The Lords Grey of Codnor are senior lineal representatives of the noble house of Grey, and as hereditary peers are eligible for election to a seat in the House of Lords. They descend from the eldest son of Henry de Grey, whose younger son Sir John de Grey was father of the first Baron Grey de Wilton. The first Baron Grey of Ruthyn was son of a younger son of the 2nd Baron Grey de Wilton, and Sir John Grey of Groby, descended from a younger son of the 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, was the ancestor of the last known male-line branch of the ancient Greys, who held and lost the titles of Marquess of Dorset and Duke of Suffolk before being created Baron Grey of Groby and then Earl of Stamford before extinction in 1976. The last Earl was coincidentally seated at Dunham Massey, near High Legh.