Harbord Harbord, 1st Baron Suffield explained

The Lord Suffield
Constituency Mp:Norwich
(with Edward Bacon to 1784;
with William Windham from 1784)
Term Start:1756
Term End:1786
Birth Name:Harbord Morden
Birth Date:26 January 1734
Nationality:British
Spouse:Mary Assheton
Mother:Elizabeth Britiffe
Father:William Morden, later Sir William Harbord, 1st Baronet

Harbord Harbord, 1st Baron Suffield (26 January 1734 – 4 February 1810), known as Sir Harbord Harbord, Bt, between 1770 and 1786, was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1756 to 1784 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Suffield.

Biography

Harbord was born Harbord Morden at Thorpe, Norfolk, the eldest son of William Morden, later Sir William Harbord, 1st Baronet, and his wife Elizabeth Britiffe, daughter of Robert Britiffe, Recorder of Norwich.[1] His father assumed by royal licence the surname of Harbord in lieu of Morden in 1742 according to the will of his maternal uncle, Harbord Harbord.

Harbord sat as Member of Parliament for Norwich from 1756 to 1786.[2] He succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1770. In 1775 Harbord commissioned James Wyatt to make significant additions to the Gunton Hall, the family's country house.[3] In 1786 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Suffield, Baron of Suffield, in the County of Norfolk.

Lord Suffield married Mary Assheton, daughter of Sir Ralph Assheton, 3rd Baronet, in 1760. He died in February 1810, aged 76, and was succeeded in the baronetcy and barony by his eldest son, William. His younger son Edward was a radical politician and anti-slavery campaigner.

Arms

Escutcheon:Quarterly: 1st and 4th, quarterly Azure and Gules four Lions rampant Argent and in the centre an Imperial Crown Or (Harbord); 2nd and 3rd, Argent a Fleur-de-lis Gules (Morden)
Crest:On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion couchant Argent
Supporters:Dexter: a Lion Or charged on the shoulder with a Fleur-de-lis Gules and gorged with a Crown Flory Chain reflexed over the back Azure; Sinister: a Leopard guardant proper gorged with a similar Coronet and Chain Or
Motto:Aequanimiter (Even minded) [4]

Notes and References

  1. http://thepeerage.com/p500.htm#i4998 thepeerage.com Harbord Harbord, 1st Baron Suffield
  2. Web site: HARBORD, Harbord (1734-1810), of Gunton Hall and Suffield, Norf. . History of Parliament Online. 9 October 2017.
  3. Web site: Real-life Downton Abbey rediscovered in Norfolk. EDP24. 28 January 2012. 8 August 2013. 6 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140906185645/http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/real_life_downton_abbey_rediscovered_in_norfolk_1_1190052. dead.
  4. Web site: Suffield, Baron (GB, 1786) . https://web.archive.org/web/20130928112951/http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/suffield1786.htm . 23 July 2021 . 28 September 2013 . English . live.