters the record as barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Baron, Rootes and barony can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1959, 1964, 1970, 2010—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Baron, Rootes and barony.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Baron Rootes” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Baron, Rootes and barony provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4862762. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1959, 1964, 1970 and 2010.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Baron Rootes”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Baron Rootes primary sources, Baron Rootes archive and Baron research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Baron Rootes”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Baron Rootes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.