List of peerages held by prime ministers of the United Kingdom
This article lists all peerages held by prime ministers of the United Kingdom, whether created or inherited before or after their premiership. Extant titles are in bold.
Peerages created for prime ministers by reign
Peerage | Title(s) | Created | Prime Minister | Current status | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
King George I, 1714–1727 | |||||
![]() | Earl of Clare Viscount Haughton | 19 October 1714 | Thomas Pelham-Holles 2nd Baron Pelham | Extinct 17 November 1768 | Created Before Premiership Created with a special remainder |
![]() | Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Marquess of Clare | 11 August 1715 | Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Earl of Clare | Extinct 17 November 1768 | Created Before Premiership Created with a special remainder |
King George II, 1727–1760 | |||||
![]() | Baron Wilmington | 8 January 1728 | Sir Spencer Compton | Extinct 2 July 1743 | Created Before Premiership |
![]() | Earl of Wilmington Viscount Pevensey | 14 May 1730 | Spencer Compton, 1st Baron Wilmington | Extinct 2 July 1743 | Created Before Premiership |
![]() | Earl of Orford Viscount Walpole Baron Walpole of Houghton | 6 February 1742 | Sir Robert Walpole | Extinct 2 March 1797 | During Premiership |
![]() | Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne | 17 November 1756 | Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne | Extinct 25 December 1988 | Created with a special remainder |
King George III, 1760–1820 | |||||
![]() | Baron Pelham of Stanmer | 4 May 1762 | Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle | Extant | During Premiership Created with a special remainder |
![]() | Earl of Chatham Viscount Pitt | 4 August 1766 | William Pitt the Elder | Extinct 24 September 1835 | During Premiership |
![]() | Marquess of Lansdowne Earl of Wycombe Viscount Calne and Calston | 6 December 1784 | William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne | Extant | |
![]() | Baron Grenville | 25 November 1790 | William Grenville | Extinct 12 January 1834 | Created Before Premiership |
![]() | Viscount Sidmouth | 12 January 1805 | Henry Addington | Extant | |
![]() | Viscount Wellington Baron Douro | 4 September 1809 | Sir Arthur Wellesley | Extant | Created Before Premiership |
On 5 February 1811, George Prince of Wales became the Prince Regent | |||||
![]() | Earl of Wellington | 28 February 1812 | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Viscount Wellington | Extant | Created Before Premiership |
![]() | Marquess of Wellington | 3 October 1812 | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Earl of Wellington | Extant | Created Before Premiership |
![]() | Duke of Wellington Marquess Douro | 11 May 1814 | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington | Extant | Created Before Premiership |
![]() | Viscount Gordon | 16 July 1814 | George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen | Extant | Created Before Premiership |
King George IV, 1820–1830 | |||||
![]() | Viscount Goderich | 28 April 1827 | F. J. Robinson | Extinct 22 September 1923 | Created Before Premiership |
King William IV, 1830–1837 | |||||
![]() | Earl of Ripon | 13 April 1833 | F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich | Extinct 22 September 1923 | |
Queen Victoria, 1837–1901 | |||||
![]() | Earl Russell Viscount Amberley | 30 July 1861 | Lord John Russell | Extant | |
![]() | Earl of Beaconsfield Viscount Hughenden | 21 August 1876 | Benjamin Disraeli | Extinct 19 April 1881 | During Premiership |
King Edward VII, 1901–1910 | |||||
no peerage creations for prime ministers | |||||
King George V, 1910–1936 | |||||
![]() | Earl of Midlothian Viscount Mentmore Baron Epsom | 3 July 1911 | Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery | Extant | |
![]() | Earl of Balfour Viscount Traprain | 5 May 1922 | Sir Arthur Balfour | Extant | Created with a special remainder |
![]() | Earl of Oxford and Asquith Viscount Asquith | 9 February 1925 | H. H. Asquith | Extant | |
King Edward VIII, 1936 | |||||
no peerage creations for prime ministers | |||||
King George VI, 1936–1952 | |||||
![]() | Earl Baldwin of Bewdley Viscount Corvedale | 8 June 1937 | Sir Stanley Baldwin | Extant | |
![]() | Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor Viscount Gwynedd | 12 February 1945 | David Lloyd George | Extant | |
Queen Elizabeth II, 1952–2022 | |||||
![]() | Earl Attlee Viscount Prestwood | 16 December 1955 | Clement Attlee | Extant | |
![]() | Earl of Avon Viscount Eden | 12 July 1961 | Sir Anthony Eden | Extinct 17 August 1985 | |
![]() | Baron Home of the Hirsel | 19 December 1974 | Sir Alec Douglas-Home | Extinct 9 October 1995 | Life peerage Earl of Home before becoming prime minister |
![]() | Baron Wilson of Rievaulx | 16 September 1983 | Sir Harold Wilson | Extinct 24 May 1995 | Life peerage Granted as part of the 1983 Dissolution Honours |
![]() | Earl of Stockton Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden | 24 April 1984 | Harold Macmillan | Extant | |
![]() | Baron Callaghan of Cardiff | 5 November 1987 | Sir James Callaghan | Extinct 26 March 2005 | Life peerage Granted as part of the 1987 Dissolution Honours |
![]() | Baroness Thatcher | 26 June 1992 | Margaret Thatcher | Extinct 8 April 2013 | Life peerage Granted as part of the 1992 Dissolution Honours |
King Charles III, 2022–present | |||||
![]() | Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton | 17 November 2023 | David Cameron | Extant | Life peerage Granted for his tenure as Foreign Secretary |
![]() | TBA | 4 July 2024 | Theresa May | Extant | Life peerage Granted as part of the 2024 Dissolution Honours |
Peerages inherited before, during or after premiership
Irish and Scottish Peers did not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords unlike their English and British counterparts, until the Peerage Act 1963 which granted all Scottish Peers (those without Imperial status) to have an automatic seat in the House of Lords until the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and Peers to disclaim their own peerage for the rest of their life, which Alec Douglas-Home did on the 23 October 1963.
Lord Palmerston never sat in the House of Lords as he was a holder of an Irish peerage, but sat as a member of Parliament for Tiverton during his two spells as prime minister.
Name | Courtesy title (before inheriting main title) | Writ of acceleration | Inherited title | When inherited (before premiership unless stated) | Sat in the House of Commons |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thomas Pelham(-Holles) | ![]() | 23 February 1712 | No | ||
John Stuart | Lord Mount Stuart | ![]() | 28 February 1723 | No | |
Charles Watson-Wentworth | Earl of Malton | ![]() | 14 December 1750 | No | |
William Cavendish | Marquess of Hartington | Baron Cavendish of Hardwick | ![]() | 5 December 1755 | Yes |
Augustus FitzRoy | Earl of Euston | ![]() | 6 May 1757 | Yes | |
William Petty | Viscount FitzMaurice | ![]() | 14 May 1761 | Yes | |
William Cavendish-Bentinck | Marquess of Titchfield | ![]() | 1 May 1762 | Yes | |
Frederick North | Lord North | ![]() | 4 August 1790 (after premiership) | Yes | |
George Hamilton-Gordon | Lord Haddo | ![]() | 13 August 1801 | No | |
Henry John Temple | Lord Temple | ![]() | 17 April 1802 | Yes | |
Charles Grey | Viscount Howick | ![]() | 14 November 1807 | Yes | |
Robert Jenkinson | Baron Hawkesbury | Baron Hawkesbury | ![]() | 17 December 1808 | Yes |
William Lamb | ![]() | 22 July 1828 | Yes | ||
Edward Smith-Stanley | Lord Stanley | Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe | ![]() | 30 June 1851 | Yes |
Archibald Primrose | Lord Dalmeny | ![]() | 4 March 1868 | No | |
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil | Viscount Cranborne | ![]() | 12 April 1868 | Yes | |
Alec Douglas-Home | Lord Dunglass | ![]() | 11 July 1951 (disclaimed it in 1963) | Yes |
Prime ministers never raised to the peerage
Prime Minister | Notes | Constituency | Related peerage |
---|---|---|---|
Henry Pelham | Died in Office | Seaford | He was in line to the Barony of Pelham of Laughton which the title was extinct in 1768. |
Sussex | |||
George Grenville | Died as an MP | Buckingham | He and his male line descendants were in line to the Viscountcy of Cobham which was extinct in 1889. |
William Pitt the Younger | Died in Office | Appleby | He was in line to the Earldom of Chatham which the title was extinct in 1835. |
Cambridge University | |||
Spencer Perceval | Died in Office | Northampton | He and his male line descendants were in line to the Earldom of Egmont which the title was extinct in 2011. |
George Canning | Died in Office | Newtown | His widow was created Viscountess Canning in 1828, and his son Charles Canning, 2nd Viscount Canning became Earl Canning in 1859 and the title was extinct in 1862. |
Wendover | |||
Tralee | |||
Hastings | |||
Petersfield | |||
Liverpool | |||
Harwich | |||
Newport (Isle of Wight) | |||
Seaford | |||
Sir Robert Peel, Bt. | Died as an MP | Cashel | His baronetcy merged with the Earldom of Peel in 1942. |
Chippenham | |||
Oxford University | |||
Westbury | |||
Tamworth | |||
William Ewart Gladstone | Declined a peerage | Newark | He and his male line descendants are in the line of the Gladstone Baronetcy. |
Oxford University | |||
South Lancashire | |||
Greenwich | |||
Midlothian | |||
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman | Died as an MP | Stirling Burghs | |
Bonar Law | Died as an MP | Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown | His third and last surviving son Richard Law became Baron Coleraine in 1954. |
Dulwich | |||
Bootle | |||
Glasgow Central | |||
Ramsay MacDonald | Died as an MP | Leicester | |
Aberavon | |||
Seaham | |||
Combined Scottish Universities | |||
Neville Chamberlain | Died as an MP | Birmingham Ladywood | |
Birmingham Edgbaston | |||
Sir Winston Churchill | Declined a peerage | Oldham | He and his male line descendants are in the line of the Dukedom of Marlborough. Twice offered and declined a Dukedom. His widow was created Baroness Spencer-Churchill for life in 1965. |
Manchester North West | |||
Dundee | |||
Epping | |||
Woodford | |||
Sir Edward Heath | Declined a peerage | Bexley | |
Sidcup | |||
Old Bexley and Sidcup | |||
Sir John Major | Declined a peerage | Huntingdonshire | |
Huntingdon | |||
Sir Tony Blair | Declined a peerage | Sedgefield | |
Gordon Brown | Declined a peerage | Dunfermline East | |
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath | |||
Boris Johnson | Currently living as a commoner | Uxbridge and South Ruislip | |
Liz Truss | Currently living as a commoner | South West Norfolk | |
Rishi Sunak | Currently serving as an MP | Richmond (Yorks) | |
Sir Keir Starmer | Currently serving as an MP | Holborn and St Pancras |
See also
- List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom
- List of peerages created for lord chancellors and lord keepers
- List of peerages created for speakers of the House of Commons
Notes
- ^ Sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish Representative Peer.
- ^ Sat in the House of Lords as Baron Wycombe in the Peerage of Great Britain.
- ^ Sat in the House of Lords as Viscount Gordon in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
- ^ Sat in the House of Lords as Baron Melbourne in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
- ^ Sat in the House of Lords as Baron Rosebery in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
- ^ Sat in the House of Lords as Baron Douglas of Douglas in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
External links
- Prime Ministers in History from the 10 Downing Street website.