Family History ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT- “How the Other Half Lived” - Part 3

Intrigued that there is a Jesson who is a Baron, I wanted to explore this Baron line further.

Baron Audley is a title in the Peerage of England, first created in 1313 for Sir Nicholas Audley of Heighley Castle. The title has passed down over the centuries moving to the Thickness family and Touchet family (through the female line).

The ‘Baron’ line came into the Jesson family when Charlotte Anne Thickness-Touchet married Thomas Jesson in 1875. Although Charlotte wasn’t a baroness, her cousin Mary Thickness-Touchet was the 22nd Baroness.  Mary died in 1942, a spinster and had no surviving siblings. The title went into abeyance until it was picked up again in 1937 by Thomas and Charlotte’s son, Thomas Percy Henry Touchet-Jesson (Mary’s second cousin). He became the 23rd Baron of Audley. On his death the baronage went to his sister and later their cousin, Richard Souter. Since his death in 1999 the title is in abeyance. Who knows, maybe I can claim the title one day!