by Paul James
November 28 2004

The peerage (or nobility) is regarded by some as a fundamental element of a monarchical society, although some monarchies, such as Norway (and all the Queen’s non-UK realms), function happily without it. In the UK, the nobility retained a formal place in the political structure right up until the end of the twentieth century and beyond, although today, with some exceptions, that place is reserved for life peers.

There are two types of peerage – spiritual and temporal. The spiritual peerage consists of the archbishops and diocesan bishops of the Church of England. Only 26 of the 44 bishops have seats in the House of Lords, though: the archbishops of Canterbury and York, bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and the next 21 bishops by seniority of their appointment. Seniority is personal, based upon an individual’s date of first appointment as a diocesan bishop, and is not lost if they change sees. The bishops of Sodor and Man and of Gibraltar in Europe never sit in the House, since their dioceses are not within the UK. They serve in the House of Lords only until their retirement from their sees, although the two archbishops are invariably given temporal life peerages afterward, and others may be too. No other church or religion has ex officio membership of the house. Until the Reformation, the spiritual peerage also included abbots and priors, and spiritual peers formed a majority of the House of Lords.

There are five separate temporal peerages, each divided into five degrees. The five peerages originate from the five different states in which these islands have been organized – England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

The peerages of England and Scotland consist of all peers whose titles were created in the separate kingdoms before the 1707 Act of Union. Titles created between the union of England and Scotland are designated peerages of Great Britain. Similarly, the peerage of Ireland consists of those created in that island prior to the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, although some Irish peerages continued to be created until the mid-19th century. Apart from those few Irish exceptions, all peerages created since 1801 have been of the United Kingdom.

The five degrees of peerage are, in order of rank, Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron (or Lord of Parliament in the peerage of Scotland). Peers rank firstly by degree, then by peerage (in order: England, Scotland, Great Britain, Ireland, United Kingdom) and finally by date of creation of the title.

The different degrees of peerage entered the system at different times. The oldest title is Earl, an ancient British title derived from the Danish title Jarl. The title existed in Anglo-Saxon England, but was not strictly hereditary and was more of an office than a personal rank of nobility until the 12th century. Barons came to England with the Norman conquest and were tenants in chief of the King in the hierarchical feudal system established by William the Conqueror and his immediate successors.

The first English duke was Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III, who was created Duke of Cornwall in 1337. All Edward III’s sons received dukedoms, and the first non-royal dukedom was created in 1385 for Robert de Vere, favourite of Richard II, who became Duke of Ireland. For over 30 years (1572-1603), there were no dukedoms in England and no non-royal dukedoms for 51 years.

The first British marquessate (Dublin) was created at the same time as the first non-royal dukedom, and for the same person, Robert DeVere, in 1385. The five ranks of the peerage were completed in 1440 with the creation of the title Viscount Beaumont in 1440. This was a double creation – John Beaumont was created viscount by Henry VI in the nobilities of both England and France (who’s throne Henry claimed).

The King’s nobles, or magnates, also tended to be his chief advisors, and this function led to them becoming the senior house of Parliament as it developed during the 14th and 15th centuries. Peerages could be created simply by means of a Writ of Summons to attend the House of Lords, although this method of creation has not been used since the 15th century.

Prior to the unions of 1707 and 1801, peers of Scotland and Ireland sat in their respective Parliaments, but they did not possess the same automatic right to sit in the post-union Parliaments which was enjoyed by their English counterparts. From 1707, all male hereditary peers of England, Great Britain, and the UK possessed the right to sit in the House of Lords, but the numbers of peers of Scotland in the House was limited to 16 – these “representative peers” were elected by the entire peerage of Scotland at the beginning of each Parliament. The 1801 union made similar provision for peers of Ireland, with the number of representative peers set at 28, but instead of being elected at the beginning of each Parliament, they were elected for life. There were quite a few examples of people who held English, GB or UK peerages as well as Scottish and Irish ones, and they would be entitled to sit in the House by virtue of the former.

Modern changes to House of Lords membership began in 1876. Prior to that, the Crown had the right to create life peerages (although it was rare), but these did not entitle the holder to membership of the House. The government wished to be able to appoint judges to the House of Lords to carry on its judicial work without necessarily granting their heirs membership of the House as well, so the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 was passed allowing for the creation of Lords of Appeal – “law lords” – in the degree of baron, for life only, but with membership of the House of Lords. The next change occurred with the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Although Northern Ireland was still part of the UK, the election of Irish representative peers ceased at this point, and the last one died in 1961.

In 1958, the desire to create more “working peers” without increasing the number of hereditary peers led to the passing of the Life Peerages Act, which allowed for the conferment of life baronies with parliamentary rights on people other than law lords. Life peerages could be conferred on women too, giving them their first representation in the upper house.

Two more significant sets of changes were to follow. The Peerage Act 1963 allowed hereditary peers to disclaim their peerages for life, admitted hereditary peeresses in their own right into the house and gave membership to all peers of Scotland. Since the 1958 Act, the conferment of hereditary peerages had declined, and in 1965 the government announced that it would make no more nominations for hereditary peerages. Subsequent governments, both Labour and Conservative, continued this policy until Margaret Thatcher created three hereditary peerages in the 1980s, although in two of these cases there were no heirs. The only other exceptions have been for members of the Royal Family – the Duke of York and Earl of Wessex.

The final change, so far, occurred in 1999, when the House of Lords Act ended the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House, making it largely a house of lifetime nominees. The bill was controversial, since it did not bring about full reform of the house into a more democratic institution, and in order to get the bill passed, the government compromised by allowing the hereditary peers to elect 92 of their number to serve in the house for life. This was an interim measure, pending full reform of the house, but full reform has not been forthcoming, because of the failure of the government to secure agreement on a proposed new structure of the upper chamber. Whether we will still have a House of Lords in a few years’ time, or whether it will be replaced by a Senate or some other body, remains to be seen. If the link between titles of nobility and the Upper House is broken, it is likely that the creation of peerages will cease completely, with the possible exception of titles for the children of monarchs.