Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth

Thomas Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth (8 February 1775 – 7 March 1855), known as Sir Thomas Liddell, 6th Baronet, from 1791 to 1821, was a British peer and Tory politician.

Early life

Liddell was the son of Sir Henry Liddell, 5th Baronet, and his wife Elizabeth Steele, a daughter of Thomas Steele of Hampsnett. On 17 July 1821 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Ravensworth, of Ravensworth Castle in the County Palatine of Durham and of Eslington Park in the County of Northumberland.

At Ravensworth, he demolished the old 1724 house in 1808 and replaced it with a substantial mansion in the Gothic style designed by architect John Nash. He also employed George Stephenson from 1804 at his Killingworth colliery and encouraged and financed him in the development of steam power which was vital for the improvement of the efficiency of the wagonways which transported coal from the pit to the River Tyne.

Personal life

On 26 March 1796, Thomas married Maria Susannah Simpson (1773–1845). She was a daughter of John Simpson, of Bradley Hall, Co. Durham, and Lady Anne Lyon. Her maternal grandparents were Thomas Lyon, 8th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Jean Nicholsen. Together, they had twelve children:

Henry Thomas Liddell, 1st Earl of Ravensworth (1797–1878). Maria Liddell (1798–1882), who married Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby. Thomas Liddell (1800–1856), who married Caroline Elizabeth Barrington, daughter of George Barrington, 5th Viscount Barrington. Anne Elizabeth Liddell (1801–1878), who married Sir Hedworth Williamson, 7th Baronet. Their daughter Edith Villiers married Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton. Robert Liddell (1808–1888), who married Emily Ann Charlotte Wellesley, a daughter of Gerald Wellesley and granddaughter of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. Susan Liddell (1810–1886), who married Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke. George Augustus Frederick Liddell (1812–1888), who married Cecil Elizabeth Jane Wellesley, another daughter of Gerald Wellesley and granddaughter of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. Georgiana Liddell (1822–1905), who married John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield, 2nd Baron Bloomfield.

He died in March 1855, aged 80,

In popular media Liddell was portrayed as the character of Lord Ravensworth by actor Terence Alexander in the 1985 Doctor Who serial The Mark of the Rani.

Arms