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House of Lords

upper house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

20 dated entries naming House of Lords, drawn from 19 separate years between 1539 CE and 1966 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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16th century

  • 1539May 5 – The English House of Lords creates a committee, balanced between religious reformers and religious conservatives, to examine and determine doctrine, eventually forming the "Six Articles".source

17th century

  • 1645April 3 – The House of Lords passes the Self-denying Ordinance, requiring members of the Parliament of England to resign commissions in the armed services.source
  • 1649March 19 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, which it describes in the act as "useless and dangerous to the people of England".source
  • 1677February 15 – Four members of the English House of Lords embarrass King Charles II at the opening of the latest session of the "Cavalier Parliament" by proclaiming that the session is not legitimate because it had not met in more than a year. The Duke of Buckingham, backed by Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Salisbury and Baron Wharton, makes an unsuccessful motion to end the session. When the four Lords refuse to apologize, they are arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.source
  • 1678December 1 – The Test Act provides that members of both the House of Lords and House of Commons of England must swear an anti-Catholic oath, before taking office.source
  • 1680December 17 (December 7 O.S.) – The trial for treason of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford before his fellow members of the House of Lords having concluded after seven days, the Lords vote on whether to convict him of the articles of impeachment. The Lords vote, 55 to 31 to convict him and to impose the death sentence and Lord Stafford is beheaded on 29 December (8 January 1681 N.S.)source

18th century

  • 1707February 15 – As part of the process of the unification of Scotland and England as Great Britain, Scotland selects 16 members to sit in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster.source
  • 1753April 16 – The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 is passed by Britain's House of Lords, permitting Jewish immigrants to England to become naturalized citizens "without receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper". The bill, introduced by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, passes the House of Commons on May 22.source
  • 1780The Duke of Richmond calls, in the House of Lords of Great Britain, for manhood suffrage and annual parliaments, which are rejected.source
  • 1795April 23 – Former Governor-General of India Warren Hastings is acquitted by the British House of Lords of misconduct.source

19th century

  • 1812February 27 – English poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the British House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against industrialism, in his home county of Nottinghamshire.source
  • 1822April 30 – George Canning, President of the Board of Control in the House of Commons, moves to repeal a law that prohibited Roman Catholic peers from sitting or voting in the House of Lords. The motion passes, 235–223, on its second reading, but the House of Lords declines to pass it.source
  • 1831September 22 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Great Reform Bill to expand the franchise, but this is later defeated in the House of Lords.source
  • 1846May 15 – Under the leadership of Prime Minister Robert Peel, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes to repeal the Corn Laws by passing an Importation Bill, replacing the old colonial mercantile trade system with free trade in response to the Great Famine (Ireland). On June 25 the Duke of Wellington persuades the House of Lords to pass the Act, which will take full effect from February 1849. Peel, however, is forced to resign.source

20th century

  • 1910December 19 – The second 1910 United Kingdom general election (the last to be fought with an all-male electorate) concludes with confirmation of a majority for the Liberal Party in alliance with the Irish Parliamentary Party, resolving the battle of wills between the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the House of Lords by giving a majority for restriction of the powers of the Lords and support for the Irish Home Rule movement.source
  • 1910January 15 – Amidst the constitutional crisis caused by the House of Lords rejecting the People's Budget, the January 1910 United Kingdom general election is held resulting in a hung parliament with neither Liberals nor Conservatives gaining a majority.source
  • 1914July 14 – The Government of Ireland Bill completes its passage through the House of Lords in the U.K. It allows Ulster counties to vote on whether or not they wish to participate in Home Rule from Dublin. Because of the outbreak of war in Europe and later developments in Ireland, the Act is never implemented in its original form.source
  • 1932May 26 – Judgement in Donoghue v Stevenson handed down in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, creating the modern concept of a duty of care in British law.source
  • 1956July 10 – The British House of Lords defeats the abolition of the death penalty.source
  • 1966July 26 – Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, stating that the House, when acting in a judicial capacity, is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.source

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