Australian peers

Australians were originally eligible to receive British Imperial Honours. Such honours included peerages, which at that time were all hereditary and automatically meant membership of the House of Lords - neither of these is necessarily the case any more.

Peerage titles awarded to Australians included some distinctly Australian titles, such as Viscount Bruce of Melbourne. Imperial Honours were recommended to the Sovereign by the Prime Minister of Australia, an Australian State Premier, or sometimes by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

This practice generally came to a halt in 1975 when Queen Elizabeth II, on the advice of the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, instituted an entirely Australian Honours System, although individual states such as Queensland continued to recommend Imperial Honours for some time.

Contents 1 Australians with hereditary peerages 1.1 Hereditary peers with Australian associations 1.1.1 Barony of Birdwood (1938) 1.1.2 Barony of Dugan (1949) 1.1.3 Viscountcy of Slim (1960) 1.2 Other 2 Australian life peers 3 Expectations unfullfilled 4 Australian baronetcies 4.1 Baronetcy of Clarke of Rupertswood 4.2 Baronetcy of Cooper of Woollahra 4.3 Baronetcy of Nicholson of Luddenham 4.4 Baronetcy of Way of Montefiore 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography

Australians with hereditary peerages

• Stanley Bruce was the first (and possibly the only) Australian elevated to an hereditary peerage. He became Prime Minister in 1923, holding the office for six and a half years until he lost not only the 1929 election but also his own seat of Flinders. He later became High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and served there for thirteen years. In 1947 he became Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, of Westminster Gardens in the City of Westminster. He was childless, and the viscountcy became extinct at his death.

• Sir Clive Baillieu was born in Australia and educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, before moving to the UK, where he continued his studies at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was granted an hereditary peerage in 1953, as Baron Baillieu, of Sefton in the Commonwealth of Australia and of Parkwood in the County of Surrey. It is unclear whether he was still considered an Australian at the time his peerage was announced. He died in Melbourne in 1967 and was succeeded by his son William as 2nd Baron Baillieu.

• Michael Abney-Hastings emigrated to Australia in 1960 and became an Australian citizen. In 2002 he succeeded his mother, becoming the 14th Earl of Loudoun. In 2004 the television documentary Britain's Real Monarch presented evidence that he was the rightful King of England. However he is a committed republican and does not use his hereditary title in public. He lives in Jerilderie, New South Wales.

• Alexander Montagu was born in Australia in 1962, making him an Australian citizen from birth; however, he has long resided in California. He succeeded to his father's dukedom as 13th Duke of Manchester in 2002.

• The Earldom of Lincoln has passed down to an Australian branch of the Fiennes-Clinton family, now resident in Perth, Western Australia. The current head of the family is Robert Fiennes-Clinton, 19th Earl of Lincoln.

• One other Australian was to have been made an hereditary peer, but died before the peerage was formally created. Sir John Forrest was an explorer and statesman, who became the first Premier of Western Australia (1890-1901). After Federation he entered Federal Parliament (1901-1918). On 6 February 1918, he was informed that he was to be elevated to the British peerage as Baron Forrest, of Bunbury in the Commonwealth of Australia and of Forrest in Fife, and a public announcement was made of the honour. He died at sea off the coast of Sierra Leone while en route to England for medical treatment. Despite the announcement, no Letters Patent were issued before his death, so the peerage was not officially created. He is sometimes referred to as "Lord Forrest", however this is an inaccurate title.

Hereditary peers with Australian associations

Barony of Birdwood (1938)

Sir William Birdwood was a British military commander prominent at Gallipoli. After retirement from the army in 1930, Birdwood made a bid to become Governor-General of Australia. He had the backing of King George V. However, the Australian Prime Minister James Scullin insisted that his Australian nominee Sir Isaac Isaacs be appointed. The King ultimately felt bound to accept the advice of the Prime Minister, but he did not disguise his reluctance and displeasure. In 1938 Birdwood was raised to the peerage, taking the title Baron Birdwood, of Anzac and of Totnes in the County of Devon. He died in 1951. As of 2007 the barony is held by his grandson, the 3rd Baron Birdwood. Sir Isaac Isaacs himself was nominated for a peerage, but this was refused.

Barony of Dugan (1949)

Sir Winston Dugan (1877–1951) was a British administrator. He served as Governor of South Australia from 1934 to 1939 then Governor of Victoria until 1949. He was also the Administrator of the Commonwealth on two occasions. He was created Baron Dugan of Victoria, of Lurgan in the County of Armagh, on 7 July 1949. The title became extinct upon his death.

Viscountcy of Slim (1960)

Field Marshal Sir William Slim (1891-1970) was a British military commander who had fought alongside Australians in both world wars, at Gallipoli, the Middle East and other places. He was Governor-General of Australia from 1952 to 1960, when he returned to England. On the initiative of the then Prime Minister Robert Menzies, Sir William and Lady Slim received Australian pensions and passports. In 1960 Slim was raised to the peerage, taking the title Viscount Slim, of Yarralumla in the Capital Territory of Australia and of Bishopston in the City and County of Bristol. He was succeeded upon his death by his son John. The current heir apparent is his grandson Mark William Rawdon Slim.

Other

There were other Governors-General of Australia who were British hereditary peers but whose peerages pre-dated their assuming the office of Governor-General:

• 7th Earl of Hopetoun
• 2nd Baron Tennyson
• 1st Baron Northcote
• 2nd Earl of Dudley
• 3rd Baron Denman
• 1st Baron Forster
• 1st Baron Stonehaven (he was raised to the peerage after his appointment as Governor-General was announced, but before taking up the office)
• 1st Baron Gowrie
• Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
• 1st Viscount Dunrossil
• 1st Viscount De L'Isle

Another Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, was raised to the peerage as 1st Viscount Novar after leaving the office. However, his peerage title contained no reference to any Australian place.

Australian life peers

Some Australians have been made life peers or peeresses of the United Kingdom. They include:

• Richard Casey (1890–1976) resigned from the Parliament in 1960 in order to accept a life peerage. He became "Baron Casey, of Berwick in the State of Victoria and the Commonwealth of Australia, and of the City of Westminster", and he took his seat in the House of Lords. In 1965 he was made Governor-General of Australia.

• Sir Howard Florey (1898-1968) was made a life peer in 1965 as "Baron Florey, of Adelaide in the State of South Australia and Commonwealth of Australia and of Marston in the County of Oxford". Both Florey and the discoverer of penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming, were knighted in 1944. Florey's peerage recognised the monumental work he did in making penicillin available in sufficient quantities to save millions of lives in World War II.

• Robert Hall (1901-1988), Australian-born economic adviser to the UK government (1953-61) and a member of Britain's Economic Planning Board (1947-61), was made a life peer in 1969. He took the name "Baron Roberthall, of Silverspear in the State of Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia and of Trenance in the County of Cornwall". ^[1][2]

• Trixie Gardner (born 1927), dentist and Conservative politician, was made a life peeress as "Baroness Gardner of Parkes in the State of New South Wales and Commonwealth of Australia, and of Southgate in Greater London", on 19 June 1981. ^[3] She is the only Australian-born life peeress.

• Sir Robert May (born 1936), Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government, President of the Royal Society, and a Professor at Sydney, Princeton, Oxford, and Imperial College London, was made a life peer in 2001. After his initial preference for "Baron May of Woollahra" failed an objection from the Protocol Office of the Australian Prime Minister's Department, he chose the title "Baron May of Oxford, of Oxford in the County of Oxfordshire".

• Alec Broers, former Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. His title as a life peer is "Baron Broers, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridgeshire"

Expectations unfullfilled

In some cases a person was nominated for a peerage which was refused, such as Sir Isaac Isaacs.

In some cases there was a very strong expectation of being nominated for a peerage that failed to materialise, such as Sir Henry Bolte.

In some cases, the nominee died before the peerage was granted, such as Daniel Patrick O'Connell.^[4]

Australian baronetcies

Although baronetcies are not peerages, relevant details are included here for ease of reference. The following Australians were awarded baronetcies:

Baronetcy of Clarke of Rupertswood

Sir William John Clarke 1st Bt. (1882, Colony of Victoria)

The baronetcy is extant. Application has been made by the prospective 4th baronet, Rupert Grant Alexander Clarke

Baronetcy of Cooper of Woollahra

Sir Daniel Cooper, 1st Bt. (1863, Colony of New South Wales)

The baronetcy is extant. Currently held by Sir William Cooper, 6th Bt.

Baronetcy of Nicholson of Luddenham

Sir Charles Nicholson, 1st Bt. (1859, Colony of New South Wales)

The baronetcy is extinct.

Baronetcy of Way of Montefiore

Sir Samuel James Way, 1st Bt. (1899, Colony of South Australia)

The baronetcy is extinct.

See also

• Members of the House of Lords
• Canadian titles debate
• Cracroft's peerage

References

Bibliography

• Rubinstein, W.D. (1991). The Biographical Dictionary of Life Peers. New York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-01911-4. 
• Cox, N. (1997). "The British Peerage: The Legal Standing of the Peerage and Baronetage in the overseas realms of the Crown with particular reference to New Zealand." New Zealand Universities Law Review. (Vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 379-401).
• Farnborough, T. E. May, 1st Baron. (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
• Life Peerages Act 1958. (6 & 7 Elizabeth 2 c. 21). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.