Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham (18 September 1762 – 12 April 1823) was a peer, philanthropist and an abolitionist who established schools and churches on the

Gower Peninsula Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

Early life

Born on 18 September 1762 at Barham Court,

Teston Teston /ˈtiːstən/ The Place Names of Kent,Judith Glover,1976,Batsford. or /ˈtiːsən/ BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names — is a village in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. It is located on the A26 road out of Maidston ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, her parents were Margaret (née Gambier) and Charles Middleton, an admiral who was created Baron Barham, of Barham Court and Teston in the

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Kent in May 1805. They were Calvinist Methodists, whose friends included religious writer and philanthropist

Hannah More Hannah More (2 February 1745 – 7 September 1833) was an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, who wrote on moral and religious subjects. Born in Bristol, she taught at a ...

, cleric George Whitefield, and politician and abolitionist

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

Marriage

She was married on 21 December 1780 to Gerard Edwardes, who was a Cambridge-educated banker and

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. In 1798, he inherited the estates of his uncle, Henry Noel, 6th Earl of Gainsborough, and changed his surname to Noel. They had eighteen children, one of whom,

Baptist Wriothesley Noel The Reverend The Honourable Baptist Wriothesley Noel (Wells, J. C. ''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. 3rd edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2008. ''REYE-əths-lee''; 16 July 1798 – 19 January 1873) was an English evangelical clerg ...

, stated that his parents' home "combined whig politics, evangelical devotion, aristocratic unconventionality, and strong-mindedness in a potent blend". Gerard's estates, worth £20,800 a year and consisting of 15,000 acres, were put into trust due to the poor state of financial management by 1816.

Baroness Barham

When her father died in 1813, as the only child, she became 2nd Baroness Barham by a

special remainder In property law of the United Kingdom and the United States and other common law countries, a remainder is a future interest given to a person (who is referred to as the transferee or remainderman) that is capable of becoming possessory upon the ...

. That year, having found her husband to be a "

profligate A spendthrift (also profligate or prodigal) is someone who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful with money, often to a point where the spending climbs well beyond his or her means. "Spendthrift" derives from an obsolete sense of the word "thrift" ...

and eccentric husband", she moved to Fairy Hill,

Gower Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

, and began funding the construction of free schools as well as four Independent and two Calvinist Methodist churches. She was also an abolitionist and was friends with Samuel Johnson. She died at Fairy Hill on 12 April 1823 and was buried at Teston. Her son Charles became Lord Barham. He had the chapels transferred to trustees. Her correspondence is archived with that of the Noel family at the Record Office of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland and photographs related to her life are held at the Chipping Campden History Society.

References

18th-century British people 19th-century British people English evangelicals 1762 births 1823 deaths Barham, Diana Noel, 2nd Countess of Barons Barham People from Maidstone Daughters of barons Wives of baronets {{reli-bio-stub