List of elected hereditary peers under the House of Lords Act 1999
This is a list of hereditary peers elected to serve in the House of Lords under the provisions of the House of Lords Act 1999 and the Standing Orders of the House of Lords. Aside from those holding the office of the Earl Marshal (i.e. the Duke of Norfolk) and, if a peer, the one exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain (currently the Marquess of Cholmondeley), ninety hereditary peers who are not also life peers must be elected by other peers to sit in the Lords. These ninety are either elected by all the sitting members of the Lords to be one of fifteen hereditary deputy speakers, or are one of the remaining seventy-five, elected by one of the political groups of hereditary peers sitting in the House, including the crossbenchers.
The House of Lords Act 1999 excluded hereditary peers except for the two holders of royal offices plus ninety other peers, to be chosen, as agreed from time to time, by the House of Lords. It has, so far, maintained the numbers of the ninety hereditary peers as agreed in 1999: 15 'deputy speakers' of cross-House choice, 42 Conservatives, 28 crossbenchers, three Liberal Democrats, and two Labour peers chosen by the sitting hereditary peers of the relevant political groups.
Political group balance of power among sitting hereditary peers is held by the 15 'deputy speakers'. From time to time the whole house uses its votes for these 'deputy speakers' to reflect its own, whole house composition, looking to the criteria used by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, namely the political group-appointed proportion of the House of Commons including crossbenchers, who are less politically affiliated. In years when the Conservatives do not form the government, there is an in-built Opposition bias, as typically a majority of hereditary peers (and at least 42) will be chosen by conservatives - counterbalanced by the appointment of life peers to other groups and by peers changing group - this is a House-sanctioned vestige of the former, largely hereditary, make-up of Conservative peers who held sway in the upper chamber since 1890. It was this political entrenchment which led to the removal of the absolute power of veto from the House of Lords at the time of the constitution-changing Parliament Act 1911 and was the chief catalyst for the removal of most hereditary peers in 1999.[1]
The total number and means of appointment is a compromise reached between hereditary abolitionist Prime Minister Tony Blair and the most senior Conservative in the Lords, a descendent of the last Prime Minister to sit in the Lords, Viscount Cranborne (now, since his father's death, Marquess of Salisbury). The latter helped to formulate the sub-composition as set out.
The initial elections took place before the House of Lords Act took effect; therefore all hereditary peers could vote in those elections. From the end of the 1998/99 session of parliament until the following session, vacancies (usually triggered by death) were to be filled by runners up in the initial elections. Two Crossbench peers, Lord Cobbold and Lord Chorley, returned to the House this way, having sat before 1999. Since then, vacancies among the deputy speakers have been filled through by-elections, with all members of the House of Lords entitled to vote. In by-elections to fill vacancies in the political groups, only hereditary peers of that group sitting in the House of Lords may vote.
Deputy speakers (i.e. hereditary peers elected by the whole House)
Sitting
Deceased
| Hereditary peer | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Died | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Makgill, 13th Viscount of Oxfuird | Conservative | 1986 | 1999 | 3 January 2003 | ||
| Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare | Conservative | 1957 | 1999 | 23 January 2005 | ||
| David Kenworthy, 11th Baron Strabolgi | Labour | 1953 | 1999 | 24 December 2010 | ||
| Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill | Cross Bench | 1973 | 1999 | 23 April 2011 | ||
| Hugh Mackay, 14th Lord Reay | Conservative | 1963 | 1999 | 10 May 2013 | ||
| Robert Methuen, 7th Baron Methuen | Liberal Democrats | 1994 | 1999 | 9 July 2014 |
Elected by the Conservative hereditary peers
Sitting
Deceased
| Hereditary peer | First Sat | Elected | Replacing | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Vivian, 6th Baron Vivian | 1991 | 1999 | 28 February 2004 | |
| Hugh Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham | 1993 | 1999 | 1 January 2005 | |
| Charles Stourton, 26th Baron Mowbray | 1965 | 1999 | 12 December 2006 | |
| David Carnegie, 14th Earl of Northesk | 1994 | 1999 | 28 March 2010 | |
| Michael Onslow, 7th Earl of Onslow | 1971 | 1999 | 14 May 2011 | |
| Robert Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers | 1954 | 1999 | 13 November 2012 | |
| Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu | 1947 | 1999 | 31 August 2015 | |
Resigned
| Hereditary peer | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Resigned | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arthur Lawson Johnston, 3rd Baron Luke | 1996 | 1999 | 24 June 2015 | 2 October 2015 |
Elected by the Crossbench hereditary peers
Sitting
Deceased
| Hereditary peer | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Robertson, 11th Baroness Wharton | 1990 | 1999 | 15 May 2000 | |
| Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon | 1987 | 1999 | 10 September 2001 | |
| Cherry Drummond, 16th Baroness Strange | 1986 | 1999 | 11 March 2005 | |
| Davina Ingrams, 18th Baroness Darcy de Knayth (Entered the house under the Peerage Act 1963) |
1963 | 1999 | 24 February 2008 | |
| Christopher Bathurst, 3rd Viscount Bledisloe | 1979 | 1999 | 12 May 2009 | |
| Mark Colville, 4th Viscount Colville of Culross | 1954 | 1999 | 8 April 2010 | |
| John Monson, 11th Baron Monson | 1958 | 1999 | 12 February 2011 | |
| John Wilson, 2nd Baron Moran | 1977 | 1999 | 14 February 2014 | |
| Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby | 1984 | 1999 | 3 October 2014 | |
Resigned
| Hereditary peer | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Resigned | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Lytton-Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold (left the house in 1999) |
1987 | 15 October 2000 | Myrtle Robertson, 11th Baroness Wharton | 13 October 2014 | |
| Roger Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley (left the house in 1999) |
1987 | 11 September 2001 | Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon | 17 November 2014 | 21 February 2016 |
| Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun | 1979 | 1999 | 12 December 2014 | ||
| William Lloyd George, 3rd Viscount Tenby | 1983 | 1999 | 1 May 2015 | ||
| David Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (left the house in 1999) |
1976 | 28 June 2005 | Cherry Drummond, 16th Baroness Strange | 23 July 2015 |
Elected by the Liberal Democrats hereditary peers
Sitting
| Hereditary peer | First Sat | Elected | Replacing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dominic Hubbard, 6th Baron Addington | 1982 | 1999 | |
| Patrick Boyle, 10th Earl of Glasgow (left the house in 1999) |
1984 | 25 January 2005 | Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell |
| John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso (left the house in 1999) |
1995 | 19 April 2016 | Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury |
Deceased
| Hereditary peer | First Sat | Elected | Replacing | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell | 1987 | 1999 | 14 October 2004 | |
| Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury | 1971 | 1999 | 14 February 2016 |
Elected by the Labour hereditary peers
Sitting
| Hereditary peer | First sat | Elected | Replacing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolas Rea, 3rd Baron Rea | 1981 | 1999 | |
| Christopher Suenson-Taylor, 3rd Baron Grantchester (left the house in 1999) |
1995 | 4 November 2003 | Michael Milner, 2nd Baron Milner of Leeds |
Deceased
| Hereditary peer | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Milner, 2nd Baron Milner of Leeds | 1967 | 1999 | 20 August 2003 |
See also
- By-elections to the House of Lords
- List of hereditary peers in the House of Lords by virtue of a life peerage
- Primogeniture
- Peerage of the United Kingdom
References
- ↑ Cracknell, Richard (15 June 2000). Lords Reform: The interim House – background statistics; Research Paper 00/61 (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ↑ "House of Lords, Official Website - Viscount Falkland". Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ↑ "Earl Peel". UK Parliament. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ↑ http://www.ukipderbyshire.co.uk/House_of_Lords.asp