In 1891, Lord Mount Stephen became the first Canadian to be elevated to the peerage of the United Kingdom. The significant losses of the First World War included many direct heirs to titles and some replacements were found in Canada, resulting in the acquisition of titles by Canadians.
Comte de Saint-Laurent. Created in 1676, for Michel-François Berthelot, King's Secretary in Paris and Commissary General of the French Artillery. In 1702, he sold the Île d'Orléans to Charlotte-Françoise Juchereau de Saint-Denys (1660–1732), sister of Louis Juchereau de Saint-Denys. Another of their brothers was the grandfather of Louis Barbe Juchereau de Saint-Denys (1740–1833), created the Marquis de Saint-Denys in 1774; a first cousin of The Hon. Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay who was also a first cousin of the Marquis de Lotbinière mentioned below.[4] From 1702, Charlotte-Françoise took the title Comtesse de Saint-Laurent and arranged for her eldest son to also bear the title, but she was unable to meet her obligations to Berthelot. A lengthy court case ensued between Quebec and Paris, and in 1713 the King ruled in Berthelot's favour.[5] The title was however no longer used after 1913.[citation needed]
Baron de Portneuf. Created in 1681, for René Robineau de Bécancourt. His son, Pierre Robineau de Portneuf, sold the land to his brother but retained the title. The brother died in 1715 and the barony passed back to Pierre's daughters. The title became extinct in 1729 after the death of the 2nd Baron de Portneuf, due to a lack of male heirs.
Baron Morris, of St John's in the Dominion of Newfoundland and of the City of Waterford. Created in 1918 for Edward Morris, 1st Baron Morris, Prime Minister. Though Newfoundland was then not part of Canada, he is nonetheless included. The title is currently held by his great-grandson, Thomas Anthony Salmon Morris, of London, 4th Baron Morris.
Extinct
Baron Mount Stephen, of Mount Stephen in the Province of British Columbia and Dominion of Canada, and of Dufftown in the County of Banff. Created in 1891 for George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen. He was the president of the Bank of Montreal and the financial genius behind the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, once "the world's greatest transportation system". He was the first Canadian to be elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom and a first cousin of Lord Strathcona. Both he and his first cousin were particularly remembered for their philanthropy, between them donating many millions of dollars to charity. His home in the Golden Square Mile is today the Mount Stephen Club and from 1888 he moved permanently to England where he lived at Brocket Hall. His second wife, a niece of Lord Wolverton, was a lifelong friend and confidante of Queen Mary, whose mother she had served as a lady-in-waiting. The daughter he and his first wife adopted, Alice, married Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote. Lord Mount Stephen left no male heirs and as such his title became extinct on his death at Brocket Hall in 1921.
Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada. Created in 1891 for Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, the widow of Sir John A. Macdonald, the 1st prime minister of Canada after Confederation in 1867. Her peerage was heritable by her heirs male, but she herself was only survived by a daughter, and so the title became extinct on her death in England in 1920.[15] Her late husband, of whom she was the second wife, was also survived by one son from his first marriage, Sir Hugh John Macdonald, but he was not eligible to inherit the title from his stepmother.
Baron Haliburton, of Windsor, in the Province of Nova Scotia and Dominion of Canada. Created in 1898 for Arthur Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton. He was born at Windsor, his family's home since 1763. After his education he went to England where he was a civil servant, rising to under-secretary of state for war and deputy lieutenant of London. He was married, but died without children and the title died with him.
Baron Pirrie, of the City of Belfast. Created in 1906 for William Pirrie, who was raised to a viscountcy in 1921 (see below).
Baron Atholstan, of Huntingdon in the Province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada and of the City of Edinburgh. Created in 1917, for Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan, a staunch imperialist, one of the Conservative Party's largest fund-raisers and arguably the most powerful media executive in Canada in his capacity as owner of the Montreal Star. He was born at Huntingdon, Quebec, and after his education lived for the remainder of his life in Montreal. He was the only Canadian peer of the United Kingdom to have lived his whole life in Canada. However, his elevation to the peerage, for which he owed much to the machinations of his friends Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Northcliffe, was controversial in Canada and against the wishes of both the Governor General (the Duke of Devonshire) and Prime Minister Robert Borden.[14] He was the father of one daughter but left no male heirs, and the title became extinct on his death at his home in the Golden Square Mile, 1938.[16]
Peerages awarded after the Nickle Resolution
Extant
Baron Coleraine, of Haltemprice in the East Riding of the County of York. Created in 1954 for Conservative politician Richard Law, the son of Bonar Law, a Conservative prime minister. Like Hugh Molson (see below), Richard Law was born in England to a father born in Canada.
A life peerage is not an hereditary title. The title lasts as long as the recipient of the honour is alive. The recipient's children can style themselves with the prefix 'honourable' but they cannot inherit the baronial title.
Current
Baron Black of Crossharbour, of Crossharbour in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. In 2001, Tony Blair advised Queen Elizabeth II to confer on Conrad Black the dignity of a life peerage with the title of Baron Black.[18]Canadian Prime MinisterJean Chrétien gave the opinion to his government's nationality department that a Canadian citizen should not receive a British titular honour, citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution. Black at the time held both Canadian and British citizenship. After the Federal Court of Canada ruled against Black in his suit against Chrétien, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, remaining a citizen of the UK. In 2007, in Chicago, Conrad Black was sent to jail for six years after being convicted of defrauding investors. He was released in May 2012 following an appeal, after spending three years in a prison in Florida.[19][20] He has since been expelled from the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and removed from the Order of Canada. In an interview with Peter Mansbridge in May 2012, Black said he would consider applying for Canadian citizenship "within a year or two" when he hoped the matter would no longer be controversial and he could "make an application like any other person who has been a temporary resident."[21] Black regained his Canadian citizenship in April 2023.[22] Black ceased to be a member of the House of Lords on 9 July 2024 under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 because of non-attendance in the preceding session of Parliament.[23]
Baron Molson, of High Peak in the County of Derby. Created in 1961, for The Rt. Hon. Hugh Molson, P.C., M.P. Though born and brought up in England, he was a member of the Molson family of Montreal, where his father and elder brother were born. He was a great-grandson of Lt.-Colonel The Hon. John Molson (1787–1860), of Belmont Hall, Montreal.
Baron Noel-Baker, of the City of Derby. Created in 1977, for The Rt. Hon. Philip Noel-Baker, politician and Olympian. Like Lords Coleraine and Molson (see above), Noel-Baker was born in England to a Canadian-born father, Joseph Allen Baker.
Baroness Lestor of Eccles, of Tooting Bec in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Created in 1997 for former Labour member of Parliament, Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor, born in Vancouver to the journalist and Marxist writer, Charles Lestor. From 1966, Lestor had sat for Eton and Slough and then for Eccles, during which time she held ministerial office, before retiring at the 1997 general election.
Coffin of the Magdalen Islands. Created in 1804, for Loyalist Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin. His long association with his estates in Canada, with family in Quebec and his business there, meant "he had crossed the Atlantic, on service or pleasure, no less than thirty times."[25] He left no male heirs and as such the title became extinct on his death at Cheltenham in 1839.
Cunard of Bush Hill, Nova Scotia. Created in 1859, for Sir Samuel Cunard, the Canadian-born British shipping magnate, founder of the Cunard Line. The title became extinct in 1989 on the death of Sir Guy Cunard, 7th Bt.
Clouston of Montreal. Created in 1908, for Sir Edward Seaborne Clouston, president of the Canadian Bankers Association and general manager of the Bank of Montreal. He was survived by one daughter, Mrs Marjorie Meredith Todd, but the title became extinct after his death in 1912 due to a lack of male heirs.
Edgar of Chalfont Park. Created in 1920, for Sir Edward Mackay Edgar, a native of Montreal who settled in England and became chairman of British Controlled Oilfields. His only son and heir was killed in a car accident in 1925, and as such the title became extinct on his death in 1934.
Sir James Grant-Suttie 9th Bt., of Balgone, County Haddington was born at Sussex, New Brunswick, as was his father, the 8th Baronet, a graduate of McGill University and "always a proud Canadian".[31] His grandfather emigrated to Canada after World War II where he married a woman from Newfoundland.
Sir Wayne Alexander King 8th Bt., of Charlestown, Roscommon, Ireland. Emigrated from the United Kingdom in 1981 and currently resides in Morrisburg, Ontario with his wife Deborah (MacDougall)
Rolfe William Swinton, 36th of that Ilk. Although neither a peer nor a baronet, his title is Chief of Clan Swinton. His great-grandfather emigrated to Edmonton, Alberta, and he lives in Calgary, Alberta. His father died on 19 August 2007 in Calgary, at which point he succeeded as 36th Swinton of that Ilk.
Count Franz Antal Zichy lives in Toronto and parents lived in Calgary. His title, inherited from his father, is from the Hungarian nobility, where he was born.
Sir Roderick McQuhae Mackenzie, 12th Bt., of Scatwell lives at Calgary, Alberta.
Sir Benjamin Barrington 8th Bt., of Limerick lives at Calgary, Alberta.
Michael Chou-Leng Looi Lyons, Baron of Winchburgh lives at Mississauga, Ontario.[34][35]
Sir Cecil Edward Denny, 6th Bt., of Castle Moyle Major Cecil Denny came west as a member of the North-West Mounted Police in 1874 and later became an Indian agent and author. He succeeded to the title in 1921, and died in Calgary, unmarried in 1928.
10th, 11th and 12th Earls of Egmont. Created in 1733 for John Perceval, 1st Viscount Perceval. The first earl descended from John Perceval, who on 9 September 1661, was created a Baronet, of Kanturk in the County of Cork, in the Baronetage of Ireland. Frederick Joseph Trevelyan Perceval, de jure 10th Earl of Egmont (1873–1932), rancher at Priddis, Alberta, was found to be the senior remaining descendant of the second earl's (1711–1770) seventh son and inherited the estate in 1929. Thomas Frederick Gerald Perceval, 12th Earl of Egmont, (1934–2011), rancher, of High River died on 6 November 2011 and the earldom, and all of its subsidiary titles (Baron Arden, Baron Perceval, Viscount Perceval, Baron Lovel and Holland) became extinct. The title was perpetuated in the provincial urban constituency of Calgary-Egmont which encompassed the 11th Earl's former ranch just north of Fish Creek from 1971 to 2012.
Sylvana Tomaselli became Countess of St Andrews upon her marriage in 1988 to George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews. Her husband uses the courtesy title Earl of St Andrews, a subsidiary title of his father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a grandson of George V.[36] Upon the death of the Duke of Kent, it is expected that George will succeed to the title and Sylvana will become Duchess of Kent, Countess of St Andrews, and Baroness Downpatrick.[36] At that time, her son, Edward, also a citizen of Canada and presently styled as Lord Downpatrick, and his wife, if any, will then use the titles Earl and Countess of St Andrews as courtesy titles; their eldest son, if any, would be known as Lord Downpatrick.
Autumn Phillips (née Kelly) was married to Peter Phillips, the oldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II, and elder child of Princess Anne from 2008 until their divorce was finalized in June 2021. Her ex-husband and their children are in the line of succession to the Monarch of Canada, under Elizabeth II's line of succession.
Michael Ignatieff – Ignatieff's paternal grandfather was Count Pavel Ignatieff.
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