New Peers

His Majesty King George created the Honorable Charles Napier Lawrence, Chairman of the London and North-Western Railway, and the Honorable Herbert Cokayne Gibbs, of Anthony Gibbs and Sons, peers of the United Kingdom. Both men received the honor of a barony in the Prime Minister's birthday Honor's List.

New peers are usually created on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, although it is not an unconstitutional act for the King to create a peer or elevate one to a higher rank without the advice of his First Minister, especially when dealing with Royal Blood. Usually the Prime Minister makes a list of people recommended to the Crown for honors, and with the King's assent the list is published on such days as the Sovereign's Birthday, New Year's Day or any special day of national significance.

The ranks in the peerage are graduated as follows: duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron. There are approximately 28 dukes, 42 marquises, 230 earls, 103 viscounts, 484 barons in the peerage at present, not including the 27 women who hold titles in their own right.

The first duke to be created was the Duke of Cornwall, 1337, but this has always been a royal title. Originally all peers were supposed to be equal. The senior peer of the peerage is Bernard Marmaduke Fitz-Alan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, 15 years of age, who, by virtue of his rank, carries the extra titles of Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal and Chief Butler of England. The dukedom dates from 1483.

The principal privileges which peers possess:

1) Right to a seat in the House of Lords.

2) Right to be tried by his peers on a charge of treason or felony.

3) Personal access to the Sovereign.