A transitional House of Lords

Following the Life Peerages Act, hereditary peerages continued to be created during the Conservative governments of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

Between 1958 and 1964 some recipients were able to choose which type of peerage they preferred. One such was the Labour politician Herbert Morrison, who in 1959 declined a hereditary viscountcy in favour of a life peerage.

This view of the Lords chamber - where some of the new women life peers can be spotted - during the 1961-62 session offers an interesting glimpse of this transitional period.