List of trials of peers in the House of Lords
This is a list of trials of peers in the House of Lords. Until 1948, peers of the United Kingdom and its predecessor states had the right to trial by their equals.
| Year | Peer | Charge | Verdict | Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1499 | Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick | Treason | Pleaded guilty | Death |
| 1521 | Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| 1534 | William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre | Treason | Not guilty | |
| 1536 | Queen Anne Boleyn | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford | ||||
| 1541 | Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre | Murder | Guilty | Death |
| 1551 | Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset | Treason | Guilty of felony | Death |
| 1553 | John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| 1571 | Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| 1589 | Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel and Surrey | Treason | Guilty | Death (died before sentence was carried out) |
| 1600 | Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton | Death (pardoned) | |||
| 1603 | Thomas Grey, 15th Baron Grey de Wilton | Treason | Guilty | Death (commuted to imprisonment) |
| Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham | ||||
| 1616 | Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset | Murder | Guilty | Death (pardoned) |
| 1616 | Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset | Murder | Pleaded guilty | Death (pardoned) |
| 1631 | Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven | Rape and sodomy | Guilty | Death |
| 1641 | Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford | Treason | Prosecution dropped | |
| 1666 | Thomas Park, 15th Baron Morley | Murder | Guilty of manslaughter | Pleaded privilege* |
| 1678 | Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis | Murder | Not guilty | |
| 1678 | Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke | Murder | Guilty of manslaughter | Pleaded privilege* |
| 1680 | William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| 1686 | Henry Booth, 1st Baron Delamer | Treason | Not guilty | |
| 1692 | Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun | Murder | Not guilty | |
| 1699 | Edward Rich, 6th Earl of Warwick and Holland | Murder | Guilty of manslaughter | Pleaded privilege* |
| 1699 | Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun | Murder | Not guilty | |
| 1716 | James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater | Treason | Pleaded guilty | Death |
| William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington | Death (pardoned) | |||
| William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale | Death (escaped) | |||
| Robert Dalzell, 5th Earl of Carnwath | Death (pardoned) | |||
| William Gordon, 6th Viscount Kenmure | Death | |||
| William Murray, 2nd Lord Nairne | Death (pardoned) | |||
| 1716 | George Seton, 5th Earl of Winton | Treason | Guilty | Death (escaped) |
| 1717 | Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer | Treason | Not guilty | |
| 1746 | William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock | Treason | Pleaded guilty | Death |
| George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie | Pleaded guilty | Death (pardoned) | ||
| Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord Balmerinoch | Guilty | Death | ||
| 1747 | Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat | Treason | Guilty | Death |
| 1760 | Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers | Murder | Guilty | Death |
| 1765 | William Byron, 5th Baron Byron | Murder | Guilty of manslaughter | Pleaded privilege* |
| 1776 | Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull | Bigamy | Guilty | Pleaded privilege* |
| 1841 | James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan | Duelling | Not guilty | |
| 1901 | Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell | Bigamy | Guilty | 3 months' detention |
| 1935 | Edward Russell, 26th Baron de Clifford | Manslaughter | Not guilty | |
| *These were all capital crimes; the usual sentence was death. From 1547 if a peer or peeress was convicted of a crime, except treason or murder, he or she could claim "privilege of peerage" to escape punishment if it was their first offence. In all, the privilege was exercised five times, until it was formally abolished in 1841. | ||||
| Lovell, C. R. (October 1949) "The Trial of Peers in Great Britain" The American Historical Review 55: 69–81 | ||||
Further reading
[edit]- The Trial of James Thomas, Earl of Cardigan before The Right Honourable The House of Peers, in Full Parliament, for Felony, On Tuesday the 16th Day of February 1841. William Brodie Gurney et al, London, 1841.
- First Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on The Trial of the Earl Russell. HL Paper 143 of session 1901.
- Second Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on The Trial of the Earl Russell. HL Paper 145 of session 1901.
- Third Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on The Trial of the Earl Russell. HL Paper 157 of session 1901.
- Proceedings on the Trial of Earl Russell. HL Paper 165 of session 1901.
- Report By the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Trial of the Lord de Clifford together with the Proceedings of the Committee. HL Paper 153 of session 1934-35.
- Proceedings on the Trial of the Lord de Clifford. HL Paper 12 of session 1935-36.