HEREDITARY PEERS
By far the largest group in the House of Lords, there are
currently around 750 people entitled to attend as 
hereditary peers. A hereditary peerage is an honour that 
has been bestowed on a family at some point in history, 
entitling all subsequent male heirs to a particular rank - 
duke, marquess, earl, viscount, or baron. Some peerages 
descend through the female line as well, but it was only in 
1963 that women holders of hereditary peerages were allowed 
to take their seats in the Lords.

Today, new hereditary peerages are relatively rare. The most
recent are the Earl of Stockton, created in 1984 for the former Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, and the Duke of York, in 1986.