Until then, all peers of the United Kingdom were automatically members of the House of Lords.
Peers in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Ireland did not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords following the Acts of Union of 1707 and 1800, though the law permitted a limited number to be elected by their fellows to serve in the House of Lords as representative peers.
Some peerages of the United Kingdom were created to get around this obstacle and allow certain Scottish and Irish peers to enjoy the automatic right to sit in the House of Lords[1][2][a][4][5][b] The ranks of the peerage are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
Creation of the remaining ranks, except baronies for life, mostly ceased once Harold Wilson's Labour government took office in 1964, and only thirteen (nine non-royal and four royal) people have been created hereditary peers since then.
These were: Marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons are all addressed as 'Lord X', where 'X' represents either their territory or surname pertaining to their title.