de la Poer, Gilbert

In 1261, Henry III granted Gilbert the title of first Baron Exham along with the grounds on which stood the Exham Priory. The Priory had been built on the site of a pagan temple of great antiquity. The name Poer is probably a tribute Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's amore, Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman traced her own lineage (maiden name: Power) to Poe via the ancient Celtic-Norman line of Poer of de le Poer. This was reported in Caroline Ticknor's Poe's Helen (Charles Scribners's Sons, 1916), a book which Lovecraft owned.

("The Rats in the Walls")