Titles are a subject of contention (should a peerage carry a right to a seat in the upper house?) and of confusion.
To illustrate the last point let me open with an admission. I am not Lord Norton!
I am Lord Norton of Louth. When I became a peer, there was (and still is) a Lord Norton, a hereditary peer, though (since the House of Lords Act 1999) he no longer sits in the House. (We did overlap as members for a year.) Titles cannot be repeated and I therefore needed a territorial addition; either that or change my name and simply adopt, as some peers do, an exclusively territorial title – former MP Michael Morris, for example, is now Lord Naseby. I wanted to be linked with the town in which I was born and brought up and with which I still maintain close links. I believe in having roots and I am proud of being an Old Ludensian.
There are several peers who similarly have taken territorial designations to distinguish them from existing peers. Geoffrey Howe, for example, is Lord Howe of Aberavon. This distinguishes him from Earl Howe, an existing hereditary peer, one of the elected hereditaries sitting in the House. At one point, we had three Lord Mackays in different forms (we still have two). Remarkably, when former Labour MP Barry Jones was elevated to the peerage in 2001, he was the first Jones ever to sit in the Lords. Since his elevation, three more with the same surname have joined the House, including Digby Jones – Lord Jones of Birmingham.
One problem with having a title in the computer age is that software designed to generate address labels often cannot cope with titles and my mail has sported a wonderful array of names!
Much as I love all these arcane details [and they certainly make for fascinating and interesting blog posts] I fear this is where the real disconnection begins with those within the corridors of the Houses Of Parliament and the wider electorate.
Much as Peter York made a good living from his ‘Sloane Ranger Handbook’ detailing the anthropology of the tribe of people at the beating heart of the moneyed classes, this tome sold because it told people about those very different from themselves.
And I suspect that there are still people who refer to Debrett’s Book Of Correct Form for their guide to etiquette or who insist on having a copy of Burke’s Peerage in the house to know ‘Who’s Who’. But these are people who are in the minority, even in the House of Lords, I suspect.
I am not a fan of Lords Reform – it is certain to be a misguided attempt to try and fix something which isn’t really broken. But once one introduces a whole level of jargon and nomenclature which will mean little to most British people, and nothing at all to people who have not lived here all their lives, I suspect that a clamour could soon be manufactured about ‘sweeping away out of date practices’.
I was at a ‘youth theatre’ event on Sunday. It introduced a diverse range of young people, most of whom wouldn’t see themselves as the ‘theatre type’ to the performing arts. In this way it was possible to break down the artificial barriers of theatre being seen as elitist, old-fashioned and inhabited only by the ‘M’-people of middle-aged, middle-class types.
Of course, I am not suggesting that the ‘cult of youth’ should take over at the Lords, or introduce some facile ‘targets’ to make it a more diverse place. But if the inaccurate impression of all those under the age of 40 is that the Lords is inhabited only by those like Lord St John of Fawsley, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of form, function and his role as a ‘constitutional expert’, then the writing could be on the wall..
I avoided going on to write about the correct form of address, but you are right that there are people who do seem very concerned to get the form right; I variously get approached to explain how to write to a peer. (The answer is simple ‘Dear Lord (or Lady) xxx’; some do, though, use the formal ‘My Lord’.) Mind you, I could go on about how some peers sometimes style themselves incorrectly!
Can titles ever be repeated, even after the holder has died?
Lord Norton, on a somewhat related topic, I believe that Garter King of Arms from the College of Arms is the man whom all new peers have to consult on their choice of title (I’ve seen this process referred to in a number of peers’ autobiographies, including the late Roy Jenkins’s A Life at the Centre). I’ve also noted from the College of Arms website that there has been a steady trickle of life peers over the past years being granted arms; I was therefore wondering if you yourself had done the same?
In response to Stuart, the answer is no. Even if the holder has died, the title cannot be repeated. (The exception is, as far as I am aware, royal titles: Duke of York etc.) On a related point, you can though take the same territorial designation as someone else as long as the family name is different. Thus, for example, we have Lord Howe of Aberavon and Lord Morris of Aberavon.
Michael raises a point on which I could wax lyrical for some time. You have to visit the College of Arms to discuss your title and get it approved. Fortunately, Garter King of Arms had no problem with mine, though there are various stories (many no doubt apocryphal) of problems he has raised with some suggested titles. The College, which is self-financing, is keen to encourage new peers to take coats of arms – which do not come cheaply. I did decide to have one, given that it was a one-off opportunity and a means of incorporating things I wanted to commemorate about my life. I indicated what I would like incorporating and, I must say, the College did an impressive job.
Is the coat of arms of a life peer applicable only to that person, or is it a family coat of arms, which passes down the generations? Can you tell us what aspects of your life you wanted incorporated, how that was done, and what involvement you had or consultation took place? Ignore me if I am prying. I am just curious.
Thank you for your reply, Lord Norton. In answer to your reply to Stuart’s question, can I point out that I can think of at least one example where a life peer has taken a title which had been held before? The example I have in mind is actually Laurence Olivier, the first actor to receive a peerage. According to Terry Coleman’s authorised biography of Olivier, the first Lord Olivier was the actor’s uncle, the civil servant, whose peerage became extinct at his death in 1943. Coleman claims that at the time Laurence Olivier became a peer (1970), there was rule at the College of Arms that for a title to be repeated then the original recipient would have to have been dead for a hundred years. In this case, the rule was relaxed and Olivier was allowed to become plain Lord Olivier, although only after having gained the agreement of his cousins. Whether or not such a rule still exists I don’t know, but it all sounds rather torturous!
Good afternoon my Lord,
I was just wondering if you went onto desert Island Discs (and you are enough of a celebrity to deserve a show!!!) would you choose OK computer by radiohead or Defninately Maybe by OASIS?
i appreciate this has little or no relevance to the discussion, but i have always wanted to know!
Regards
Michael: thanks for an extremely informative comment. It would be interesting to know if that is the only exception. You have tempted me to research further.
In response to itsneverdullinhull, you may have noticed that ladytizzy asked me in response to an earlier post (‘Brussels and beyond’) what book, music and luxury item I would select if I were to appear on Desert Island Discs. (Fat chance, though: I’m not that interesting.) I responded in respect of the luxury item and book. As to music, I am not that up to date with the latest beat combos. I know, though, that ‘Take That’ have made something of a comeback. I did once appear on a mini-equivalent of Desert Island Discs on Radio Humberside (as your screen name suggests, it’s never dull in Hull!) and had to choose three items of music: I went for ‘Eleanor Rigby’ (Beatles), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (Queen) and a stirring piece by Beethoven.
Thank you, Michael. I guess our constitution always allows for exceptions, flexible as it is.
Stuart: my understanding is that the coat of arms is specific to the individual title. You can have a ‘badge’ to accompany the coat of arms, which I gather (if I remember the guidance of Garter King of Arms correctly) may be used by other members of the family. However, the coat of arms does not extend beyond the individual who holds the title.
In terms of my choice of items for inclusion, I wanted a church spire to represent Louth (the town is dominated by St James’ Parish Church, which has one of the tallest spires in the country), a bee to represent industriousness (I can claim to work hard!), the fleur-de-lys to represent Lincolnshire, and birds of learning to represent scholarship. Garter included the colours of the University of Hull on the shield and added blue to represent the River Humber. I chose ‘Scholarship, Endeavour, Integrity’ as the motto to reflect my aspirations. Garter got to work and produced what I think is a highly attractive coat of arms, with a spire with a bee on top above the shield and with owls with feathers in their beaks as supporters on either side. If anybody is at all remotely interested, I could try to scan it and reproduce it.
Thank you very much for the full answer. I’d love to see it.
Stuart: I will have a go at reproducing it. Sometimes, what for some people is a simple technical problem is for me a technical problem that proves that I am simple. Anyway, let’s see what I can do.