Lord Salisbury's three ways of acquiring a Peerage

[Paul Theroff]

Yesterday I was watching an episode of HIGNFY from 1998, in which they were discussing the incident in which Lord Cranborne (Robert Gascoyne-Cecil) was sacked by William Hague after he went behind Hague's back to make a deal with Tony Blair concerning the House of Lords.

This led me to read more about Cranborne (Marquess of Salisbury since 2003), and I was interested to learn that he had acquired Peerages in three different ways: creation, as grantee; inheritance; and a writ of acceleration.

He sat in the House of Commons 1979-1987 under his courtesy title of "Viscount Cranborne". John Major wanted him in the House of Lords, so in 1992 a "writ of acceleration" was issued calling Cranborne to the House of Lords as "Baron Cecil, of Essendon". This was a title held by Cranborne's father, but in effect Cecil became 13th Baron Cecil, of Essendon, even though the 12th Baron was still living. This operated as "accelaration" of an existing hereditary peerage, and not a new creation.

After Cecil was sacked, and the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords was abolished, he was granted a Life Peerage, as "Baron Gascoyne-Cecil."

Then finally, in 2003 his father died and he inherited the Marquessate and his father's other peerages.

In an online edition of Burke's Peerage published ca 2001-3, Robert Cecil has his own entry as Baron Cecil of Essendon and Baron Gascoyne-Cecil, separate from the Salisbury article.

Are there more than these three ways to become a Peer in them modern era (new creation, inheritance, and acceleration)? In ancient times there was certainly a fourth way, the practice of a husband sometimes being recognized as a peer in right if his wife, or "jure uxoris".

Are there other instances of persons acquiring peerages in these three ways?

[Jonathan]

David Beamish has a page listing "writs in acceleration":

<http://www.peerages.info/peeragesa.htm>

There won't be any other cases where they were subsequently created a life peer. However, there may be cases where the holder was subsequently created additional hereditary titles after inheriting existing titles from his father. I couldn’t see any obvious instances of this from a quick skim of the page, though.

One slightly similar case that comes to mind, although it doesn't involve writ of acceleration, was the 7th Earl of Longford, who was created a hereditary peer in his own right as Baron Pakenham. He subsequently inherited his father's titles, then was created a life peer following the 1999 Act on the grounds that he was a hereditary peer of the first creation (i.e. 1st Baron Pakenham).

Other ways to become a peer could include a law lord under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, although I doubt any of these were also made a life peer under the 1958 Act (some will later have received hereditary peerages).

There are also Irish and Scottish peers who were subsequently given GB or UK titles, etc.

[Paul Theroff]

Thanks very much for that!

I guess for the purposes of this question, all "creations" should be considered the as only one way of acquiring a Peerage, whether it is a creation for Life or hereditary, and whether it is UK, GB, England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. As for Law Lords, are they considered to be "Peers"?

[Paul Theroff]

Question about "accelerated" titles:

When the heir apparent is "accelerated" into the title, does the previous lord still hold the title, leaving two holders of the same title? Or does the title remain with only the "accelerated" peer?

[Jonathan]

I believe when a title is accelerated, it does mean the title is in effect inherited early, and the senior peer no longer holds that particular title, which is always a junior title held by someone with multiple peerages. In the majority of the cases listed on David's page, the acceleated peer continued to be known by a higher courtesy title: viscount, earl or marquess, which of course continued to be held by their father. In a small number of cases, they were accelerated by the title by which they were already known, presumably because no other peerages were held. In all cases, the accelerated title was a barony.

As for Lords or Appeal in Ordinary created by the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, they are (life) peers. None has been created since 2009, following the formation of the Supreme Court.

[malcolm davies]

The 5th Marquess of Salisbury also received a writ of acceleration in his father’s peerage of Cecil of Essendon.Note a writ of acceleration does not create a peerage-it is a summons to an heir in his father’s peerage.The summons vests in the son what was formerly possessed by the father.See Palmer Peerage Law 3rd edn at pp129-30.

If the accelerated peer dies before his fathers the title descends to the son of the accelerated peer.

[Windemere]

Thanks for the previous posts.

There was also a rather unusual situation in 1937, in which Walter Runciman was created Viscount Runciman of Doxford in June of that year. He was the son of 1st Baron Runciman (of Shoreston), also named Walter. And so for a brief time, until the father's death in August of that year, both father and son served simultaneously in the House of Lords, with the son having the superior title.

[Jonathan]

There was also a rather unusual situation in 1937, in which Walter Runciman was created Viscount Runciman of Doxford in June of that year. He was the son of 1st Baron Runciman (of Shoreston), also named Walter. And so for a brief time, until the father's death in August of that year, both father and son served simultaneously in the House of Lords, with the son having the superior title.

There must be a number of cases where a son was created a peer while his father was still alive (the Earl of Longford as above is one example). But how many more cases are there where the son had the superior title? One that immediately springs to mind is Lord Curzon, whose array of titles is always of interest to anyone who likes to study the peerage. His father was already Baron Scarsdale when Curzon was created Viscount Scarsdale along with his earldom.

[Richard Chown]

Another example of a son being granted a superior title in the lifetime of his father was George Townshend, eldest son of the 4th Viscount Townshend. He had succeeded his mother in the barony of Ferrers of Chartley in 1774 and was created Earl of Leicester in 1784. He thus outranked his father until 1787 when the latter was advanced to a marquessate.