Ernle Baronets

The Ernle Baronets, or, more precisely, the "Baronetcy of Ernle", is an extinct title in the aristocracy of England.

Located in Etchilhampton (alias Ashlington) in Wiltshire, the title was created by letters patent granted by King Charles II bearing date, 2 February 1660/61. By them, Walter Ernle (circa 1630-1682), became Sir Walter Ernle, 1st Baronet. He died 25 July 1682, and was buried at Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire. He was succeeded by his grandson, Sir Walter Ernle (1672-1690), 2nd Baronet, of Maddington, Wiltshire, who was, in turn, succeeded at his own death by his younger brother, Sir Edward Ernle (1673-1728/9), 3rd Baronet, P.C., MP, the last baronet of the senior line.

The third baronet was succeeded by a kinsman, Sir Walter Ernle (1676-1732), 4th Baronet, of Conock, in the parish of Chirton, Wiltshire, who died childless, and was succeeded by his younger brother, the Reverend Sir John Ernle (circa 1680/1-1724), 5th Baronet, Rector of All Cannings, Wiltshire, who was predeceased by his only son.

There is disagreement as to whether the 5th Baronet was correctly succeeded by his kinsman, a descendant of the original baronet's younger brother, who nonetheless assumed and enjoyed the style of a baronet, as Sir Michael Ernle (circa 1704-1771), 6th Baronet, of Brimslade Park, Wiltshire. He also died without issue, and was succeeded by his younger brother, The Reverend Sir Edward Ernle (circa 1711/2-1787), 7th Baronet, Rector of Abingdon, England, after whose death, the title is deemed finally to have been extinguished.

The Ernle baronets bore the coat-of-arms: Argent, on a bend sable, three eagles displayed or.

The estates of the family passed through female lines of descendants, and the surname Ernle, pronounced Earnley, after the Sussex parish from which it derived, now forms part of the orotund surname, Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, borne by Admiral The Honourable Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, younger son of the 17th Lord Dunsany whose wife, Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Mary Grosvenor Ernle-Erle-Drax, née Burton, was the eventual heiress of the senior line of the Wiltshire Ernle family. The surname continues among the admiral's descendants, being thus preserved whereas it would otherwise, apparently, have died out in the United Kingdom. No other current bearers of the surname world-wide are known to be related in the male-line to the Wiltshire and Sussex Ernle sib.

A one-name study of the surname Ernle and its many variants, including Erneley and Ernly, is being undertaken by a descendant of an earlier cadet line (descended from Thomas Ernle, gent., of Brembridge or Bremeridge manor, Dilton, parish of Westbury, Wilts., who was buried in Westbury parish church in 1595. He was the second son of John Ernle, Esq., of Burton Priory, Bishops Cannings, Wilts., who died in 1571) of the same Wiltshire family which originated with the mediæval lords of the manor of Earnley on the Sussex coast.

For a more extensive account of the Ernle lineage, readers are advised to consult, with caution for their many errors, Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, and the entries for the family listed in various editions of Burke's Landed Gentry, indexed by Burke's Family Index. For the baronetcy, the account in the Complete Baronetage should be examined.

Bibliography

*Burke, Edward (1844). "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of Great Britain". London: John Russel Smith.
*Kimber, Edward and Richard Johnson (1771). " The Baronetage of England". London: Woodfall.

Sources: Burke's "Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies"; "The Complete Baronetage"; "Victoria History" of the Counties of Sussex and Wiltshire.