Stansgate's eldest son and heir apparent, Michael Benn, was later killed in the Second World War.

Consequently, he was succeeded in the title by his second son, the Labour politician Tony Benn, who disclaimed the peerage on 31 July 1963, the day the Peerage Act 1963 passed into law and made it possible for him to do so.

Stansgate is a hamlet near the village of Steeple, Essex, on the southern side of the River Blackwater estuary.

[4] They live in Stansgate Abbey,[5] described by Chris Mullin as "an ungainly, rambling 1920s house in a stunning location".

[6] The heir apparent is the present holder's son, the Hon.