Lords Cramond (1628)
1st Lord (Lady) Cramond, Elizabeth Richardson, b.1576-1577,
a.1628, d.1651
Elizabeth Beaumont was the daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont of Stoughton
Grange (b.?, d.1614) and Catharine Farnham (b.1558, d.1621). She married Sir
John Ashburnham (b.c.1572, d.1620), and their son, also John Ashburnham
(b.1603, d.1671) became an MP and Groom of the Bedchamber to both Charles I and
Charles II. On the death of her husband, she was aided by her cousin Mary
Villiers (nee Beaumont), Countess of Buckingham, mother of George Villiers, 1st
Duke of Buckingham. Mixing with courtiers, she then married Sir Thomas
Richardson of Honington (b.1569, d.1634-1635), who would later become Lord
Chief Justice of England and Wales, and he used his influence to obtain a title
for his wife, it being highly unusual as being the only instance of a title in
the Peerage of Scotland to be granted to a woman, and also because the
remainder was to heirs-male of his own son, also Thomas Richardson (b.?,
d.1642-1643). In 1645 she published a collection of prayers, and seems to have
written extensively throughout her life though little else was published.
2nd Lord Cramond, Thomas Richardson, b.1627, a.1651, d.1674
Step-grandson of Lady Cramond, being the grandson of her second husband Thomas
Richardson and his first wife Ursula Southwell, and son of Thomas Richardson,
Master of Cramond and Elizabeth Hewett (b.?, d.1639-1640), daughter of Sir
William Hewett of Pishiobury. He served as an MP for Norfolk from 1660 to 1674.
3rd Lord Cramond, Henry Richardson, b.1650, a.1674, d.c.1701
Son of the 2nd Lord and Anne Gurney (b.1630, d.1697-1698),
daughter of Sir Richard Gurney, Baronet and Lord Mayor of London.
4th Lord Cramond, William Richardson, b.1654, a.1701, d.1719
Younger brother of the 3rd Lord.
5th Lord Cramond, William Richardson, b.1715, a.1719, d.1635
Son of the 4th Lord and his second wife Elizabeth Daniel
(b.c.1685, d.1722). He died unmarried and title became extinct.
The courtesy title for the heir was Master of Cramond.
The title Lord of Cramond was later used by Charles Kerr, a son of
Robert Kerr, 1st Marquess of Lothian,
though this is not seen as belonging to the peerage.
(Last updated: 02/03/2011)