The Brownlow Estate Bill select committee in the house of lords, 1717: a glimpse into the politics and the workings of the committee system

Abstract

On 27 May 1717 the house of lords select committee on a bill dealing with the estate of the late Sir John Brownlow, third baronet, sat for the only time. Sometime in the previous week, Lord Guilford, a member of the committee, acting on behalf of members of the Brownlow family, wrote to eleven members of the committee asking them to attend. This document, a very rare example of a peer lobbying a select committee on a private bill, is examined to indicate how select committees were established and how they worked, and how important politics might be in this process. An appendix is included showing when the method of nominating members to committees in the house of lords changed in 1689.