Dyke baronets


The Dyke Baronetcy, of Horeham in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 3 March 1677 for Thomas Dyke, Commissioner of Public Accounts and Member of Parliament for Sussex and East Grinstead. The 2nd Baronet married Anne Hart, daughter and heiress of Percival Hart. In 1836 the 5th Baronet unsuccessfully claimed the barony of Braye, of which peerage he was a co-heir through the Hart family. The 7th Baronet was a successful Conservative politician.
Percyvall Hart Dyke, grandson of Reverend Thomas Hart Dyke, second son of the 5th Baronet, was a Colonel in the Indian Army. His son Trevor Hart Dyke was a Brigadier in the Queen's Royal Regiment. David Hart Dyke, son of Reverend Eric Hart Dyke, son of the aforementioned Colonel Percyvall Hart Dyke, is a retired Captain in the Royal Navy and commanded during the Falklands War.

Dyke family

The Dyke family originated at Dykesfield, Cumberland, before the Norman Conquest and branches later settled at Henfield in Sussex and at Cranbrook in Kent. Reginald de Dike of Cranbrook was Sheriff of Kent in 1355. Thomas Dyke of Cranbrook married Joan Walsh, heiress of the manor of Horeham in the parish of Waldron in Sussex, which thus passed to the Dykes.

Somerset branch

Another prominent branch of the Dyke family, which uses the same arms, was a major landholder in Somerset in the 17th and 18th centuries, with branches seated at Tetton, Holnicote and Pixton. The heiress of all these branches was Elizabeth Dyke, daughter of Thomas Dyke of Tetton, who married Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet, of Killerton in Devon and Petherton Park in Somerset, who in accordance with the terms of his wife's "princely inheritance" adopted the additional surname of Dyke.

Present day

In 2015 the holder of the title was the 10th Baronet, who lives in Canada, and who in 2008 stood in the 40th Canadian General Election as the Green Party candidate for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, Ontario. He is unmarried and the heir presumptive to the baronetcy is his first cousin Tom Hart Dyke.

Dyke baronets, of Horeham (1677)

The heir presumptive to the baronetcy is Thomas Guy Hart Dyke, first cousin of the 10th baronet and grandson of the eighth baronet.