The Lechmere Baronetcy, of The Rhydd in the County of Worcester, is a title in the

Baronetage of the United Kingdom Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain. Baronetage of England (1611–1705) James I of E ...

. It was created on 10 December 1818 for Anthony Lechmere. The second Baronet served as

High Sheriff of Worcestershire This is a list of sheriffs and since 1998 high sheriffs of Worcestershire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of th ...

in 1852. The third Baronet was high sheriff in 1862 and from 1866 was

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 i ...

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 of ...

for

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Riv ...

, Worcestershire West,

Bewdley Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the River Sev ...

and Worcestershire South. The sixth Baronet served as high sheriff in 1962 and as Vice-Lieutenant of

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

and Worcestershire in 1977. In 2001 the title was inherited by his cousin and, as of 2017, the title is held by the latter's son, the eighth Baronet, who succeeded in 2010 and was high sheriff of Worcestershire in 2016. The Lechmere family has been settled in

Hanley Castle Hanley Castle is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, between the towns of Malvern and Upton upon Severn and a short distance from the River Severn. It lies in the administrative area of Malvern Hills District, and is part of ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, since the 11th century. Other members of the family include

Sir Nicholas Lechmere ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

, a

Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

during the reign of

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the ...

and Member of Parliament for Bewdley, and his grandson

Nicholas Lechmere, 1st Baron Lechmere Nicholas Lechmere, 1st Baron Lechmere (5 August 167518 June 1727) was an English lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 until 1721 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lechmere. He served as Attorney-General ...

, Solicitor-General,

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

. The family surname is pronounced "Letchmere". The baronets were traditionally benefactors and governors of Hanley Castle Grammar School, which was renamed

Hanley Castle High School Hanley Castle High School is a non-selective mixed secondary school and sixth form centre located in the village of Hanley Castle, 1.4 miles (2.2 km) from the small town of Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire. It was formerly known as Hanley ...

in the 1970s. Founded in 1326, it is one of the oldest schools in England. Sir Edmund Anthony Harley Lechmere, 3rd Baronet (1826–1894) and his wife were among the founders of

Venerable Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

. They had travelled several times to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and were involved in the establishment of The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital. A treatise on the antiquities of

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

was dedicated to the 3rd Baronet because of the association of his family with the area for many centuries.

Lechmere baronets, of The Rhydd (1818)

Sir Anthony Lechmere, 1st Baronet Sir Anthony Lechmere, 1st Baronet (2 November 1766 – 25 March 1849) was a British baronet. Life He was the son of Edmund Lechmere and his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John Whitmore. He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford in 178 ...

(1766–1849) * Sir Edmund Hungerford Lechmere, 2nd Baronet (1792–1856) * Sir Edmund Anthony Harley Lechmere, 3rd Baronet (1826–1894) * Sir Edmund Arthur Lechmere, 4th Baronet (1865–1937) * Sir Ronald Berwick Hungerford Lechmere, 5th Baronet (1886–1965) * Sir Berwick Hungerford Lechmere, 6th Baronet (1917–2001) * Sir Reginald Anthony Hungerford Lechmere, 7th Baronet (1920–2010) * Sir Nicholas Anthony Hungerford Lechmere, 8th Baronet (born 1960) 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 son Freddie Patrick Hungerford Lechmere (born 1992).

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. *{{Rayment-bt, date=March 2012 Letchmere