In the 19th century the Manor of Over Hall in Gestingthorpe was the home of the Oates family, whose most famous son, Captain Lawrence Oates, was born in Putney, London on 16 March 1880.
He succeeded Lord Slynn of Hadley GBE as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2002 and was created a Life Peer as Baron Walker of Gestingthorpe, of Gestingthorpe in the County of Essex.