The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house,the House of Commons,it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London,England. One of the oldest institutions in the world,its origins lie in the early 11th century and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th century.
The Peerage Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits women peeresses and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed.
In the United Kingdom,representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Until 1999,all members of the Peerage of England held the right to sit in the House of Lords;they did not elect a limited group of representatives. All peers who were created after 1707 as Peers of Great Britain and after 1801 as Peers of the United Kingdom held the same right to sit in the House of Lords.
The House of Lords Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords,one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries,the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;the Act removed such a right. However,as part of a compromise,the Act did permit ninety-two hereditary peers to remain in the House. Another ten were created life peers to enable them to remain in the House.
Baron Cromwell is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The first creation,which was by writ,was for John de Cromwell in 1308. On his death,the barony became extinct. The second creation came in 1375 when Ralph de Cromwell was summoned by writ to Parliament as Lord Cromwell. His grandson,the third baron,served as Lord High Treasurer to King Henry VI. However,on his death in 1455,the barony fell into abeyance between his nieces Maude and Joan. On Joan's death in 1490,the abeyance was terminated in favour of Maude,the fourth holder. When she died childless in 1497 the peerage once again fell into abeyance,this time between the daughters of the first baron. The title remained in abeyance for over 400 years. However,in 1922 the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords reported in favour of the petition for the termination of the abeyancy of Selina Frances Bewicke-Copley. She was the daughter of Sir Charles Watson Copley,3rd Baronet,and one of the co-heirs of Maud,daughter of the first baron Cromwell. Selina died in 1923 and in July of the same year,the abeyance was terminated in favour of her son Robert Godfrey Wolesley Bewicke-Copley,who became the fifth baron. He notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. As of 2010 the ancient barony is held by his grandson,the seventh baron,who succeeded his father in 1982. Having lost his seat in the House of Lords under the House of Lords Act 1999,in April 2014 he was elected at a hereditary peers' by-election as a Crossbencher.
The Lords Temporal are secular members of the House of Lords,the upper house of the British Parliament. These can be either life peers or hereditary peers,although the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords was abolished for all but ninety-two peers during the 1999 reform of the House of Lords. The term is used to differentiate these members from the Lords Spiritual,who sit in the House as a consequence of being bishops in the Church of England.
Merlin Sereld Victor Gilbert Hay,24th Earl of Erroll,is a crossbench member of the House of Lords,chief of the Scottish clan Hay,and hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland.
Alan Henry Brooke,3rd Viscount Brookeborough,,is a Northern Irish peer and landowner. He is one of the 92 hereditary peers who remain in the House of Lords;he sits as a crossbencher. He is the current Lord Lieutenant of Fermanagh.
Alastair John Lyndhurst Bruce,5th Baron Aberdare,,is a British nobleman,and since 2009 a crossbench hereditary peer elected under the House of Lords Act 1999.
Nicholas Le Poer Trench,9th Earl of Clancarty,8th Marquess of Heusden,is an Anglo-Irish peer,as well as a nobleman in the Dutch nobility. Lord Clancarty serves as an elected Crossbench hereditary peer in the British House of Lords. His earldom is in the Peerage of Ireland.
James Edward George Younger,5th Viscount Younger of Leckie,is an elected hereditary peer who sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.
By-elections to the House of Lords occur when vacancies arise among seats assigned to hereditary peers due to death,resignation,or disqualification. Candidates for these by-elections are limited to holders of hereditary peerages,and their electorates are made up of sitting Lords;in most cases the electorate are those sitting hereditary peers of the same party affiliation as the departed peer.
Charles William Harley Hay,16th Earl of Kinnoull styled Viscount Dupplin until 2013,is a Scottish hereditary peer and Crossbench member of the House of Lords,who serves as Convenor of the Crossbench Peers.
John Richard Boyle,15th Earl of Cork and 15th Earl of Orrery is a British hereditary peer and a member of the House of Lords,where he sits as a Crossbencher. Boyle was an officer in the Royal Navy and then had a career in the sugar industry before inheriting his titles in 2003.
Richard Hubert Gordon Gilbey,12th Baron Vaux of Harrowden,is a British hereditary peer and crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Daniel Nicholas Mosley,4th Baron Ravensdale,8th Baronet,,is a British hereditary peer and crossbench member of the House of Lords. He is an engineer,currently working as a project director for Atkins. His paternal great-grandfather was Oswald Mosley,leader and founder of the British Union of Fascists.
Elections of the excepted hereditary peers were held in October and November 1999,before the House of Lords Act 1999 excluded most hereditary peers from the membership of the House of Lords allowing Earl Marshal,Lord Great Chamberlain and 90 others to remain in the House. Before the passing of the 1999 Act,the Lords approved a Standing Order stating that those 90 would consist of:
James Meston,3rd Baron Meston is a British hereditary peer,a lawyer,and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
