Earl Cornwallis
title in the Peerage of Great Britain
Earl Cornwallis was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1753 for Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. The second Earl was created Marquess Cornwallis but this title became extinct upon the death of the second marquessate in 1823, while the earldom and its subsidiary titles became extinct in 1852 (the barony was recreated in the 20th century).
The Cornwallis family descended from Frederick Cornwallis, who represented Eye and Ipswich in the House of Commons. He was created a Baronet in the Baronetage of England in 1627 and Baron Cornwallis, of Eye in the County of Suffolk, in the Peerage of England in 1661. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baron, who also sat as Member of Parliament for Eye. On his death, the titles passed to his son, the third Baron. He notably served as First Lord of the Admiralty. His son, the fourth Baron, was Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk and Postmaster General.
He was succeeded by his son, the fifth Baron. In 1753, he was created Viscount Brome, in the County of Suffolk, and Earl Cornwallis in the Peerage of Great Britain.
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This entry incorporates text from “Earl Cornwallis” 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.