Baptist Hicks was a wealthy textile merchant in London and also represented Tavistock and Tewkesbury in the House of Commons.

In 1627 he was created a baronet, of Campden in the County of Gloucester, with remainder to heirs male of his body.

On Lord Campden's death the baronetcy became extinct while he was succeeded in the barony and viscountcy according to the special remainder by his son-in-law, the second Viscount.

His grandfather, Charles Middleton was an Admiral in the Royal Navy and also served as First Lord of the Admiralty.

In 1781 he was created a baronet, of the Navy,[2] with remainder to his son-in-law Gerard Edwardes (who assumed the surname of Noel by Royal licence in 1798) and in 1805 he was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Barham, of Barham Court and of Teston in the County of Kent, with remainder to his daughter Diana, wife of the aforementioned Gerard Edwardes.

Sir Gerard Noel sat in the House of Commons for nearly fifty years, representing Maidstone and Rutland.

Lord Barham was succeeded secondly in the barony according to the special remainder by his daughter Diana, the second Baroness.

Baptist Wriothesley Noel, tenth son of the second Baronet and Lady Barham, was an evangelical clergyman.

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Henry Robert Anthony Noel, Viscount Campden (born 1977).