Earl of Middlesex was a title that was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1622 for Lionel Cranfield, 1st Baron Cranfield, the Lord High Treasurer. He had already been created Baron Cranfield, of Cranfield in the County of Bedford, the year before, also in the Peerage of England. He was succeeded by his elder son, the second Earl. On his early death in 1651 the titles passed to his younger brother, the third Earl. The titles became extinct when the latter died childless in 1674.