The first creation, as Baron Sandys, of The Vyne, in Hampshire, was in the Peerage of England in 1523 for William Sandys, the favourite of King Henry VIII. It passed through several generations of his descendants until it fell into abeyance circa 1683 at the death of the eighth Baron,[1][2] in which state it has remained since.
The barony was created with remainder to her younger sons Lord Arthur Moyses William Hill, Lord Marcus Hill, Lord Augustus Hill and Lord George Hill successively, and failing them to her eldest son Arthur Blundell Hill, 3rd Marquess of Downshire.
She was succeeded according to the special remainder by her second son Lord Arthur Moyses William, the second Baron. He was a Lieutenant-General in the Army and also represented County Down in the House of Commons. He never married and was succeeded by his next brother, the third Baron. He sat as Member of Parliament for Newry and Evesham. In 1861 Lord Sandys assumed by Royal licence the surname of Sandys in lieu of Hill. This line of the family failed on the death of his younger son, the fifth Baron, in 1904. The late Baron was succeeded by his second cousin once removed, the sixth Baron. He was the grandson of Lord George Hill, the fifth son of the first Baroness.
The sixth baron's son, the seventh Baron, succeeded in 1961. Lord Sandys notably served as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard between 1979 and 1983 in the Conservative administration of Margaret Thatcher. However, he lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999. He died on 11 February 2013[5]
and was succeeded in the peerage, under the terms of the special remainder, by the ninth Marquess of Downshire.
The family seat is Ombersley Court in Ombersley near Droitwich in Worcestershire. The house has been up for sale since the death of the previous Lord Sandys.[6] The traditional burial place of the family is the Sandys Mausoleum in the churchyard of St Andrew, Ombersley. When St Andrew's Church was built in its current form between 1825 and 1829, the chancel of the old church was adapted for use as a mausoleum for the Sandys family, who were lords of the manor.[7]
Barons Sandys, of The Vyne, in Hampshire, first creation (1523)
Wills Hill (1718–1793) 1st Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 2nd Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Baron Sandys of Ombersley in the County of Worcester (3rd creation), 1802
Arthur Hill (1753–1801) 2nd Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 3rd Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Arthur Blundell Sandys Trumbull Hill (1788–1845) 3rd Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 4th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Arthur Wills Blundell Sandys Trumbull Windsor Hill (1812–1868) 4th Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 5th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Arthur Wills Blundell Trumbull Sandys Roden Hill (1844–1874) 5th Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 6th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Augustus Frederick Arthur (Hill) Sandys (1840–1904) 4th Baron Sandys
Michael Edwin Marcus (Hill) Sandys (1855–1948) 5th Baron Sandys
Arthur Sandys Hill (1837–1923)
Arthur Wills John Wellington Trumbull Blundell Hill (1871–1918) 6th Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 7th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Arthur Fitzgerald Sandys Hill (1876–1961) 6th Baron Sandys
Arthur Wills Percy Wellington Blundell Trumbull Hill (1894–1989) 7th Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 8th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Lord Arthur Francis Hill (1895–1953)
Arthur "Robin" Ian Hill (1929–2003) 8th Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 9th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin
Arthur Francis "Nicholas" Wills Hill (b. 1959) 9th Marquess of Downshire, Earl of Hillsborough (Ire & GB), Viscount Kilwarlin, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwich, 10th Viscount Hillsborough and Baron Hill of Kilwarlin, 8th Baron Sandys
Banks, Thomas Christopher (1808), The Dormant and Extinct Baronage of England: Or, An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Lives, Public Employments, and Most Memorable Actions of the English Nobility who Have Flourished from the Norman Conquest, J. White, p. 456–857
Burke, John (1846), "Sandys — Barons Sandys, of The Vine", A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance ... England, Henry Colburn, p. 463–464
Further reading
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baron Sandys.
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.