THE PEERAGE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7103, 5 September 1949, Page 3

THE PEERAGE

FAMILY RECORDS OF NOBILITY LATEST EDITION OF FAMOUS PUBLICATION “The question is often asked to-day, ‘Will the Peerage endure?’ The answer is that Peerage dignities and all titles in use by British subjects are derived from or permitted by the Sovereign, who is the fountain of honour. As long as the Crown exists, so long will titles and peerages continue”, says the preface to the 1949 issue of Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage”. 'The volume, which runs to 2500 pages, is the first since 1939 and gives a complete and authoritative record of more than 40,000 members of the titled class. Full lineages and family histories of all peers and baronets are given and more than 1000 years are spanned by some of the accounts, which have been revised and brought up to date in the light of recent research. There are also the biographies of more than 800 peers and 1300 baronets and of all members of their collateral and cadet branches as well as biographies of 1400 knights, dames, and privy councillors. Thousands of heraldic illustrations are included.

In the pages of the volume there are for the first time family histories of many famous war leaders—Alanbrooke, Alexander, Cunningham, Douglas, Dowding, Fraser, Montgomery, Mountbatten, Portal, Tedder and Wavell. The entry of a cadet member of the Duke of Marlborough’s family has been specially written, but the entry (Mr Winston Churchill’s) is still tfie entry of a junior member of the peerage family and in the sense can be paralleled by thousands of other entries’ for cadets who served their country during the war. Another example is that of the Chindit leader, Major-General Wingate, who comes of a junior line of the Wingate Baronets.

In the knightage section there are several commanders famous for wartime exploits—Admiral Sir Philip Vian, of H.M.S. Cossack, Admiral Sir Henry Harwood (Battle of the River Plate), and Marshall of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris.

The Royal lineage has been revised since the last edition and includes an account of the Hoqse of Cerdic, which reigned over England before the Norman Conquest. The historical narrative from William the Conqueror and the history of the Kings of Scotland have both been enlarged. Peerages in the order of precedence given are:—the Royal Dukedoms of Gloucester, Kent, Windsor, and Edinburgh, dukedoms, of which there are 27, marquessates (39), earldoms (212), viscounties (123), baronies (529), and baronetcies (1239). The figures, however, are incomplete. Cognisance of precedence was taken by the Parliament of King Henry VIII

by statutory enactment, though an order had been made in 1339.

The word peer means “equal” and in the centuries immediately after the Norman Conquest always had this meaning since the tenants in chief of the Crown in feudal times were the peers of one another. One of the duties of these tenants was to attend the Curia Regis (King’s Court), from which the English Law Courts and ultimately Parliament were developed. They were summoned by’special writ, but this mode has long been discontinued and the creation of a peerage is now by letters patent. Barons are styled “Right Honourable” and are correctly designated “Lord X”.

The next grade in the peerage is that of vice-comes viscounts, a title formerly applied to the sheriff of a county, but which was not used as a designation of nobility until the reign of King Henry VI. ' A viscounty is always created by letters patent. The only one of the five titles of nobility in the British peerage which is derived from an English word is earl, from the Old English eorl. Before the Conquest the eorl replaced the aiderman as a royal officer of great power who presided over several counties of England. William the Conqueror split these earldoms up and under , later kings the earl became the ruler, as the king’s officer, of a county. In time the dignity became hereditary. The office of marquess was formerly to guard the frontier and limits of the kingdom, which were called the marches. Marquessates are now invariably created by letters patent and the descent regulated. The dukedom, the most elevated dignity in the peerage, was first introduced by Edward I’ll, who in 1337 created his eldest son (the Black Prince) Duke of Cornwall. The second was conferred in 1351. Under Queen Elizabeth the whole order became extinct, but was revived by James I. A duke is styled “His Grace”.

Archbishops have the ducal title of “Grace” and take precedence of all dukes next to those of royal blood. Under Henry VII it was settled that bishops take precedence of all barons and come immediately after viscounts. Apart from these spiritual lords there are certain life peers in the House of Lords. They are the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, whose main function is to hear appeals addressed to the House of Lords in its capacity as the highest legal tribunal.

Peers and peeresses are free from arrest in all civil actions, exempt from serving on juries and formerly had the right, in cases of treason or felony, of being tried by peers. In addition, thfe peerage, as represented by the House of Lords, has certain collective privileges, including the right to try disputed peerage claims. Peers who are under full age, who are lunatics or bankrupt, cannot take their seat in the House of Lords.