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Lords

1660-1832


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This section of the History, launched in April 1999, aims to provide a comprehensive account of the history and significance of the House of Lords in the governance of Great Britain and the United Kingdom within the period 1660-1832. The Project Plan for the House of Lords Section set out a comprehensive scheme for the design and execution of the new section which builds on the strengths of the House of Commons sections, while moving beyond it to provide a new and much more rounded model for the History of Parliament. It envisages the creation of three separate elements which together will form The History of Parliament: the House of Lords, 1660-1832. The first will be the biographies of members of the Lords; these will be published in print in three consecutive phases, covering 1660-1715; 1715-1790; and 1790-1832. The second element will be a two volume study of the House of Lords as an institution. The first volume will cover the organisation and operation of the House; the second its functions and business. The third element will be an ‘electronic history of the House of Lords’: initially the digitisation and publication on the internet of key sources relating to the History of the House such as its Journals, but building up into a cross-searchable and linked resource putting together a wide range of material relating to its proceedings and Members. The first volume of biographies, covering 1660-1715, was published in July 2016. The project staff are currently working on the second set of biographies, covering members of the Lords in the period 1715-90. So far 42 journals of the House of Lords, covering the period from 1509 to 1793 and 1830-2  have been placed online at British History Online.