Robert Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth

Robert Thornhagh Gurdon, 1st Baron Cranworth (18 June 1829-13 October 1902), was a British Member of Parliament.

Cranworth was the eldest son of Brampton Gurdon of Letton Hall in Norfolk and of Grundisbugh Hall in Suffolk. He was elected to the House of Commons for Norfolk South as a Liberal in 1880, a seat he held until 1885, when he was returned for Norfolk Mid. In 1886 he split with the Liberal leader William Gladstone over Irish Home Rule, and joined the Liberal Unionists. Cranworth continued to represent Norfolk Mid until 1892, and then again briefly in 1895. In 1899 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cranworth, of Letton and Cranworth in the County of Norfolk.

Lord Cranworth married, firstly, Harriott Ellin Miles, daughter of Sir William Miles, 1st Baronet, in 1862 and they had a daughter, Amy Harriott Gurden, in 1864. After her death in childbirth in 1864 he married, secondly, Emily Frances, daughter of Robert Boothby Heathcote, in 1874. He died in October 1902, aged 73, and was succeeded in the barony by his son from his second marriage Bertram Francis Gurdon. Lady Cranworth died in 1934.

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]