Michael Henry Marsham, 7th Earl of Romney (22 November 1910 – 5 June 2004), was a British

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

who served in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Early life

Michael Henry Marsham was born on 22 November 1910 at Washpit Farm on the Rougham Hall Estate of the North family, at Rougham near

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England.The Earl of Romney
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 10 June 2004.7th Earl of Romney, 93: 25 years in House of Lords
''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...

'', 13 June 2004.Associated Press
Earl Of Romney: A silent Lord; 93
''

U-T San Diego ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', 13 June 2004. His father was Reginald Hastings Marsham (1865–1922), the second son of

Charles Marsham, 4th Earl of Romney Charles Marsham, 4th Earl of Romney (7 March 1841 – 21 August 1905), styled Viscount Marsham from 1845 to 1874, was a British Conservative politician. Early life Romney was the son of Charles Marsham, 3rd Earl of Romney and his wife Lady Marg ...

, who was thus his paternal grandfather, and his mother was Dora Hermione North (d. 1923). He became an orphan at the age of twelve. He was educated at

Sherborne School Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...

, a private boarding school in

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, in south-west England affiliated with the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Career

He worked as the manager of an estate owned by

Shane O'Neill, 3rd Baron O'Neill Shane Edward Robert O'Neill, 3rd Baron O'Neill (6 February 1907 – 24 October 1944) was an Anglo-Irish peer and British Army officer. He served during World War II and was killed in action in Italy. Early life and family O'Neill was born on 6 F ...

, in

Randalstown Randalstown () is a small town and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, between Antrim and Toome. The town, which contains a prominent disused railway viaduct, lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate. Randalstown is bypas ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He collected rents from the Roman Catholic tenants who lived on the estate. During World War II, he served as a Major in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and was stationed in

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

. He returned to his job as an estate manager shortly after the war in 1945, staying until 1963. It was then that it became apparent that he would inherit the Earldom, and he returned to Norfolk where the Earls of Romney have a country estate at Gayton Hall. He inherited his titles (Baron Romney, Viscount Marsham and Earl of Romney) from his first cousin, Charles Marsham, 6th Earl of Romney, in 1975, at the age of sixty. As a result, he served as a hereditary peer in the

from 1975 to 1999, when he lost his seat in the House as a result of the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

. Even though he served in the House for twenty-five years, he never made a speech. He was interviewed in ''The Lord's Tale'', a television documentary directed by

Molly Dineen Molly Dineen is a documentary film director, cinematographer, and producer. One of Britain's most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Dineen is known for her intimate and probing portraits of British individuals and institutions. Her work includes ...

about hereditary peers. In the documentary, he joked that nobody cared about his views, but that the Conservative Party was happy to have his vote on their side. A keen

fox hunter Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of houn ...

, he served as the Hon. Secretary of the West Norfolk Foxhounds for many years. He also took part in the Countryside March organised by the

Countryside Alliance The Countryside Alliance (CA) is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as farming, rural services, small businesses and field sports, aiming to "Give Rural Britain a voice". History The Countryside Allian ...

in September 2002, when 400,000 people marched in central London to stand up for the interests of rural Britain. He was the President of

The Marine Society The Marine Society is a British charity, the world's first established for seafarers. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War against France, Austria, and Saxony (and subsequently the Mughal Empire, Spain, Russia and Sweden) Britain urg ...

until his death.

Personal life

He married Aileen Landale in 1939. His wife died in 1995. They had no children.

Death

He died on 5 June 2004 at his home Wensum Farm, West Rudham, Norfolk. He was ninety-three years old. His title was inherited by Julian Marsham, his first cousin once removed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romney, Michael Marsham, 7th Earl of 1910 births 2004 deaths People from Breckland District People educated at Sherborne School Royal Artillery officers Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Fox hunters Military personnel from Norfolk British Army personnel of World War II Romney People from Randalstown