Earl of Orford


Not to be confused with Earl of Oxford
Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times.
The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 in when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was created Baron of Shingay, in the County of Cambridge, and Viscount Barfleur at the same time, also in the Peerage of England. A member of the influential Russell family, he was the son of the Honourable Edward Russell, a younger son of Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford and younger brother of William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford. Lord Orford had no children and the titles became extinct on his death in 1727.
The title was created again in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1742 for Sir Robert Walpole, de facto acknowledged to have been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, who at the same time was created Viscount Walpole and Baron Walpole of Houghton. The titles became extinct on the death of the 4th Earl in 1797.
It was created a third time in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1806 for Horatio Walpole, 4th Baron Walpole of Walpole, a cousin of the 4th Earl of the 2nd creation. The title Earl of Orford became extinct on the death of the 5th Earl in 1931, though the titles Baron Walpole of Walpole and Baron Walpole of Wolterton were inherited by a distant cousin.

Earls of Orford, first creation (1697)

''This tree goes only as far as the death of the Earl of Orford and contains his ancestors and contemporaries. For further tree descendants, see Duke of Bedford.

Earls of Orford, second creation (1742)