The title was created by writ, which means that it can descend through both male and female lines.

The first Baron served as Earl Marshal of England but was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The barony remained dormant until 1678, when Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet, was allowed to claim the peerage and became the fifteenth Baron de Clifford.

He was the son of Lady Margaret Sackville, daughter of the aforementioned Anne Clifford.

He was the grandson of Lady Catherine Tufton, eldest daughter of the sixth Earl of Thanet.

In 1935 Edward Russell, 26th Baron de Clifford became the last peer to be tried in the House of Lords for a felony, manslaughter, the result of a car accident.

[6] As of 2018[update], the title is held by his grandson Miles Russell, 28th Baron de Clifford.