The 52 hereditary peers of Ireland lose their last vestige of power in the coming shake-up of the British House of Lords. The Hereditary Peers Bill, included in the Queen's Speech last week, ends their right to vote on legislation, bringing to a close the political decline of the landed classes which began with the Act of Union in 1800.
Among them are the descendants of soldiers and statesmen who shaped Irish history including Norman warlord Gerald FitzGerald, Elizabethan adventurer John Boyle and architect of the Union, Viscount Castlereagh.
British peers who lose the vote include the grandsons of Stormont prime ministers James Craig and Basil Brooke.
The first Irish peers were created 800 years ago, but under the Act of Union 28 were "elected" to attend Westminster. When the Free State was created the Lords ruled that Ireland no longer existed, and no further elections took place. The last elected peer, the 5th Earl of Kilmorey, died in Italy in 1961. British peers can renounce titles, but the 6th Earl of Kilmorey, Richard Needham (56), discovered no legislation exists to allow Irish peers to do so. As Tory MP for Wiltshire in the 1980s he became Northern Ireland's longest-serving minister. Those Irish peers who sit in today's Lords do so because they also hold lesser British titles but most still own land and have relatives here.
Tony Blair plans to end Tory dominance of the Lords, secured by the 750 hereditary peerages. The chamber has the right to reject legislation, most recently over the age of consent for gay sex. Reform will create a modern upper house like the Seanad.
"It cannot be right that hereditary peers can be pulled out by the Tories, because they are virtually all Tories, at any time in order to vote something down or in," he said.
The premier Irish noble is the 8th Duke of Leinster, Gerald FitzGerald (84). His family first came to Ireland in the 12th century, building a stronghold at Maynooth. They sided with the Tudors during the Desmond Rebellion and were awarded a dukedom in 1766. The 6th Duke bankrupted the family and was forced to sell Carton, a colonnaded mansion in Kildare.
The 8th Duke was educated at Eton and Sandhurst and served with the Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards during the second World War. His son and heir, the Marquess of Kildare, Maurice FitzGerald (50), owns a landscape gardening business in Oxfordshire where both have home addresses. Leinster sits as a Conservative.
Descended from another great Norman household, the 7th Marquess of Ormonde, James Butler (99), is the oldest Irish peer. He was wounded during the first World War. The Butlers were raised to a dukedom for supporting the crown during the Cromwellian Wars and lived at Kilkenny Castle until 1935. The head of the family inherited the title from his cousin in 1971 and lives in Illinois in the US where he enjoyed a career in commerce after resigning his commission in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in 1926.
Also of Norman blood, the 8th Marquess of Waterford, John de la Poer Beresford (65), sits in the Lords as Lord Tyrone. His wife Caroline is the daughter of the 6th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl whose home was Adare Manor in Limerick. The family was forced to leave Ireland after receiving threats during the Land War. The 6th Marquess returned, only to be killed in a hunting accident. The 8th Marquess hunts and plays polo at the family seat, Curraghmore. He sits as a Conservative.
The 7th Marquess of Donegall, Richard Chichester (82), lives in Arthurstown, Co Wexford. His son and heir, the Earl of Belfast, Patrick Chichester (46), is a familiar figure in horse racing circles. The family was among the foremost landowners in Ulster until bankruptcy forced the 3rd Marquess to sell much of the estate in 1850. The 6th Marquess was a journalist, and the 7th is Ireland's most senior Mason. His extended family includes the last Stormont prime minister, life peer Lord Moyola, James Chichester-Clark (75), who lives at Castledawson, Co Derry. Both sit on the Conservative benches.
The 9th Marquess of Londonderry, Alastair Vane-Tempest-Stewart (60), lives alone in a Dorset farmhouse. His family has been in politics for over 200 years and includes Viscount Castlereagh. However, the 9th Marquess's political prospects were destroyed in 1971 by a divorce and paternity scandal involving his first wife Nicolette and singer Georgie Fame.
The political tradition is continued by his sister Lady Annabel Goldsmith (63), leader of the Referendum Party, and his niece Jemima (24), who campaigns for her husband Imran Khan in Pakistan. His aunt, Lady Mairi Bury (77), has links with the Conservatives in Northern Ireland and is the only member of the family resident at the estate, Mount Stewart, Co Down. Londonderry has not taken his seat.
The 11th Marquess of Sligo, Jeremy Browne (60), is a descendent of the O'Malley clan. His family married into wealthy plantation owners in Jamaica and built much of Westport in Co Mayo where he is a farmer. His home, Westport House, overlooks Clew Bay and is regularly opened to the public to meet the cost of its upkeep. He has not taken his seat.
The 7th Earl of Lucan, John Bingham, will be 65 this year, if he is still alive. The gambler disappeared in 1974 after his children's nanny was murdered at his London home. His son, Lord John Bingham (30), wants his father declared dead in order to claim the seat; however, police refuse to close the case. The family owns 60,000 acres in Co Mayo. The 3rd Earl gave the order for The Charge of the Light Brigade, the 4th was Conservative chief whip and the 5th Labour chief whip.
The 14th Earl of Cork and Orrery, John Boyle (82), enjoyed a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, mentioned in dispatches twice, before joining industry as a marine engineering consultant. Richard Boyle, the first Earl of Cork, was an English settler who purchased land in Cork and Waterford from Sir Walter Raleigh and stripped it of trees to fuel ambitions as an industrialist.
He made his home at Lismore Castle in Waterford. His son was granted the earldom of Orrery for services to the crown during the Cromwellian wars. The 14th Earl has an address in Perthshire, Scotland, and sits as a Conservative.
The 5th Earl of Listowel, William Hare (92), began a distinguished political career as a Labour councillor in London, becoming postmaster-general, secretary of state for India, minister for the colonies, deputy speaker and Labour whip in the Lords. The family was ennobled for supporting the Act of Union, and its home, at Convamore, in Cork was destroyed by fire in 1921. Listowel lives in London.
The 7th Earl of Longford, Francis Pakenham (93), is a Labour peer and had a political career as parliamentary under-secretary of state for war, minister of civil aviation and secretary of state for the colonies. He has written books on the Treaty, de Valera and Ulster. However, in retirement he earned a reputation as a "loony lord" for his interest in unpopular causes including that of the child killer Myra Hindley. He has addresses in Sussex and Chelsea. His son Thomas (65) lives at the family home, Tullynally Castle, in Westmeath.
The 12th Earl of Drogheda, Derry Moore (61), is a society photographer with an address in London. His work has appeared in a number of coffee-table books in Britain and the US. The family home at Monasterevin became a hospital in the 1920s and today is run by the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary. He sits as a cross-bencher.
The 7th Viscount Gormanston, Jenico Preston (60), is the premier viscount of Ireland. An artist and member of the Swinging Sixties Chelsea set, he made his maiden speech in Gaelic. In Rome he was jailed for removing his shirt in public and refusing to give his identity.
Eva, Viscountess Gormanston, died of a heroin overdose in 1984 after attending a birthday party for her husband. Gormanston Castle in Co Westmeath, was sold in 1946. He has not taken his seat.
British peers with Northern Ireland backgrounds will also lose the vote including 3rd Viscount Craigavon, Janric Craig (54), grandson of Northern Ireland's first prime minister, James Craig. He is a chartered accountant in London, a working peer and former star player with Westminster Wanderers parliamentary football team. He has never been to Ireland and refuses to speak on Irish issues. He sits as a cross-bencher.
Viscount Brookeborough, Alan Brooke (45), is a grandson of Northern Ireland's longest-serving prime minister. The first Lord Brookeborough led an active life both in the Lords. His heir is also a working Conservative peer and lives in Co Fermanagh.
