John Yarde-Buller, 1st Baron Churston

Born John Buller-Yarde-Buller, he was the eldest son of Sir Francis Buller-Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baronet (1767–1833) by his wife Elizabeth Holliday, only daughter and sole heiress of John Holliday of Dilhorne Hall in the parish of Dilhorne, Staffordshire.[1]

In 1833 he inherited his father's baronetcy and entered Parliament two years later as Member of Parliament for South Devon. He held the seat for almost twenty-four years and on his retirement in 1858, was raised to the peerage as Baron Churston, of Churston Ferrers and Lupton, Co. Devon.[2] In 1860, he changed the family name to Yarde-Buller. He served as Lieutenant-Colonel of the South Devon Militia and became its commanding officer in 1852 when the post of Colonel of the Regiment was abolished. His son the Hon John Buller Yarde-Buller also served in the regiment and succeeded him in command.[3][4]

Lord Churston married twice:

• Firstly on 24 January 1823 to Elizabeth Wilson-Patten (d.1857), a daughter of Thomas Wilson-Patten of Bank Hall in Lancashire,[5] and a sister of John Wilson-Patten, 1st Baron Winmarleigh, by whom he had two children:
  • Hon. John Yarde-Buller (1823–1867), a soldier, who predeceased his father;
  • Hon. Bertha Yarde-Buller (died 1872), who married Sir Massey Lopes, Bt.
• Secondly in 1861 he married Caroline Newman (d.1866), 2nd daughter of Sir Robert Newman, 1st Baronet (1776-1848) of Mamhead House[5] in Devon.

Lord Churston died in 1871 and his titles passed to his eldest grandson, John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston.

• Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1868. pp. 217–8.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Yarde-Buller