It was created in 1800 for Sir Alan Gardner, an Admiral of the Blue and former Member of Parliament for Plymouth and Westminster.

In 1806, he was also created Baron Gardner, of Uttoxeter in the County of Stafford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

In 1815, it was announced that he was to be created a viscount, but Lord Gardner died before the patent had passed the Great Seal.

He was a Whig politician and served as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1837 to 1841.

It has been suggested by William Dalrymple that the current heir to the barony is from the Gardner family of Khasgunge (now Kasganj), Uttar Pradesh, India.