Baron Dulverton, of
Batsford in the
County of Gloucester
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Glouce ...
, is a title in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the businessman
Sir Gilbert Wills, 2nd Baronet. He was President of the
Imperial Tobacco Company
Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mo ...
and also sat as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
and
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
. The Wills Baronetcy, of Manor Heath in the
Parish of Bournemouth in the
County of Southampton
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is ...
, was created in 1897 for his father
Frederick Wills. He was a director of
W. D. & H. O. Wills, which later merged into the Imperial Tobacco Company, and also represented
Bristol North in Parliament as a
Liberal Unionist
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a politic ...
. A member of the wealthy
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
tobacco importing Wills family, he was the younger brother of
Sir Edward Payson Wills, 1st Baronet, a half brother of
Sir Frank William Wills Kt., and the cousin of
William Wills, 1st Baron Winterstoke. In 1966 the Wills family contained the largest number of millionaires in the British Isles, with 14 members leaving fortunes in excess of one million pounds since 1910, totalling £55 million.
[Guinness Book of Records, London, 1966, p. 230] the titles are held by the first Baron's grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his father in 1992.
The family seat is
Batsford Park, near
Batsford,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
.
Wills baronets, of Manor Heath (1897)
*
Sir Frederick Wills, 1st Baronet (1838–1909)
*
Sir Gilbert Alan Hamilton Wills, 2nd Baronet (1880–1956) (created Baron Dulverton in 1929)
Barons Dulverton (1929)
*
Gilbert Alan Hamilton Wills, 1st Baron Dulverton (1880–1956)
*(Frederick) Anthony Hamilton Wills, 2nd Baron Dulverton (1915–1992)
*
(Gilbert) Michael Hamilton Wills, 3rd Baron Dulverton (b. 1944)
The
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
is the present holder's only son Hon. Robert Anthony Hamilton Wills (b. 1983) who is working for Capital Collective Limited in the UK.
See also
*
Baron Winterstoke
*
Wills baronets, of Hazlewood
References
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dulverton
Baronies in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Noble titles created in 1929
Noble titles created for UK MPs