Viscount Mersey

Viscountcy of Mersey
Blazon Quarterly: 1st and 4th grandquarters: Per bend dancetty Azure and Or a Bend invected between three Crosses Patée in chief and as many Horseshoes in base all counterchanged (Bigham);2nd grandquarter:1st and 4th, Ermine, on a Bend Azure, a Magnetic Needle, pointing to the Polar Star Or (Petty); 2nd and 3rd, Argent, a Saltire Gules, and a Chief, Ermine (FitzMaurice); 3rd grandquarter: 1st, Parted per pale Sable and Argent on a Chaplet four Quatrefoils counterchanged (Nairne); 2nd counterquartered: 1st and 4th, Or on a Fess Gules between three Crosses Patée in chief of the second a Mullet Azure in base three Bezants (Mercer); 2nd and 3rd, Argent a Chevron Sable between three Boars' Heads erased Gules (Elphinstone); 3rd counterquartered: 1st and 4th, Paly of six Or and Sable (Atholl); 2nd, Or a Fess chequy Azure and Argent (Stewart); 3rd, Azure three Mullets Argent within a Double Tressure flory counterflory Or (Murray); 4th, Argent three Martlets Sable (de Flahault).
Creation date	22 January 1916
Peerage	Peerage of the United Kingdom
First holder	John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey
Present holder	Edward John Hallam Bigham, 5th Viscount Mersey
Heir presumptive	Hon. David Edward Hugh Bigham
Seat(s)	Bignor Park
Motto	I Advance

Viscount Mersey, of Toxteth in the County Palatine of Lancaster, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1916 for the lawyer and politician John Bigham, 1st Baron Mersey. He had already been created Baron Mersey, of Toxteth in the County Palatine of Lancaster, in 1910, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. His son, the second Viscount, was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords and also served as Liberal Chief Whip in the House of Lords from 1944 to 1949. His son, the third Viscount, married Katherine Petty-Fitzmaurice, 12th Lady Nairne, the eldest daughter of Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne and 10th Lord Nairne. They were both succeeded by their son, the fourth Viscount Mersey and thirteenth Lord Nairne. As of 2017^[update] the titles are held by the latter's son, the fifth Viscount, who succeeded in 2006.

The family seat is Bignor Park, near Pulborough, Sussex.

Viscounts Mersey (1916)

• John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey (1840–1929)
• Charles Clive Bigham, 2nd Viscount Mersey (1872–1956)
• Edward Clive Bigham, 3rd Viscount Mersey (1906–1979)
• Richard Maurice Clive Bigham, 4th Viscount Mersey (1934–2006)
• Edward John Hallam Bigham, 5th Viscount Mersey (b. 1966)

The heir presumptive (to the Mersey but not Nairne titles) is the present holder's uncle Hon. David Edward Hugh Bigham (b. 1938).
The heir presumptive's heir apparent is his son Charles Richard Petty Bigham (b. 1967).
The heir presumptive's heir apparent's heir apparent is his elder son Caspar Patrick Ronan Bigham (b. 1997)

Family tree

Works

• Mersey (Viscount), Charles Clive Bigham (1901). A Year in China, 1899-1900. Macmillan and Company, limited. Retrieved 1 April 2013.

See also

• Lord Nairne

Notes

References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, ^{[page needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Richard Maurice Clive Bigham, 4th Viscount Mersey
• The Mersey Manuscripts are held at the Parliamentary Archives