Following the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, the number of hereditary peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords was reduced to ninety-two. Ninety of the first ninety-two were elected by all the hereditary peers before the passing of the reform. Since November 2002, by-elections have been held to fill vacancies left by deaths of those peers. Since the passing of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, by-elections have also been held to fill vacancies left by the resignation of those peers. Before the passing of the 1999 Act, the Lords approved a Standing Order stating that the remaining hereditary peers shall consist of:
2 peers to be elected by the Labour hereditary peers
42 peers to be elected by the Conservative hereditary peers
Elections must be held within three months of a vacancy occurring and take place under the Alternative Vote system. All those on the Register of Hereditary Peers are eligible to stand, but only sitting hereditary peers may vote.
Current composition
, the current party affiliation of the hereditary peers is:
After the death of the Earl Russell: After the death of Lord Burnham: After the death of Lord Aberdare: After the death of Baroness Strange:'''
2007
After the death of Lord Mowbray and Stourton:
2008
After the death of the Baroness Darcy de Knayth:
2009
After the death of the Viscount Bledisloe:
2010
After the death of the Viscount Colville of Culross: After the death of the Earl of Northesk:
2011
After the death of the Lord Strabolgi: After the death of the Lord Monson: After the death of the Earl of Onslow: After the death of the Lord Ampthill:
2013
After the death of the Earl Ferrers: After the death of the Lord Reay:
2014
After the death of the Lord Moran: After the death of the Lord Methuen: After the death of the Viscount Allenby of Megiddo: After the retirement of the Lord Cobbold:'''
2015
After the retirement of the Lord Chorley: After the retirement of the Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: After the retirement of the Viscount Tenby: After the retirement of the Lord Luke: After the retirement of the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein: After the death of the Lord Montagu of Beaulieu:
2016
After the death of the Lord Avebury: After the removal for non-attendance of the Lord Bridges:
2017
After the death of the Lord Lyell: After the retirement of the Lord Walpole:
2018
After the retirement of the Earl Baldwin of Bewdley: After the retirement of the Lord Glentoran: After the retirement of the Lord Northbourne:
2019
After the death of the Lord Skelmersdale: After the death of the Viscount Slim:
Forthcoming by-elections
, one of the 42 elected Conservative hereditary peers, though latterly sitting as non-affiliated, resigned from the House on 26 March 2020. A by-election to replace him would normally be required to be held by 26 June. However, on 23 March a motion was passed by the House to suspend any by-elections until 8 September as part of revised working arrangements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The Countess of Mar, a Crossbench peer and one of the 15 hereditary peers elected by the whole House, resigned from the House on 1 May 2020. A by-election to replace her would normally be required to be held by 1 August, but it will be held after 8 September as outlined above. The Lord Rea, one of the 2 elected Labour hereditary peers, died on 1 June 2020. A by-election to replace him would normally be required to be held by 1 September, but it will be held after 8 September as outlined above.
Historical by-elections
From the 1707 Act of Union to the passing of the Peerage Act 1963, peers in the Peerage of Scotland elected sixteen representative peers to sit in the House of Lords. Unlike Irish peers, however, Scottish representative peers only sat for the duration of one parliament before facing re-election. By-elections were held in the Palace of Holyroodhouse to replace deceased peers. After the passing of the Peerage Act 1963, all Scottish peers were entitled to sit in the House of Lords and the election procedure was abolished. Also, from the 1801 Act of Union to Irish independence, 28 representative peers were elected from and by the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Like current hereditary peers, these representative peers sat for life terms and deceased peers were replaced in by-elections. Unlike modern hereditary peer by-elections, all peers in the Peerage of Ireland, even those who did not sit in the House of Lords, were entitled to vote. Upon the creation of the Irish Free State, the officers required to officiate these by-elections were abolished and thus no more were held, but those peers already elected kept their seats for the remainder of their lives. The last to sit in the Lords was Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey, who died in 1961.
