thumb|Arms of Sherard: Argent, a chevron gules between three torteaux

thumb|the first Baron Sherard and his wife Lady Abigail. Stapleford church

Lord Sherard, Baron of Leitrim, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland in 1627. The third holder of the barony would also be named Baron Harborough (1714), Viscount Sherard (1718), and Earl of Harborough (1719), with the viscountcy ending with the death of its original holder in 1732, but the other titles persisting in the family until 1859. The Sherard barony became dormant in 1931 with the death of the last known male-line family member. Many descendants of the Sherard noble family are still living today, with the youngest being born in August of 2007.

History

The Sherard family descended from Geoffrey Sherard, of Stapleford, Leicestershire, High Sheriff of Rutland in 1468, 1480 and 1484. His son Thomas Sherard was High Sheriff of Rutland in circa 1495 and circa 1506, while in the next generation George Sherard was High Sheriff of Rutland in circa 1567. It was the grandson of this last, Sir William Sherard, of Stapleford, Leicestershire, who was elevated to the peerage in 1627. His eldest son, Bennet Sherard, who would succeed him as the 2nd Baron, sat as Member of Parliament for Leicestershire and served as Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, while a younger son, Philip Sherard, sat as Member of Parliament for Rutland.

The right to the Sherard barony is thought to have passed to a distant cousin, descended from the third son of the 1st Baron, though the heirs of that line never attempted to sit and thus the priority of their claim was never recorded or tested before the House of Lords prior to being rendered moot by the extinction of the male line in 1931.

thumb|right|300px|Arms of Sherard

Barons Sherard (1627)

  • William Sherard, 1st Baron Sherard (1588–1640)
  • Bennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard (1621–1700)
  • Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough, Viscount Sherard, and Baron Harborough, 3rd Baron Sherard (1675–1732)
  • Philip Sherard, 2nd Earl of Harborough and Baron Harborough, 4th Baron Sherard (1680–1750)
  • Bennet Sherard, 3rd Earl of Harborough and Baron Harborough, 5th Baron Sherard (1709–1770)
  • Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough and Baron Harborough, 6th Baron Sherard (1719–1799)
  • Philip Sherard, 5th Earl of Harborough and Baron Harborough, 7th Baron Sherard (1767–1807)
  • Robert Sherard, 6th Earl of Harborough and Baron Harborough, 8th Baron Sherard (1797–1859)
  • Philip Castell Sherard, 9th Baron Sherard (1804–1886)
  • Castell Sherard, 10th Baron Sherard (1849–1902)
  • Philip Halton Sherard, 11th Baron Sherard (1851–1924)
  • Robert Castell Sherard, 12th Baron Sherard (1858–1931)

Line of Descent

Another of the 6th Earls sons was Edward Sherard Calcraft Kennedy (1837–1900), an artist who married Emily Paul in 1857 and, after their divorce, Florence Elizabeth Laing, a daughter of Samuel Laing.

  • Philip Sherard (1726/7–1790)
  • George Sherard (1626–1670)
  • William Sherard (b. 1652)
  • Castel Sherard (1695–1741)
  • Castel Sherard (1733–1803)
  • Philip Castel Sherard (1767–1814)
  • Philip Castel Sherard, 9th Baron Sherard (1804–1896)
  • Haughton James Sherard (1809–1809)
  • Castel Sherard, 10th Baron Sherard (1849–1902)
  • Philip Halton Sherard, 11th Baron Sherard (1851–1924)
  • Simon Haughton Sherard (1811–1882)
  • George Sherard (1812–1857)
  • Robert Sherard (1777–1835)
  • Charles Wale Sherard (1820–1889)
  • Robert Castel Sherard, 12th Baron Sherard (1858–1931)

References

;Notes

;Sources

  • Burke's Peerage