Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Earl of Cranbrook is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1892 for Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, Viscount Cranbrook. The title is named after Cranbrook in the county of Kent. The Gathorne-Hardy family seat is Great Glemham House, near Saxmundham, Suffolk. 
History.
It was created in 1892 for the prominent Conservative politician Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Viscount Cranbrook, son of John Hardy. He notably held office as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for India. Gathorne-Hardy gained the warm-personal regard of Queen Victoria, and had already been created Viscount Cranbrook, of Hemsted in the County of Kent, in 1878, and was made Baron Medway, of Hemsted in the County of Kent, at the same time he was given the earldom. The latter title is used as a courtesy title for the Earl's eldest son and heir apparent.
Lord Cranbrook's eldest son, the second Earl, represented Rye, Mid Kent and Medway in the House of Commons as a Conservative. His son, the third Earl, was gazetted as an officer and private secretary New Zealand.
John David Gathorne-Hardy, 4th Earl of Cranbrook (who was previously married to his cousin Bridget D'Oyly Carte) married Fidelity Seebohm (born 1912), on 26 July 1932 and had five children, including Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook, the current earl.
As of 2010[ [update]] the titles are held by Gathorne, the fifth Earl, who succeeded his father in 1978. He is a zoologist and environmental biologist formerly active in Malaya, who was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal in 1995. He was Chairman of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.
Notable family members.
Hon. Alfred Gathorne-Hardy, third son of the first Earl, sat as a Member of Parliament for Canterbury and East Grinstead. Lady Margaret Evelyn Gathorne-Hardy, daughter of the first Earl, was the wife of the 2nd Viscount Goschen, Viceroy of India.
Hon. Edward Gathorne-Hardy, second son of the third Earl, was a traveller, botanist and socialite who lived in Athens. He was famously eccentric and rumoured to have been in a relationship with Anthony Eden. Dorothy Milner Gathorne-Hardy, daughter of the third Earl, was the wife of Rupert D'Oyly Carte. Another member of the family was the writer Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, a son of Hon. Anthony Gathorne-Hardy, youngest son of the third Earl.
Earls of Cranbrook (1892).
The heir apparent is the present holder's son (John) Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Lord Medway (b. 1968).
Notes.
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