Baron Rayleigh

Baron Rayleigh, of Terling Place in the County of Essex is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1]

Baron Rayleigh Coat of Arms

The peerage was created on 18 July 1821 for Lady Charlotte Strutt, wife of Colonel Joseph Strutt, Member of Parliament for Maldon. Joseph Strutt had earlier declined the offer of a peerage, and instead proposed that the honour be given to his wife. Lady Rayleigh was the daughter of James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, and his wife Lady Emily Lennox, the second of the famous Lennox sisters. Her elder brother was Charles FitzGerald, 1st Baron Lecale and her younger brother was Lord Edward FitzGerald.

The family seat is Terling Place, Essex.

Notable members of the Strutt family include:

• John William Strutt, the third Baron, was a noted physicist and Nobel Prize recipient.
• Robert John Strutt, the fourth Baron, was also a well-known physicist who discovered "active nitrogen".
• John Strutt, MP for Maldon from 1774 to 1790
• Edward Gerald Strutt, son of the second Baron and founder of Strutt & Parker
• Charles Hedley Strutt, MP for Maldon and chairman of the Anglo-Dutch Plantations of Java
• Sir Nigel Strutt, former chairman of the Strutt & Parker (Farms) Ltd.
• The Honourable Hedley Vicars Strutt, former chairman of Anglo-Indonesian Plantations Ltd between 1964 and 1972.

The title is currently held by the fourth Baron's grandson, the sixth Baron, who succeeded his uncle in 1988.