Harley's Dozen were twelve new peerages created in December 1711 by the British Tory government of Robert Harley which was struggling to gain a majority in the Whig-dominated House of Lords. [1] This came at a time when the government were negotiating peace terms to end the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession, which were unlikely to pass the Lords where opposition Whigs and some Tories had joined together to block them under the slogan "No Peace Without Spain".
Two of the men, Lord Bruce and Lord Compton, were heirs to existing earldoms and were advanced to the house in their own right using their father's baronies. Others included Harley's son-in-law George Hay as well as George Granville, Thomas Mansel, Thomas Trevor, Thomas Foley all of whom were close political allies of the First Minister. [2] Most controversial was that of Samuel Masham, the husband of Queen Anne's favourite Abigail Hill, a cousin and ally of Harley. While Bruce's letters patent were dated 31 December 1711, the other creations all took place on the subsequent day 1 January 1712. When Parliament resumed on 2 January they took their seats. Because their numbers resembled that of a jury, the Whig Lord Wharton mockingly asked if they were going to speak individually or elect a foreman to do so.
Despite the controversy Harley was able to subsequently pass the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. However, the narrow Tory majority in the Lords disappeared in 1714 following the Hanoverian Succession when the Tory government was replaced by George I. [3] Harley's alleged abuse of royal power and the violation of the constitution were part of the articles of impeachment against him, when he was prosecuted by Parliament in 1715. [4]
In 1719 partly in a response to Harley's earlier creations, the Whig government of James Stanhope proposed a Peerage Bill which would have largely limited further expansion of the House of Lords. However, this was defeated and the size of the Lords continued to grow during the eighteenth century.
Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey was an English peer, courtier, and statesman of the Villiers family. He was created Baron Villiers and Viscount Villiers in 1691 and Earl of Jersey in 1697. A leading Tory politician opposed to the Whig Junto, he was made Southern Secretary in 1699.
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, KG PC FRS was an English statesman and peer of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory ministry. He was raised to the peerage of Great Britain as an earl in 1711. Between 1711 and 1714 he served as Lord High Treasurer, effectively Queen Anne's chief minister. He has been called a prime minister, although it is generally accepted that the de facto first minister to be a prime minister was Robert Walpole in 1721.
The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain. New peers continued to be created in the Peerage of Ireland until 1898.
Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, PC of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, was an English Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1690 until 1710. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Harcourt in 1711 and sat in the House of Lords, becoming Queen Anne's Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was her solicitor-general and her commissioner for arranging the union with Scotland. He took part in the negotiations preceding the Peace of Utrecht.
Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England.
Marquess of Downshire is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, a former Secretary of State.
Earl of Kinnoull is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1633 for George Hay, 1st Viscount of Dupplin. Other associated titles are: Viscount Dupplin and Lord Hay of Kinfauns (1627) and Baron Hay of Pedwardine (1711). The former two are in the Peerage of Scotland, while the third is in the Peerage of Great Britain. The title of Viscount Dupplin is the courtesy title for the Earl's eldest son and heir.
William Talbot, Earl Talbot, PC, known as the Lord Talbot from 1737 to 1761, was a British politician. Talbot was a notable figure among opposition Whig politicians during the reign of King George II before later coming to Court during the reign of his grandson, taking the office of Lord Steward of the Household.
Thomas Trevor, 1st Baron Trevor, was a British judge and politician who was Attorney-General and later Lord Privy Seal.
General Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, styled Earl of Hertford until 1748, of Petworth House in Sussex, was a British Army officer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 until 1722 when he was raised to the House of Lords as Baron Percy.
Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham, was an English courtier. She was a favourite of Queen Anne, and a cousin of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.
George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne PC, of Stowe, Cornwall, was an English Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1702 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lansdown and sat in the House of Lords. He was Secretary at War during the Harley administration from 1710 to 1712. He was also a noted poet and made a name for himself with verses composed on the visit of Mary of Modena, then Duchess of York, while he was at Cambridge in 1677. He was also a playwright, following in the style of John Dryden.
Major-General John "Jack" Hill was a British army officer and courtier during the reign of Queen Anne. While of no particular military ability, his family connections brought him promotion and office until the end of Anne's reign.
George Henry Hay, 8th Earl of KinnoullFRS, styled as Viscount Dupplin from 1709 to 1719, was a British peer and diplomat.
Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, of Beaudesert, Staffordshire, and West Drayton, Middlesex, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1695 until 1712 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Burton as one of Harley's Dozen. He was a Hanoverian Tory, supportive of the Hanoverian Succession.
The Harleyministry was the British government that existed between 1710 and 1714 in the reign of Queen Anne. It was headed by Robert Harley and composed largely of Tories. Harley was a former Whig who had changed sides, bringing down the seemingly powerful Whig Junto and their moderate Tory ally Lord Godolphin. It came during the Rage of Party when divisions between the two factions were at their height, and a "paper war" broke out between their supporters. Amongst those writers supportive of Harley's government were Jonathon Swift, Daniel Defoe, Delarivier Manley, John Arbuthnot and Alexander Pope who clashed with members of the rival Kit-Kat Club.
Charles Bruce, 3rd Earl of Ailesburyand 4th Earl of Elgin, of Ampthill, Bedfordshire and Savernake Park, Wiltshire, styled Viscount Bruce of Ampthill from 1685 to 1741, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1705 until 1711 when he was raised to the peerage as one of Harley's Dozen and sat in the House of Lords.
Thomas Mansel, 1st Baron Mansel PC was a Welsh nobleman and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1689 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mansel as one of Harley's Dozen and sat in the House of Lords.
Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1734. Initially a Tory, he switched to supporting the Whigs after 1715. He held no Office of State, nor any commercial directorship of significance, but is remembered chiefly as the builder of the now long-demolished Palladian "princely mansion" Wanstead House, one of the first in the style constructed in Britain. In the furnishing of his mansion Child became the main patron of the Flemish painter Old Nollekens. He died in March 1750 aged 70 at Aix-en-Provence, France, and was buried on 29 May 1750 at Wanstead.
Lieutenant-General Thomas Windsor, 1st Viscount Windsor, styled The Honourable Thomas Windsor until 1699, was a British Army officer, landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1685 and 1712. He was then elevated to the British House of Lords as one of Harley's Dozen.