The peerage conferred upon the Master of the Rolls has been gazetted

 _. The Queen has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 23 December 2020 to confer the dignity of a Barony of the United Kingdom for life upon The Right Honourable Sir Terence Michael Elkan Barnet Etherton, Knight, by the name, style and title of BARON ETHERTON, of Marylebone in the City of Westminster.

Lord Etherton has been Master of the Rolls since 2016. The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Civil Division, and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, Lord Etherton is the second in seniority in England and Wales only to the Lord Chief Justice. The position dates from at least 1286, although it is believed that the office probably existed earlier than that.

The Times (8 Feb 2006) reported that the then High Court Judge Sir Terence Etherton, 54, a Judge of the High Court Chancery Division since 2001, had contracted a civil partnership - aka a gay marriage - with his partner Andrew Stone. In December 2005, it was reported that the Government had given the Garter Principal King of Arms, Peter Gwynn-Jones, until the middle of January to pronounce upon whether or not gays marrying titled partners under the new Civil Partnership Act should receive titles themselves. Gwynn-Jones may bow to pressure from a large faction in the College of Arms which believe that if women receive their husbands' titles, so should homosexuals. It was reported that a compromise was likely to be made so that peers marrying gays or knights will be allowed to style themselves 'The Honourable', while keeping their own surnames. "So, Sir terence's spouse Mr Stone can look forward to styling himself 'The Honourable Andrew Stone', ...unless Mr Gwynn-Jones has ruled otherwise...

-=-