Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history.

The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I.

His son, William, successfully had the attainder reversed in 1662, becoming the second earl, but died without heirs in 1695 when the barony of Wentworth, viscountcy and earldom became extinct.

He was succeeded in the barony of Raby according to a special remainder by his first cousin once removed, Thomas Wentworth, who became the third Baron.

While gaining the barony, he did not receive the Woodhouse estate, which was inherited by Thomas Watson, thereafter a source of rivalry between the two men.

[1] In 1711, the earldom was recreated when the 3rd Baron Raby was created Viscount Wentworth and Earl of Strafford in the Peerage of Great Britain.

[1][3] The title was created for a third time in 1847 in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, when the prominent soldier John Byng, 1st Baron Strafford, was made Viscount Enfield, of Enfield in the County of Middlesex, and Earl of Strafford.

Family homes are divided up among its branches but Wrotham Park, historically in Middlesex but now Hertfordshire, and a 17th-century one-storey plus attic cottage in Vernhams Dean, Hampshire have become arguably established seats.

[9][1] He succeeded to the peerages, including those of Viscount Enfield (1847) and Baron Strafford (1835) on 12 November 2016.