Sir Gerard Noel Noel, 2nd Baronet (17 July 1759 – 25 February 1838), of Welham Grove in Leicestershire and Exton Park in Rutland, known as Gerard Edwards (or Edwardes) until 1798, was an English Member of Parliament.
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Background
Gerard Noel was born Gerard Noel Edwardes at Tickencote, Rutland, on 17 July 1759. He was the son of Gerald Edwards of Welham Grove and Lady Jane Noel, daughter of Baptist Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough. His father was the illegitimate son of the tycoon Mary Edwardes and Lord Anne Hamilton, younger son of James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton. He was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge.
Career
Noel became partner in a Westminster banking house. He entered Parliament in 1784 as member for Maidstone. However, on the death of his cousin, Thomas Noel, MP for Rutland, he resigned so as to be elected for that county (where the Noels had regularly held one of the seats for centuries). He represented Rutland (in two spells) for well over forty years. Initially a supporter of Pitt the Younger, he was one of a group of MPs who in 1788 tried to form a third party independent of both Pitt and Charles James Fox; in later years, however, he was a consistent Tory.
In 1798 he inherited the estates of his uncle, Henry Noel, 6th Earl of Gainsborough (though not the peerage, which could not pass through the female line), and changed his surname to Noel by royal licence. He served as High Sheriff of Rutland for 1812.
Personal life and death
Noel married three times. His first marriage, in 1780, was to Diana Middleton (d. 1823), daughter of Captain Charles Middleton, the Comptroller of the Navy. The following year Middleton was created a baronet, with a special remainder to his new son-in-law should he have no sons of his own. Middleton later became First Lord of the Admiralty and was raised to a peerage as Lord Barham with a special remainder for the barony to his daughter. Lord Barham died on 17 June 1813 without male issue, and Noel consequently inherited his baronetcy, while Noel's wife inherited the peerage. They had eighteen children:
Charles Noel Noel (1781–1866), MP, who succeeded to his mother's barony and his father's baronetcy, later created Earl of Gainsborough
Rev. Gerard Thomas Noel (1782–1851), a canon of Winchester, and father of Caroline Maria Noel (1817–77), author of the hymn "At the Name of Jesus".
Major Horace Noel (1783–1807)
Henry Robert Noel (1784–1800)
William Middleton Noel (1789–1859), MP for Rutland 1838-1840
Captain Frederic Noel (1790–1833), a naval officer
Rev. Francis James Noel (1793–1854), Rector of Teston and Nettlestead in Kent
Berkeley Octavius Noel (1794–1841)
Rev. Leland Noel (1797–1870), Vicar of Exton and Rector of Horn
Baptist Wriothesley Noel (1799–1873)
Louisa Elizabeth Noel (d. 1816), who married the banker William Henry Hoare (d. 1819)
Emma Noel (d. 1873), who married Stafford O'Brien (d. 1864)