Reading the Regency

The House of Lords

The King's throne stood at the southern end, surrounded by a railing. Outside the railing, MPs and other "distinguished persons" could stand to watch the house while it was in session. On the northern end of the room was another railing called the Bar of the House. Any MP delivering a message from the House of Commons would stand "below the bar". This was also the area where an MP could observe the Lords while they were debating.

The room contained various benches, where the Lords would "take their seat". The benches on the left side, as seen from the bar, accommodated all the Lords that supported whichever political party formed the Government. The Lords who supported the other side, known as the Opposition, sat on the benches to the right of the bar. Peers who did not support either party sat on the cross benches that were placed in front of the bar, facing the throne.

The Palace of Westminster that we recognise today, including the Elizabeth Tower and its famous bell (known worldwide as "Big Ben") began construction in 1840, following the 1834 fire.

Who was eligible to sit in the Lords?

"As the head of the church, the Crown virtually appoints all archbishops and bishops, who form one of the three estates of the realm, and, as "lords spiritual", hold the highest rank, after princes of the blood royal, in the House of Lords."
[A Treatise Upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament, by Thomas Erskine May, pub. 1844]

Those able to take part in the business of the House of Lords were made up of three groups.

The Princes of Royal Blood were the brothers and sons of the king.

The Lords Spiritual were the upper ranks of the clergy, which comprised the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the twenty-four Bishops of the Church of England. After 1801, they added four representative Bishops of the Church of Ireland.

The Lords Temporal were all English and Welsh dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons, as long as they were over 21 years old. Scottish peers nominated sixteen of their number to sit in the house, and once Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1801 they chose 28 Irish peers to support Irish interests. If an Irish peer also held an English title, he sat in the house by virtue of his English peerage and did not count among the 28.

Those who did not qualify were any peer who was a minor, (under the age of 21) a lunatic or an undischarged bankrupt. Women were also excluded, even a Peeress who held the title in her own right.

If a peer was a Catholic, he would not be specifically barred from the House of Lords on the basis of his religion. Instead, he would choose not to take his place due to the anti-Catholic oath that was required by all peers upon taking their seat. Anyone refusing to take the oath was not permitted to sit, speak or vote in the House of Lords. The part of the oath particularly offensive to them may have been this, taken from the oath used during the reign of George IV:

"...I do renounce, reject, and abjure the Opinion, that Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any other Authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their Subjects, or by any Person whatsoever: And I do declare, That I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other Foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State, or Potentate, hath or ought to have any Temporal or Civil Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, or Pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this Realm. I do swear, That I will defend to the utmost of my Power the Settlement of Property within this Realm, as established by the Laws: And I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any Intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, as settled by Law within this Realm: And I do solemnly swear, That I never will exercise any Privilege to which I am or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the Protestant Religion or Protestant Government in the United Kingdom..."