Peerage Act 1963

Background

The Act resulted largely from the protests of one man, the Labour politician Tony Benn, then the 2nd Viscount Stansgate. Under British law at the time, peers of the United Kingdom (who met certain qualifications, such as age) were automatically members of the House of Lords and could not sit in, or vote in elections for, the other chamber, the House of Commons. When William Wedgwood Benn, Tony Benn's father, agreed to accept the Viscountcy, he ascertained that the heir apparent, his eldest son Michael, did not plan to enter the House of Commons. However, within a few years of acceptance of the title, Michael Benn was killed in action in World War II. Tony Benn, his younger brother, instead became the heir to the peerage. The younger Benn was elected to the House of Commons in 1950, and did not wish to leave it for the other House, so he campaigned through the 1950s for a change in the law.

In 1960, the 1st Viscount died and Tony Benn inherited the title, automatically losing his seat in the House of Commons for the constituency of Bristol South East. In the ensuing by-election, however, Benn was re-elected to the House despite being disqualified. An election court ruled that he could not take his seat, instead giving it to the runner-up, the Conservative Malcolm St Clair. In 1963, the Conservative Government agreed to introduce the Peerage Bill allowing individuals to disclaim peerages; it received Royal Assent on 31 July 1963. Tony Benn was the first peer to make use of the Act. St Clair, fulfilling a promise he had made at the time of his seating, had accepted the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead the previous day, thereby disqualifying himself from the House (outright resignation is prohibited), and Benn was then re-elected at the ensuing by-election.

Disclaiming peerages

To disclaim a hereditary peerage, the peer must deliver an instrument of disclaimer to the Lord Chancellor within one year of succeeding to the peerage, or within one year after the passage of the Act, or, if under the age of 21 at the time of succession, before the peer's 22nd birthday. If, at the time of succession, the peer is a member of the House of Commons, then the instrument must be delivered within one month of succession, and until such an instrument is delivered, the peer may neither sit nor vote in the lower House. Prior to the House of Lords Act 1999, a hereditary peer could not disclaim a peerage after having applied for a writ of summons to Parliament; now, however, hereditary peers do not have the automatic right to a writ of summons to the House. A peer who disclaims the peerage loses all titles, rights and privileges associated with the peerage; if he is a married man, so does his wife. No further hereditary peerage may be conferred upon the person, but a life peerage may be. The peerage remains without a holder until the death of the peer who had made the disclaimer, when it descends to his or her heir in the usual manner.

The one-year window after the passage of the Act soon proved to be of importance at the highest levels of British politics, after the resignation of Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister in October 1963. Two hereditary peers wished to be considered to replace him, but by this time it was considered requisite that a Prime Minister sit in the Commons. Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham and Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home took advantage of the Act to disclaim their titles, despite having inherited their titles in 1950 and 1951 respectively. Douglas-Home was chosen as Prime Minister; both men later returned to the House of Lords as life peers.

Since the abolition of the general right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, and the consequent removal of the general disability of such peers to sit in or vote for the House of Commons, it is no longer necessary for hereditary peers to disclaim their peerages for this purpose. In 2001, John Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso became the first British hereditary peer to be elected to the Commons and take his seat. Later that year, Douglas Hogg inherited the peerage his father (Quintin Hogg) had disclaimed, but did not have to disclaim it himself to continue sitting in the House of Commons. In 2004, Michael Ancram became Marquess of Lothian on the death of his father, and was also able to continue sitting as an MP. On their retirements from the House of Commons, Ancram and Hogg entered the House of Lords as life peers, while Thurso was elected as an excepted hereditary peer after losing reelection as an MP. Since the chief purpose for the Act ended in 1999, only one disclaimer has occurred — Christopher Silkin disclaimed the title 3rd Baron Silkin in 2002.

The Act only applies to titles held in the Peerage of England, the Peerage of Scotland, the Peerage of Great Britain, and the Peerage of the United Kingdom. No provision was made by the Act for titles in the Peerage of Ireland to be disclaimed, as the entitlement of new Irish representative peers to be elected to sit in the House of Lords was considered to have lapsed after most of Ireland became independent in 1922 (and the last surviving Irish representative peer had died in 1961). Instead, the Act extended to all Irish peers both the right to vote in parliamentary elections and the right to stand for election to the House of Commons.

Other provisions

The Act granted Peers of Scotland the same right to sit in the House of Lords as Peers of England, Great Britain or the United Kingdom, thereby ending the election of representative peers. An amendment that would have allowed Irish peers to sit in the House as well was defeated by ninety votes to eight.

The Act also granted suo jure hereditary women peers (other than those in the Peerage of Ireland) the right to sit in the House of Lords, which introduced twelve new women to the House. This was not the first time that women were members of the House of Lords; the Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed all life peers (men and women) to sit in the House. The 2nd Baroness Ravensdale had already entered the Lords in 1958 through the receipt of a life peerage. The women who took their seats in the House when the 1963 Act was passed were:

1. The Countess of Erroll
2. The Countess of Sutherland
3. The Countess of Loudoun
4. The Countess of Dysart
5. The Countess of Seafield
6. The Lady de Ros
7. The Lady Zouche
8. The Lady Darcy de Knayth
9. The Lady Berkeley
10. The Lady Berners
11. The Lady Lucas of Crudwell
12. The Lady Kinloss

List of disclaimed peerages

In this list peerages which are currently disclaimed are indicated by asterisk (*)