It was created on 16 April 1868 for Sir John Walsh, 2nd Baronet, the long-standing former Member of Parliament for Sudbury and Radnorshire.
His son John Benn was in the service of the Honourable East India Company and represented Bletchingley in the House of Commons.
Lord Ormathwaite also held several positions at the Royal court, notably as Master of the Ceremonies from 1907 to 1920.
The sixth and last Baron Ormathwaite was a farmer and landowner, who owned the Pen-y-Bont Hall Estate, near Oswestry, Shropshire.
As late as in 1937 the Ormathwaite Estate comprised some 28000 acres of land, primarily in Radnorshire and other parts of the Welsh Borders.