Eric Douglas Saumarez, 7th Baron de Saumarez (born 13 August 1956), is 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 ...

Early life

Born and brought up in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, Saumarez is the son of James Victor Broke Saumarez, 6th Baron de Saumarez, by his marriage to Joan Beryl Charlton. He was educated at

Milton Abbey School Milton Abbey School is a private school for day and boarding pupils in the village of Milton Abbas, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, in South West England. It has 224 pupils , in five houses: Athelstan, Damer, Hambro, Hodgkinson and Tregonwell. ...

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 ...

, the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

, and the

Royal Agricultural College The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. ...

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

Career

In 1991, upon the death of his father, Saumarez succeeded to the title of

Baron de Saumarez Baron de Saumarez, on the Island of Guernsey, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 15 September 1831 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir James Saumarez, 1st Baronet. He had already been created a Baronet, ...

, of

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

, and was a member of 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 ...

until it was reformed by 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 ...

. In 2003 he was living at the family estate of Shrubland Park,

Coddenham Coddenham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located to the north of the A14 road, 8 miles north of Ipswich, the parish also includes the hamlet of Coddenham Green. In 2005 its population ...

, but sold it in 2006. He later settled on the island of Guernsey, where his family originated.

Historical context

Baron de Saumarez, of the Island of Guernsey, is a title in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...

created on 15 September 1831 for the naval commander Admiral Sir James Saumarez, 1st Baronet. He was succeeded by his eldest son. James, the second Baron, a clergyman, who was succeeded by his younger brother, John, the third Baron. The ancestral family seat was at Le Guet, Castel, on the island of

, with a second seat from 1882 at Shrubland Park, near

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

. Shrubland Park was sold by the present Lord de Saumarez in 2006 after the death of his mother. The Saumarez Manor estate in Guernsey belongs to a senior line of the family from which the Barons de Saumarez are descended: Matthew de Sausmarez (1718–1778), father of the first baron, was the younger brother of John (1706–1774), of Sausmarez Manor.Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Personal life

He married, firstly, Christine Elizabeth Halliday, daughter of Bernard Neil Halliday, on 14 July 1982. Before their divorce in 1990, they had two children: * Hon. Claire Saumarez (born 23 February 1984) * Hon. Emily Saumarez (born 14 June 1985). On 2 September 1991 Saumarez married secondly Susan Hearn, daughter of Joseph Hearn.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish geneal ...

, 2003, vol. 1, p. 1113; vol. 2, p. 2371. As he has no male issue, the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

to the barony is his younger twin brother, Hon. Victor Saumarez.

Arms

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saumarez, Eric Saumarez, 7th Baron de 1956 births 7 People educated at Milton Abbey School Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of the Royal Agricultural University

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-N ...

English twins Living people People from Coddenham de Saumarez de:Baron de Saumarez