[Illustration] The pedigree of this family does not appear to be
_proved_ beyond William Sherard, who died in 1304. His ancestors,
however, are said to have been of Thornton, in Cheshire, in the
thirteenth century. In 1402 the family were established at
Stapleford in Leicestershire by marriage with the heiress of
Hawberk.
On the decease of Robert Sherard, sixth Earl of Harborough, in 1859,
the representation of the family devolved upon the present lord,
descended from George, third son of the first Baron.
See Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. ii. pt. i. 343; and Brydges's
Collins, iv. 180,
An extinct younger branch was of Lopthorne, in the county of
Leicester.
ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron gules between three torteauxes_.
Present Representative, Philip Castell Sherard, 9th Baron
Sherard.