[1] It was created in 1929 for the lawyer and Conservative politician Douglas Hogg, 1st Baron Hailsham, who twice served as Lord High Chancellor of the Great Britain.

He was succeeded by his son, Quintin Hogg, who became the second Viscount, who was also a prominent lawyer and Conservative politician.

However, in 1970 he accepted a life peerage as Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, of Herstmonceux in the County of Sussex,[4] and returned to the House of Lords, and like his father served twice as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom.

The first and second Viscounts Hailsham are the only father and son ever to both serve as Lord Chancellor.

On his death in 2001, he was succeeded in the hereditary barony and viscountcy by his son, the third Viscount.