[2] The title was created in January 1781 for Bernard Ward, 1st Baron Bangor, who had previously represented County Down in the Irish House of Commons.

[3] His son, the second Viscount, sat as a member of the Irish Parliament for Bangor and was declared insane.

His eldest son, the fourth Viscount, sat in the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer from 1855 to 1881.

[1] His son, the sixth Viscount, was an Irish Representative Peer between 1913 and 1950 and also sat in the Senate of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1950 and served as its Speaker from 1930 to 1950.

As of 2017[update], the titles are held by his grandson, the eighth Viscount, who succeeded his father, journalist Edward Ward, in 1993.