Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham

Born on 18 September 1762 at Barham Court, Teston in Kent, her parents were Margaret (née Gambier) and Charles Middleton,^[1] an admiral who was created Baron Barham, of Barham Court and Teston in the County of Kent in May 1805.^[2][3] They were Calvinist Methodists, whose friends included religious writer and philanthropist Hannah More, cleric George Whitefield, and politician and abolitionist William Wilberforce.^[4]

She was married on 21 December 1780 to Gerard Edwardes, who was a Cambridge-educated banker and member of Parliament.^[1][5] In 1798, he inherited the estates of his uncle, Henry Noel, 6th Earl of Gainsborough, and changed his surname to Noel.^[5] They had eighteen children,^[1] one of whom, Baptist Wriothesley Noel, stated that his parents' home "combined whig politics, evangelical devotion, aristocratic unconventionality, and strong-mindedness in a potent blend".^[6]

Gerard's estates, worth £20,800 a year and consisting of 15,000 acres, were put into trust due to the poor state of financial management by 1816.^[6]

When her father died in 1813, as the only child, she became 2nd Baroness Barham by a special remainder.^[2] That year, having found her husband to be a "profligate and eccentric husband", she moved to Fairy Hill, Gower, and began funding the construction of free schools as well as four Independent and two Calvinist Methodist churches.^[1][6] She was also an abolitionist and was friends with Samuel Johnson.^[2]

She died at Fairy Hill on 12 April 1823 and was buried at Teston.^[1] Her son Charles became Lord Barham. He had the chapels transferred to trustees.^[1] Her correspondence is archived with that of the Noel family at the Record Office of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland^[7] and photographs related to her life are held at the Chipping Campden History Society.^[8]