The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Frankish baro meaning "freeman, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."
Baron is the lowest rank in the peerage
In the British peerage system, baron is the lowest rank in the peerage. A female of baronial rank has the honorific “baroness.” A baron may hold a barony (plural baronies), if the title relates originally to a feudal barony by tenure, although such tenure is now obsolete in England.
William I introduced "baron" as a rank into England to distinguish the men who had pledged their loyalty to him. Previously, in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England, the king's companions held the title of earls and in Scotland, the title of thane. All who held their barony "in chief of the king" (that is, directly from William and his successors) became alike barones regis (barons of the king), bound to perform a stipulated service, and welcome to attend his council.
Within a century of the Norman Conquest, as in Thomas Becket's case (1164), there arose the practice of sending to each greater baron a special summons to the council that evolved into the House of Lords, while the lesser barons, Magna Carta (1215) stipulated, would receive summons only in general, through the sheriffs. Thus appeared a definite distinction, which eventually had the effect of restricting to the greater barons the rights and privileges of peerage.
Later, the sovereign could create a new barony in one of two ways: by a writ of summons directing someone to Parliament, or by letters patent. Writs of summons featured in medieval times, but creation by letters patent has become the norm. Baronies thus no longer directly relate to land ownership.
In the twentieth century Britain introduced the concept of non-hereditary life peers. All appointees to this distinction have taken place at the rank of baron. In addition, Baronies are often subsidiary titles, thus being used as courtesy titles by the eldest sons of earls.
Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven
Margaret Thatcher is to date Britain’s only female Prime Minster. A position she held from 1979-1990 when she handed over the reins to her Conservatice Party successor John Major. Margarte Thatcher is one of the 20th Century’s leading political figures.
Margaret Thatcher was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. She attended Oxford University where she studied both Law and Chemistry.
Her political career took off when she was elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for Finchley in north London in 1959. Thatcher spent the next eleven years working her way up the Conservative while the Labour party held the Prime Ministerial post in the UK. When Conservative Party leader Edward Heath became Prime Minster in 1970 he appointed Margaret Thatcher secretary of education.
In 1974, to much surprise, Margaret Thatcher beat Edward Heath to become leader of the Conservative Party and in 1979 became Prime Minister after beating the Labour party in the general election.
Her time as Prime Minister is seen by many with mixed views. She was strongly anti communist and forged a close alliance with US President Ronal Reagan. It was this stance against the Soviets which created her nickname, the “Iron Lady”.
Under her leadership Britain won the Falkland’s war in 1982 which led, in part to her reelection the following year. However, during the three terms Thatcher was Prime Minister unemployment rose and during the latter part of her premiership Thatcher attempted to introduce some controversial policies which made her lose favour. She bowed out of the position in 1990 and was succeeded by John Major.
External Links:
Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/thatcher.html
Margaret Thatcher Foundation http://www.margaretthatcher.org/
Government website profile http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page126.asp
Biographies
I've added a couple of selected biographies - I'll be adding more when I can.
