There have been two baronetcies created for people with the surname Heathcote, both in the Baronetage of Great Britain and both created in 1733. The holders of the first creation were later elevated to the peerage as Baron Aveland and Earl of Ancaster, which titles are now extinct. However, both baronetcies are extant as of 2008[update].
His son, the third Earl, represented Rutland and Stamford in the House of Commons and served as Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire. In 1951 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ in acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He succeeded his father later that year. His only son and heir Timothy, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, went missing at sea in 1963. As a result, on Lord Ancaster's death in 1983 the barony of Aveland and earldom became extinct while he was succeeded in the barony of Willoughby de Eresby by his daughter Nancy. The Heathcote Baronetcy also survived, and was inherited by the late Earl's kinsman, the ninth Baronet. He was a descendant of Robert Heathcote, third son of the third Baronet, and was a Brigadier in the British Army. He was succeeded by his son when he died at the age of 100 in 2014. The holder of the Earldom of Ancaster was the senior holder of the Lord Great Chamberlainship. The Hon. Claud Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, second son of the first Earl of Ancaster, was a Conservative politician.
The first Baronet married Lady Elizabeth Parker, only daughter of Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield. The earldom of Macclesfield and its subsidiary title the viscountcy of Parker had been created with remainder, in default of male issue, to the Earl's daughter Elizabeth and the heirs male of her body. As a result, all male-line descendants of Sir William Heathcote and Lady Elizabeth, including the present Baronet, are in special remainder to these peerages.