Records suggest that Haveringland has had a Lord of the Manor almost as far back as Roman times.
The title of Baron de Ramsey was created in 1887 for Edward Fellowes, who had represented Huntingdonshire in the House of Commons as a Conservative for 43 years.
1st Baron de Ramsey – Edward Fellowes (1809 – 1887)
Photo: Edward Fellowes, early 1880s from a carte de visite; Credit: National Portrait Gallery; Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence
Edward Fellowes inherited the Fellowes estate in Ramsey from his father in 1837, which was the same year he was returned as the Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire. He served as MP until 1880.
He was created the 1st Baron De Ramsey in 1887, a title he enjoyed for only one month until his death at the age of 79.
2nd Baron de Ramsey – William Henry Fellowes (1848-1925)
Photo: William Henry Fellowes; Credit: Abbots Ripton Estate; Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence
William Henry Fellowes was the eldest son of the first Baron. He sat as Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire and Ramsey and later served as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1890 to 1892 during the Conservative administration of Lord Salisbury. He purchased a commission as a cornet in the Life Guards in 1867 and retired as a captain ten years later in 1877.
William Henry Fellowes married Lady Rosamond Jane Frances Spencer-Churchill, daughter of John Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, in 1877. Therefore he was the brother-in-law of Lord Randolph Churchill and the uncle (through marriage) of Winston Churchill. As well as living in Haveringland Hall, they also had a London home in Grosvenor Square.
In 1914 he went to Germany to consult an eye specialist, accompanied by his son, Reginald. Both were interned at the outset of war. He was interned for 15 months, his son was held for the duration of the war. They were released during the war, thanks to the efforts of Lady Williams, Hindenberg’s daughter in law.
William Henry eventually lost his sight. There are many stories about the “blind Lord de Ramsey”. He was often led to his favourite seat in the carnation house. He held grand parties at Haveringland Hall. Apparently forty of his staff from Haveringland Hall attended church each Sunday.
Lady Rosamond died in December 1920 at Haveringland Hall. Her remains were taken by a special train from Cawston to Ramsey for burial at the family seat.
Lord de Ramsey survived her by five years and died in May 1925, aged 76.
Captain Coulson Fellowes, son of the second baron, died of lung disease in 1915 following active service in France. And so William Henry was succeeded in the barony by his grandson Ailwyn Edward Fellowes.
3rd Baron de Ramsey – Ailwyn Edward Fellowes (1910 – 1993)
Photo: Ailwyn Edward Fellowes; Credit: Abbots Ripton Estate; Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence
Ailwyn Edward Fellowes was the son of the Honourable Coulson Churchill Fellowes (1883–1915), and grandson of William Fellowes, 2nd Baron de Ramsey.
Ailwyn Edward inherited the title at the age of fifteen since his father had died while on active service in the First World War. However he lived at the family seat of Ramsey Abbey. In 1931, when he came of age, the trustees of the estate decided to vacate Haveringland Hall and Ramsay Abbey and made Abbots Ripton Hall the family seat.
He fought in World War II and was a Battery Captain in the Royal Artillery when the regiment was captured at the Fall of Singapore. Ailwyn Edward Fellowes was taken a Prisoner of War of the Japanese for the rest of the war. He was subsequently awarded the Territorial Decoration.
In 1947 de Ramsey was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire, a position that was renamed Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough in 1965. He continued to hold the office until 1968.
In 1974 his service to agriculture was acknowledged and he was made a Knight of the British Empire. Lord de Ramsey sat in the House of Lords between 1931 and 1993.
Ailwyn Edward Fellowes died in 1993 and was succeeded by his son John.
4th Baron de Ramsey – John Ailwyn Fellowes
John Ailwyn Fellowes, the current Baron de Ramsey, succeeded in 1993. He was born in 1942, the elder son of Ailwyn Fellowes, 3rd Baron de Ramsey. He is married and has four children. The family lives at Abbots Ripton Hall, Huntingdonshire.
He has maintained the Fellowes interest in the countryside, serving on local and national bodies associated with agriculture, drainage, plant science and the Environment. He was the first Chairman of the Environment Agency of England and Wales. He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by Cranfield University, and is currently the President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
Haveringland Chronicles 