It was created 22 January 1900 for the banker, politician and archaeologist Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet.
On his death the titles passed to his nephew, the third Baron.
The fourth baron was a Liberal Democrat politician and one of the ninety excepted hereditary peers who remained in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999.
He was succeeded according to the special remainder by his nephew William, who became the second Baronet.
His grandson, the aforementioned fourth Baronet, was elevated to the peerage as Baron Avebury in 1900.