Melbourne Hall second Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's Prime Minister, was separated from his wife, Lady Caroline Lamb, in 1825, when her liaison with Lord Byron had become notorious. The house passed into the hands of the Cowper family when Emily Lamb, sister of the childless third and last Viscount Melbourne, married the 5th Earl Cowper. (She later married another Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston.) It remained in the Cowper family until Lady Amabel Cowper married Admiral of the Fleet Lord Walter Kerr who made Melbourne the family home in 1906. The current owner Lord Ralph Kerr also owns Ferniehirst Castle in Scotland. He
Sir Matthew Lamb, 1st Baronet November 1768 and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Peniston, who was raised to the peerage as Viscount Melbourne in 1770. His daughter Charlotte married Henry Belasyse, 2nd Earl Fauconberg. Sir Matthew Lamb, 1st Baronet Sir Matthew Lamb, 1st Baronet (1705 – 6 November 1768) was a British barrister and politician. He was the grandfather of Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Lamb was the son of Matthew Lamb, of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and nephew of Peniston Lamb. His brother was Robert Lamb, bishop of Peterborough. He sat as Member of Parliament for Stockbridge between 1741 and 1747