Between 1999 and 2026, 92 hereditary peers were excepted from the House of Lords Act 1999 to sit in the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Of these, 90 were elected internally by the House, as well as the holders of two royal offices, the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain, who sat ex officio.
The initial cohort of excepted hereditary peers were elected in the 1999 House of Lords elections. Between 1999 and November 2002, vacancies among this group were filled by runners-up in the 1999 election. From 2002 to 2024, by-elections to the House of Lords filled vacancies. From 2024 to 2026, by-elections were paused and 11 vacancies went unfilled.
The electorates were either the whole membership of the House of Lords (including life peers), or a party group of sitting hereditary peers. A standing order of the House, approved prior to the commencement of the House of Lords Act 1999, mandated that the 90 elected hereditary peers consisted of:
By convention, whole-House elections elected members of the same affiliation as the departed peer.
These numbers elected by each group reflected the relative strengths of the parties among hereditary peers in 1999; this allocation remained unchanged.
Candidature for both the 1999 elections and subsequent by-elections were restricted to peers in the Peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Peers in the Peerage of Ireland were only eligible for election if they held a title in one of the other peerages, but if successful they could use their Irish peerage title as a member of the House.
A small number of hereditary peers have sat in the Lords by virtue of their being granted life peerages (see listing) without having been excepted hereditary peers. These are not listed below.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026, which excluded the hereditary peers from the House at the end of the 2024–2026 parliamentary session, was passed in March 2026 after a compromise with the Conservative party which would allow some of their hereditary peers as well as some crossbench hereditary peers to remain in the house as life peers.
The Earl Marshal is an hereditary post held by the Duke of Norfolk.
| Hereditary peer and title used in the Lords | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|
| Miles Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk | 31 January 1975 | 24 June 2002 |
| Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk Excluded from the House of Lords on 29 April 2026 |
24 June 2002 | present |
The Lord Great Chamberlain is an hereditary office in gross post among the Cholmondeley, Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby and Carington families.
In 1902 it was ruled by the House of Lords that the then joint office holders (the 1st Earl of Ancaster, the 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and the Earl Carrington, later Marquess of Lincolnshire) had to agree on a deputy to exercise the office, subject to the approval of the Sovereign. Should there be no such agreement, the Sovereign should appoint a deputy until an agreement be reached.
In 1912 an agreement was reached. The office, or right to appoint the person to exercise the office, would thereafter rotate among the three joint office holders and their heirs after them, changing at the start of each successive reign. Cholmondeley and his heirs would serve in every other reign; Ancaster and Carrington would each serve once in four reigns.
| Hereditary peer and title used in the Lords | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|
| David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 13 March 1990 | 8 September 2022 |
| Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington Elected as an excepted hereditary peer in 2018 Excluded from the House of Lords on 29 April 2026 |
8 September 2022 | present |
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| Hereditary peer and title used in the Lords | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Left House | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Milner, 2nd Baron Milner of Leeds | 1967 | 4 November 1999 | 20 August 2003D | 20 August 2003 | |
| Nicolas Rea, 3rd Baron Rea | 1982 | 4 November 1999 | 1 June 2020D | 1 June 2020 | |
| John Suenson-Taylor, 3rd Baron Grantchester | 1995L | 30 October 2003 | Michael Milner, 2nd Baron Milner of Leeds | 29 April 2026E | |
| Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate | 2021 | 9 July 2021 | Nicolas Rea, 3rd Baron Rea | 29 April 2026E |
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| Hereditary peer and title used in the Lords | First sat | Elected | Replacing | Left House | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury | 1971 | 4 November 1999 | 14 February 2016D | 14 February 2016 | |
| Dominic Hubbard, 6th Baron Addington | 1986 | 4 November 1999 | Sitting as life peer | ||
| Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell | 1988 | 4 November 1999 | 14 October 2004D | 14 October 2004 | |
| Patrick Boyle, 10th Earl of Glasgow | 1984L | 12 January 2005 | Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell | 29 April 2026E | |
| John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso | 1995L | 18 April 2016 | Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury | 29 April 2026E |
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Under the terms of an informal agreement amongst the parties and groups in the House of Lords, it is expected that this vacancy will be filled by an hereditary peer who will sit as a crossbench member of the House
Yes, there is a by-election today. I have voted in it and, in accordance with the Carter convention, I voted for a Labour Peer. I have kept to the agreements made in 1999.