The Other House (also referred to as the Upper House, House of Peers and House of Lords), established by the

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') is a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometime ...

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

under the terms of the

Humble Petition and Advice The Humble Petition and Advice was the second and last codified constitution of England after the Instrument of Government. On 23 February 1657, during a sitting of the Second Protectorate Parliament, Sir Christopher Packe, a Member of Parliam ...

, was one of the two chambers of the parliaments that legislated for

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1658 and 1659, the final years of the

Protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

.The Humble Partition states "to create the 'Other House,' the members to be such as should be nominated by his highness and approved by the commons". George Craik notes "The commonwealth-men, it appears, would tolerate neither the designation 'House of Lords.' nor that of 'Upper House.' The thing was, therefore, termed 'the Other House;' that branch of the legislature losing not less in real power than it lost in name or dignity: they were not to exceed seventy in number, nor to be less than forty, whereof one-and-twenty were to form a

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...

; they were not to give any vote by proxy; on death or removal no new members were to be admitted to sit and vote but by consent of the House of Commons, &c." __TOC__

History

During the

Rule of the Major-Generals The Rule of the Major-Generals, was a period of direct military government from August 1655 to January 1657, during Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. England and Wales were divided into ten regions, each governed by a major-general who answered to ...

and the selection of members for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first sess ...

there was a firming of opinion that a second chamber was needed. During the debate over the

, the Lord Protector,

, and others wanted an upper chamber as a check on the power of the Lower House because he had found it difficult to control over the

Naylor case The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in ...

. He pushed for a second chamber which would consist of nominated members who, in Thurloe's words, would be "a great security and a bulwark to the common interest". On 11 March 1657 the House of Commons passed a bill creating a second house which would consist of up to 70 members nominated by the Lord Protector. On 6 May 1657 Cromwell rejected the title of King as proposed in the draft version of the Humble Petition, but accepted a reworded Humble Petition on 25 May. It included provisions for him as Lord Protector, tri-annual parliaments and an Other House of 40 to 70 members nominated for life by the Lord Protector, with a quorum of 21. Thus the second house became a fixture of the Protectorate, cemented in place by the Humble Petition and Advice, a new written constitution. The Judges of the Upper Bench, who at this time were Warburton and Newdigate; of the

Common Bench The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century af ...

, Atkins, Hale, and Wyndham; with

Barons of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

, Parker and

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

, were summoned as assistants to the second chamber.For more details of these men see Noble Volume 1. Judges of the Upper Bench ; Judges of the Common Bench ; Barons of Exchequer All the peers but one ( Lord Eure) summoned to attend this second chamber declined to sit, and to show his contempt for them, Sir Arthur Hesilrige took his seat in the Commons as member for

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. So, filling the second house proved more difficult than creating it. Of the 63 nominees only 42 accepted and only 37 came to the first meeting. Matters were made worse when Parliament reconvened on 20 January 1658. Republicans in the lower house attempted to kill off the second house before a name for the chamber had been decided upon. After five days of debate with no agreement on whether it should be called the 'House of Lords' or the 'Other House', Cromwell addressed both houses warning them that such disagreements encouraged Royalists and threatened the country with a new civil war. Parliament was in no mood to heed his warning and continued to disagree among themselves, so on 4 February 1658 Cromwell dissolved Parliament. After Oliver Cromwell's death in September 1658, those in the funeral procession who had noble titles under the ancient regime were so called (for example Edward, Earl of Manchester); those who had sat in Cromwell's Other House were called lord (for example Philip, Lord Skipton), but those such as "

George Monck George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (6 December 1608 3 January 1670) was an English military officer and politician who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support ...

, General in Scotland", who had not taken up their seats in the Other House, were not referred to as lord. The

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

(27 January 1659 – 22 April 1659) included a second chamber, but republicans in the House of Commons treated it with suspicion as they considered some of the members to be Presbyterians and closet Royalists. Parliament was soon deadlocked and was dissolved by

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who served as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1658 to 1659. He was the son of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Following his father ...

, the new Lord Protector, on the advice of the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, when it became clear that the Commons was seeking ways to disband the Army. With that dissolution the Other House, that had come into existence in 1656, never reconvened.

List of those nominated by Cromwell

Notes

References

* * * * * **. * * * *

on the persons sitting in Cromwell's House of Lords. *{{Citation , journal=Notes and Queries , volume=10 , date=July–December 1908 , location=London , publisher=John C. Francis and J Edward Francis , page
112
, title=Titles conferred by Cromwell (10 S. x. 49) **A list of these will be found in vol. ii. of Noble's ''Memoirs of the Protectorate House of Cromwell''. ***For an exhaustive list of Cromwell's "Other House" or "House of Lords" see G. E. C.'s ''Complete Peerage,'' vol. ii. pp. 84–9. ***For full particulars of Cromwellian baronets see G. E. C.'s ''Complete Baronetage,'' vol. iii. pp. 3 to 9. ***The knights made by both the Protectors, Oliver and Richard, are enumerated in

William Arthur Shaw William Arthur Shaw (1865–1943) was an English historian and archivist. Life Born on 19 April 1865, in Hooley Hill, Ashton-under-Lyne, now in Greater Manchester, he was the son of James Shaw and his wife Sarah Ann Hampshire. He graduated B. ...

's ''Knights of England'' vol. ii. pp.&nbs
223–4
**— W.D. Pink, Lowton,

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows, often shortened informally to Newton, is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census was 24,642. Newton-le-Willows is on the ea ...

. **The MS. Journal of the Protectorate House of Lords, in possession of the late Sir Richard Tangye, was published this year for the first time in ''The House of Lords' Manuscripts, Vol. IV. (New Series),'' ... . This contains the lists of the different peers attending the meetings of Cromwell's House of Lords, with mention also of the various offices held by them. — R. B. Upton. **There is a list of many of these persona (with armorial bearings) in Sir J. Prestwich's ''Respublica,'' 1787, at pp. 149 ''et seqq''. — M. Political history of England Republicanism in England 17th-century English parliaments 1658 establishments in England 1659 disestablishments 1658 in England 1659 in England Defunct upper houses Other House 1650s disestablishments in England

History

List of those nominated by Cromwell

See also

Notes

References

Further reading