Maurice Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge health in November 1857. On 26 February 1861, after inheriting his brother's estates, Berkeley unsuccessfully claimed the Barony of Berkeley as being one by tenure of Berkeley Castle. He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 28 June 1861 and was created Baron FitzHardinge, of the city and county of Bristol on 3 August 1861. He was promoted to full admiral on 15 January 1862 and died at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire on 17 October 1867. In 1823 Berkeley married Lady Charlotte Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond; after his first
Baron Berkeley was created Viscount Berkeley in 1481, Earl of Nottingham in 1483, and Marquess of Berkeley in 1488. He had no surviving male issue, so the Marquessate and his other non-inherited titles became extinct on his death in 1491, whilst the barony passed "de jure" to his younger brother Maurice. However William had disinherited Maurice because he considered him to have brought shame on the noble House of Berkeley by marrying beneath his status to Isabel, daughter of Philip Mead of Wraxhall, an Alderman and Mayor of Bristol. Instead he bequeathed the castle, lands and lordships comprising the Barony of Berkeley