Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham

Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham (18 September 1762 – 12 April 1823) was a peer, philanthropist and an abolitionist who established schools and churches on the Gower Peninsula.

Diana Noel

Early life

Born on 18 September 1762 at Barham Court, Teston in Kent, her parents were Margaret (née Gambier) and Charles Middleton,[1] an admiral who was created Baron Barham, of Barham Court and Teston in the County of Kent in May 1805.[2][3] They were Calvinist Methodists, whose friends included religious writer and philanthropist Hannah More, cleric George Whitefield, and politician and abolitionist William Wilberforce.[4]

Marriage

She was married on 21 December 1780 to Gerard Edwardes, who was a Cambridge-educated banker and member of Parliament.[1][5] In 1798, he inherited the estates of his uncle, Henry Noel, 6th Earl of Gainsborough, and changed his surname to Noel.[5] They had eighteen children,[1] one of whom, Baptist Wriothesley Noel, stated that his parents' home "combined whig politics, evangelical devotion, aristocratic unconventionality, and strong-mindedness in a potent blend".[6]

Gerard's estates, worth £20,800 a year and consisting of 15,000 acres, were put into trust due to the poor state of financial management by 1816.[6]

Baroness Barham
Bethesda Chapel in Burry Green was built in 1813 or 1814 by Diana, Baroness Barham

When her father died in 1813, as the only child, she became 2nd Baroness Barham by a special remainder.[2] That year, having found her husband to be a "profligate and eccentric husband", she moved to Fairy Hill, Gower, and began funding the construction of free schools as well as four Independent and two Calvinist Methodist churches.[1][6] She was also an abolitionist and was friends with Samuel Johnson.[2]

She died at Fairy Hill on 12 April 1823 and was buried at Teston.[1] Her son Charles became Lord Barham. He had the chapels transferred to trustees.[1] Her correspondence is archived with that of the Noel family at the Record Office of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland[7] and photographs related to her life are held at the Chipping Campden History Society.[8]

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References
  1. Carter, Grayson (23 September 2004). "Noel [formerly Edwardes; née Middleton], Diana, suo jure Baroness Barham". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001 (inactive 22 January 2020). Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  2. "Charles Middleton 1st Lord Barham". More than Nelson. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  3. John Bernard Burke (1845). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. H. Colburn. p. 421.
  4. Iorworth Hughes Jones (1956). "Lady Barham in Gower". Gower. 9: 2–3. hdl:10107/1273335.
  5. "Edwards (post Noel), Gerald Noel (EDWS776GN)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  6. "Sir Gerard Noel Noel 2nd Bart". Legacies of British Slave-ownership database. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  7. "Middleton, Diana (1762-1823) Baroness Barham, wife of Sir Gerard Noel, 2nd Baronet". The National Archives. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  8. "Lady Barham, Fairy Hill, Gower. Photographs and article". Chipping Campden History Society archive. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Charles Middleton		 Baroness Barham
1813-1823		 Succeeded by
Charles Noel


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