Peerage_of_the_United_Kingdom

Peerage of the United Kingdom

Peerage of the United Kingdom

Ranks of nobility in the United Kingdom

The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain. New peers continued to be created in the Peerage of Ireland until 1898 (the last creation was the Barony of Curzon of Kedleston)

The House of Lords Act 1999 reformed the House of Lords. Until then, all peers of the United Kingdom were automatically members of the House of Lords. However, from that date, most of the hereditary peers ceased to be members, whereas the life peers retained their seats. All hereditary peers of the first creation (i.e. those for whom a peerage was originally created, as opposed to those who inherited a peerage), and all surviving hereditary peers who had served as Leader of the House of Lords, were offered a life peerage to allow them to continue to sit in the House, should they wish.

Peers in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Ireland did not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords following the Acts of Union of 1707 and 1800, though the law permitted a limited number to be elected by their fellows to serve in the House of Lords as representative peers. Some peerages of the United Kingdom were created to get around this obstacle and allow certain Scottish and Irish peers to enjoy the automatic right to sit in the House of Lords[1][2][lower-alpha 1][4][5][lower-alpha 2]

Key

Non-partisan   Royal Family/Household
  Civil Service
  Clergy
  HM judiciary
  Commonwealth judiciary
  Privy Counsellor of the United Kingdom/Ireland/Northern Ireland
Partisan   Conservative Party
  Independent politician
  Irish Unionist Alliance
  Labour Party
  Liberal Party
  Liberal Unionist Party
  National Liberal Party
  Scottish Unionist Party
  Speaker of the House of Commons
  Tory Party
  Ulster Unionist Party
  Whig Party
  Commonwealth politician
  Other politician

Ranks

The ranks of the peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron[7]

The last non-royal dukedom was created in 1874, and the last marquessate was created in 1936. Creation of the remaining ranks, except baronies for life, mostly ceased once Harold Wilson's Labour government took office in 1964, and only fourteen (nine non-royal and five royal) people have been created hereditary peers since then. These were:

More information Grantee, Date of Creation ...

Dukes in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

See also: List of dukedoms in the peerages of Britain and Ireland § Dukedoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, 1801 to present
  •   Subsidiary title.
  •   Peerage of the United Kingdom created for a Peer of Scotland or Ireland to have an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
More information Shield, Title ...

Marquesses in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

See also: List of marquessates in the peerages of Britain and Ireland § Marquessates in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, 1801 to present
  •   Subsidiary title.
  •   Peerage of the United Kingdom created for a Peer of Scotland or Ireland to have an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
More information Shield, Title ...

Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

See also: List of earldoms § Earldoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, 1801 to present
  •   Subsidiary title.
  •   Peerage of the United Kingdom created for a Peer of Scotland or Ireland to have an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
More information Shield, Title ...

Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

See also: List of viscountcies in the peerages of Britain and Ireland § Viscountcies in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, 1801–present
  •   Subsidiary title.
  •   Peerage of the United Kingdom created for a Peer of Scotland or Ireland to have an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
More information Shield, Title ...

Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

See also: List of hereditary baronies in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
  •   Subsidiary title.
  •   Peerage of the United Kingdom created for a Peer of Scotland or Ireland to have an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
More information Shield, Title ...

Extinct peerages since the Passage of the House of Lords Act 1999

Extinct dukedoms

More information Shield, Title ...

Extinct earldoms

More information Shield, Title ...

Extinct viscountcies

More information Shield, Title ...

Extinct baronies

More information Shield, Title ...

Current titles without heirs

Current UK Peers

More information Title, Monarch ...

Current Scottish and Irish peers with British titles

More information Title, Imperial Title ...

Peerages in remainder to other Peerages

  •   Subsidiary title.
More information Current Peerage, In Remainder ...

Titles

See also: Forms of address in the United Kingdom

Marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons are all addressed as 'Lord X', where 'X' represents either their territory or surname pertaining to their title. Marchionesses, countesses, viscountesses and baronesses are all addressed as 'Lady X'. Dukes and duchesses are addressed just as 'Duke' or 'Duchess' or, in a non-social context, 'Your Grace'

Lists of peers

See also

Notes

  1. The Peerage Act 1963 gave Scottish Peers an automatic right to sit in the Lords[3]
  2. Following the establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922, Irish peers ceased to elect representatives, although those already elected continued to have the right to serve for life; the last of the temporal peers, Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey, by chance a peer from an Ulster family, died in 1961[6]
  3. Originally created for Alexander Duff, Earl of Fife on his wedding day to Princess Louise of Wales on 29 July 1889[note 1]
  1. [N 1]
    Current Peerage with Special Remainder according to the link
  2. [N 2]
    Scottish Representative Peer
  3. [N 3]
    3rd son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
  4. [N 4]
    2nd son of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland
  5. [N 5]
    3rd son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
  6. [N 6]
    4th son of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington
  7. [N 7]
    2nd son of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford
  8. [N 8]
    2nd son of Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre
  9. [N 9]
    2nd son of Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer
  10. [N 10]
    Grandson of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale
  11. [N 11]
    Grandson of George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl of Bradford
  12. [N 12]
    Eldest son of Walter Runciman, 1st Baron Runciman
  13. [N 13]
    3rd son of James Alexander, 4th Earl of Caledon
  14. [N 14]
    2nd son of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
  15. [N 15]
    Grandson of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton
  16. [N 16]
    2nd son of David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
  17. [N 17]
    3rd son of Morton Gray Stuart, 17th Earl of Moray
  18. [N 18]
    3rd son of Richard Hare, 4th Earl of Listowel
  19. [N 19]
    3rd son of Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan
  20. [N 20]
    Grandson of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland
  21. [N 21]
    Eldest son of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
  22. [N 22]
    2nd son of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
  23. [N 23]
    3rd son of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry
  24. [N 24]
    3rd son of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
  25. [N 25]
    Grandson of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
  26. [N 26]
    7th son of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington
  27. [N 27]
    The Barony of Kilmarnock remained a subsidiary title of the Earldom of Erroll until the death in 1941 of the eighteenth Earl's great-great-grandson, the twenty-second Earl. The earldom, which could be passed on through female lines, was inherited by the late Earl's daughter and only child, the twenty-third Countess. The barony of Kilmarnock, which could only be passed on to male heirs, was inherited by the Earl's younger brother, the sixth Baron. He assumed the surname of Boyd in lieu of Hay the same year he succeeded to the title[9][10]
  28. [N 28]
    8th son of Charles Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan
  29. [N 29]
    Grandson of Arthur Chichester, 1st Marquess of Donegall
  30. [N 30]
    Eldest son of Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
  31. [N 31]
    Eldest son of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough
  32. [N 32]
    Great-Grandson of George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington
  33. [N 33]
    3rd son of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough
  34. [N 34]
    Eldest son of Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford
  35. [N 35]
    Eldest son of John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley
  36. [N 36]
    3rd son of Henry Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham
  37. [N 37]
    9th son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort
  38. [N 38]
    3rd son of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster
  39. [N 39]
    4th son of George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington
  40. [N 40]
    4th son of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke
  41. [N 41]
    Grandson of James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton
  42. [N 42]
    A descendant of Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester
  43. [N 43]
    2nd son of Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk
  44. [N 44]
    Eldest son of Augustus FitzGerald, 3rd Duke of Leinster
  45. [N 45]
    4th son of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr
  46. [N 46]
    3rd son of Arthur Hill, 3rd Marquess of Downshire
  47. [N 47]
    Grandson of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
  48. [N 48]
    The Barony was a subsidiary title of the earldom until the death of the ninth Earl's grandson, the eleventh Earl, in 1915. The earldom, which could be passed on to female heirs, was inherited by the Earl's daughter and only child, the twelfth Countess. The barony of Strathspey, which could only be inherited by males, were passed on to the Earl's brother, the fourth Baron[11]
  49. [N 49]
    2nd son of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch
  50. [N 50]
    2nd son of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
  51. [N 51]
    Eldest son of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne
  52. [N 52]
    2nd son of Charles Hardinge, 2nd Viscount Hardinge
  53. [N 53]
    2nd son of Thomas Cochrane, 11th Earl of Dundonald
  54. [N 54]
    4th son of Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax
  55. [N 55]
    Great-Grandson of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough
  56. [N 56]
    A descendant of Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, in remainder of the Duke of Norfolk
  57. [N 57]
    3rd son of Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh
  58. [N 58]
    Great-Grandson of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
  59. [N 59]
    Grandson of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
  60. [N 60]
    2nd son of Walter Hore-Ruthven, 9th Lord Ruthven of Freeland
  61. [N 61]
    Great-Grandson of William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian
  62. [N 62]
    2nd son of Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford
  63. [N 63]
    3rd son of Alfred Lawrence, 1st Baron Trevethin
  64. [N 64]
    3rd son of Edward O'Neill, 2nd Baron O'Neill
  65. [N 65]
    3rd son of Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer
  66. [N 66]
    Eldest son of Edward Scawen Wyndham, 5th Baron Leconfield
  67. [N 67]
    A descendant of Gilbert Vane, 2nd Baron Barnard
  68. [N 68]
    2nd son of Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow
  69. [N 69]
    Grandson of James Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam
  70. [N 70]
    Created Baron Halsbury on 26 June 1885.
  71. [N 71]
    Created Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum on 11 July 1902.
  72. [N 72]
    Created Baron Gough on 7 April 1846.
  73. [N 73]
    Created Baron Leverhulme on 21 June 1917.
  74. [N 74]
    Created Baron Greenwood on 31 August 1929.
  75. [N 75]
    Created Baron Alanbrooke on 18 September 1945.
  76. [N 76]
    Great-Grandson of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough

References

Citations

  1. [1]
    May, Thomas Erskine (1851). A practical treatise on the law, privileges, proceedings and usage of Parliament. Butterworths. pp. 6–8, 15. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  2. [2]
    Price, Jacob M (December 1961). "The Sixteen Peers of Scotland: An Account of the Elections of the Representative Peers of Scotland, 1707–1959 by James Fergusson". The Journal of Modern History. 33 (4): 439. doi:10.1086/238935.
  3. [3]
    "Peerage Act 1963". www.parliament.uk.
  4. [4]
    Malcomson 2000 p.312; "(40 Geo. 4 c.39 [Ir.]) An Act to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons to Serve in the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament". The statutes at large, passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland. Vol. 20. Dublin: Boulter Grierson. 12 June 1800. pp. 349–358.
  5. [5]
    May, Erskine (1862). The Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George III 1760–1860. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. p. 228.
  6. [6]
    Gadd, R.P. "A short account of the peerage of Ireland". The Heraldry Society. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  7. [7]
    "The Dukes of the Peerage of the United Kingdom". Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
  8. [8]
    "New title for the Earl of Wessex". The Royal Family. 10 March 2019.
  9. [9]
    "Gilbert Alan (6th Baron Kilmarnock) Boyd (Previously Hay) b. 15 Jan 1903 d. 15 Mar 1975: The Douglas Archives". www.douglashistory.co.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  10. [10]
    "Gilbert Allan Rowland Boyd, 6th Baron Kilmarnock - Person - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  11. [11]
    "Death of Lord Seafield". The Evening Post. Vol. XCI, no. 5. 7 January 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

Sources
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