1.
House of Lords
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The House of Lords of the United Kingdom, referred to ceremonially as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. Unlike the elected House of Commons, all members of the House of Lords are appointed, the membership of the House of Lords is drawn from the peerage and is made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are 26 bishops in the established Church of England, of the Lords Temporal, the majority are life peers who are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, or on the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. However, they include some hereditary peers including four dukes. Very few of these are female since most hereditary peerages can only be inherited by men, while the House of Commons has a defined 650-seat membership, the number of members in the House of Lords is not fixed. There are currently 805 sitting Lords, the House of Lords is the only upper house of any bicameral parliament to be larger than its respective lower house. The House of Lords scrutinises bills that have approved by the House of Commons. It regularly reviews and amends Bills from the Commons, while it is unable to prevent Bills passing into law, except in certain limited circumstances, it can delay Bills and force the Commons to reconsider their decisions. In this capacity, the House of Lords acts as a check on the House of Commons that is independent from the electoral process, Bills can be introduced into either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. Members of the Lords may also take on roles as government ministers, the House of Lords has its own support services, separate from the Commons, including the House of Lords Library. The Queens Speech is delivered in the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, the House also has a Church of England role, in that Church Measures must be tabled within the House by the Lords Spiritual. This new parliament was, in effect, the continuation of the Parliament of England with the addition of 45 MPs and 16 Peers to represent Scotland, the Parliament of England developed from the Magnum Concilium, the Great Council that advised the King during medieval times. This royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, the first English Parliament is often considered to be the Model Parliament, which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of the shires and boroughs of it. The power of Parliament grew slowly, fluctuating as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined, for example, during much of the reign of Edward II, the nobility was supreme, the Crown weak, and the shire and borough representatives entirely powerless. In 1569, the authority of Parliament was for the first time recognised not simply by custom or royal charter, further developments occurred during the reign of Edward IIs successor, Edward III. It was during this Kings reign that Parliament clearly separated into two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The authority of Parliament continued to grow, and, during the fifteenth century
2.
House of Lords Act 1999
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The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament, for centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats, the Act removed such a right. However, as part of a compromise, the Act did permit ninety-two hereditary peers to remain in the House on an interim basis, another ten were created life peers to enable them to remain in the House. The Act decreased the membership of the House from 1,330 in October 1999 to 669 in March 2000, as another result of the Act, the majority of the Lords were now life peers, whose numbers had been gradually increasing since the Life Peerages Act 1958. As of August 2012, there were 825 Peers, of whom 26 were senior Church of England bishops, prior to the 16th century, the Lords was the stronger of the two houses of Parliament. The rising wealth of the Commons eventually allowed it to two civil wars, dethrone two Kings, and gradually reduce the power of the Lords. Furthermore, the Commons has absolute power when it comes to money bills, the Labour Party had for years endorsed abolition of the unelected House of Lords in its election platforms, though since 1992 this had changed to a policy of reforming the House instead. In the first year of the Blair government, the Lords passed back Government bills 38 times, the rejection considered the most contentious was of the European Elections Bill, against which the Lords voted five times. Blair stated that the Conservatives were using the hereditary peers to frustrate, here Blair found an opportunity to implement one of Labours campaign promises, reforming the Lords. In it, she suggested that her Government would pursue a reform of the House of Lords and these remarks were followed by shouts of Hear. Hear. from supportive Labour Members of Parliament, and by similar shouts of Shame, Shame. from Conservative peers, such outbursts were unprecedented, for the Queens Speech is with few exceptions heard by a silent Parliament. The House of Lords Bill was expected to face a fight in the House of Lords. Several Lords threatened to disrupt the Governments other bills if they continued with the plan to abolish the right to sit in the House of Lords. The Earl of Onslow, for instance, said, Im happy to force a division on each, each division takes 20 minutes and there are more than 270 clauses. Lords had plenty of other means by which they could obstruct the Governments programme, Lord Randall put forward the idea of phasing out the hereditary peers by disqualifying their heirs. Baroness Jay reminded the House that under the Salisbury Convention they could not block the bill. In order to convince some peers to vote for reform, Tony Blair announced that he would compromise by allowing a number of peers to remain in the House of Lords on an interim basis. On 2 December 1998, the Conservative Leader of the Opposition, William Hague and he suggested that Blairs changes indicated his lack of principles, claiming that Blair wanted to turn the House of Lords into a House of Cronies
3.
Blenheim Palace
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Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the residence of the Dukes of Marlborough. The palace, one of Englands largest houses, was built between 1705 and circa 1722, Blenheim Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Designed in the rare, and short-lived, English Baroque style and it is unique in its combined use as a family home, mausoleum and national monument. The palace is notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill. At the end of the 19th century, the palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlboroughs marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, the exterior of the palace remains in good repair. John Churchill was born in Devon, although his family had aristocratic relations, it belonged to the minor gentry rather than the upper echelons of 17th-century society. In 1678, Churchill married Sarah Jennings, and in April that year, in May, Churchill was appointed the temporary rank of Brigadier-General of Foot, but the possibility of a continental campaign was eliminated with the Treaty of Nijmegen. When Churchill returned to England, the Popish Plot resulted in a temporary three-year banishment for James Stuart, the Duke obliged Churchill to attend him, first to The Hague, then in Brussels. On the death of Charles II in 1685, his brother, on Jamess succession Churchill was appointed governor of the Hudsons Bay Company. He had also been affirmed Gentleman of the Bedchamber in April, following the Monmouth Rebellion, Churchill was promoted to Major General and awarded the lucrative colonelcy of the Third Troop of Life Guards. When William, Prince of Orange, invaded England in November 1688, Churchill, accompanied by some 400 officers and men, when the King saw he could not even keep Churchill—for so long his loyal and intimate servant—he fled to France. As part of William IIIs coronation honours Churchill was created Earl of Marlborough, sworn to the Privy Council, during the War of the Spanish Succession Churchill gained a reputation as a capable military commander, and in 1702 he was elevated to the dukedom of Marlborough. During the war he won series of victories, including the Battle of Blenheim, the Battle of Ramillies, the Battle of Oudenarde, and this flag is displayed by the Monarch on a 17th-century French writing table in Windsor Castle. Marlboroughs wife was by all accounts a cantankerous woman, though capable of great charm, the relationship between Queen and Duchess later became strained and fraught, and following their final quarrel in 1711, the money for the construction of Blenheim ceased. For political reasons the Marlboroughs went into exile on the Continent until they returned the day after the Queens death on 1 August 1714, legend has obscured the manors origins. King Henry I enclosed the park to contain the deer, Henry II housed his mistress Rosamund Clifford there in a bower and labyrinth, a spring in which she is said to have bathed remains, named after her. The Duchess, as so often in her disputes with her architect, won the day, the architect selected for the ambitious project was a controversial one
4.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
5.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
6.
Duke of Devonshire
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Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. Although modern usage outside of the county itself now rarely refers to Devon as Devonshire, despite the title of the dukedom and the subsidiary title, the earldom of Devonshire, the family estates are centred in Derbyshire. The title Duke of Devonshire should not be confused with the earlier title, uniquely, every Duke of Devonshire has been made a Knight of the Garter, except the present one. The Cavendish family descends from Sir John Cavendish, who took his name from the village of Cavendish, Suffolk and he served as Chief Justice of the Kings Bench from 1372 to 1381, and was killed in the Peasants Revolt in 1381. Two of his great-grandsons were George Cavendish, Thomas Cardinal Wolseys biographer, Sir William gained great wealth from his position in the Exchequer and also from unfairly taking advantage of the dissolution of the Monasteries. He married as his wife the famous Bess of Hardwick. One of their sons, Sir Charles Cavendish, was the father of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, while another son, yet another son, William Cavendish, was a politician and a supporter of the colonialization of Virginia. In 1605 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cavendish, of Hardwicke in the County of Derby, both titles are in the Peerage of England. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire, on his early death in 1628 the titles passed to his son, William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, who also served as Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire. He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Earl and he was a strong supporter of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and later served under William III and Mary II as Lord Steward of the Household. In 1694 he was created Marquess of Hartington and Duke of Devonshire in the Peerage of England and he was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Duke, who held political office as Lord President of the Council and Lord Privy Seal and was also Lord-Lieutenant of Devonshire. His eldest son, the third Duke, served as Lord Privy Seal, as Lord Steward of the Household, on his death the titles passed to his eldest son, the fourth Duke, who was a prominent politician. Devonshire married Charlotte Boyle, 6th Baroness Clifford, daughter of the famous architect Richard Boyle and their third and youngest son Lord George Cavendish was created Earl of Burlington in 1831. Devonshire was succeeded by his eldest son, William Cavendish, who became the fifth Duke of Devonshire and he had already succeeded his mother as seventh Baron Clifford in 1754. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire from 1782 to 1811 but is best remembered for his first marriage to Lady Georgiana Spencer and their only son, the sixth Duke, served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household from 1827 to 1828 and from 1830 to 1834. Known as the Bachelor Duke, he never married and on his death in 1858 the barony of Clifford fell into abeyance between his sisters and he was succeeded in the other titles by his first cousin once removed, the second Earl of Burlington, who became the seventh Duke. He was the son of William Cavendish, eldest son of the aforementioned first Earl of Burlington and he was Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire and Derbyshire and Chancellor of the University of London and of the University of Cambridge. He was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the eighth Duke and he was a noted statesman and the most famous member of the Cavendish family
7.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
8.
Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
9.
Diana, Princess of Wales
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Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. Diana was born into a family of British nobility with royal ancestry and was the child and third daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp. She grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, in 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became known as Lady Diana Spencer. She came to prominence in February 1981 when her engagement to Prince Charles was announced and her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981, held at St Pauls Cathedral, reached a global television audience of over 750 million people. While married, Diana bore the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, the marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and she was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She was involved with dozens of charities including Londons Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, Diana was born on 1 July 1961, in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, the Spencer family has been closely allied with the British Royal Family for several generations. Both of Dianas grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, with wealthy commoners as godparents. Diana had three siblings, Sarah, Jane, and Charles and her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an added strain to the Spencers marriage. Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, the Spencers leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with Princes Andrew, Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced. Her mother later had an affair with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969, Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents separation in 1967, but during that years Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let Diana return to London with Lady Althorp. Shortly afterwards he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Ruth Roche, in 1972, Lord Althorp began a relationship with Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and Dame Barbara Cartland. They married at Caxton Hall, London in 1976, as an upper-class child at the time, Diana was first educated under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen. She began her education at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Diss
10.
Spencer family
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The Spencer family is one of Britains preeminent aristocratic families. Over time, several members have been made knights, baronets. Hereditary titles held by the Spencers include the dukedom of Marlborough, the earldoms of Sunderland and Spencer, two prominent members of the family during the 20th century were Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. The family is descended in the line from Henry Spencer. In the 16th century they claimed that Henry was a descendant of the branch of the ancient House Le Despencer. The descent of the family from the Medieval Despencers has been debunked, the Spencers were granted a coat of arms in 1504, Azure a fess Ermine between 6 sea-mews’ heads erased Argent which bears no resemblance to that used by the family after c. 1595, which was derived from the Despencer arms, Quarterly Argent and Gules in the second, Round argued that the Despencer descent was fabricated by Richard Lee, a corrupt Clarencieux King of Arms. Citing Round, The Complete Peerage dismissed the alleged Despencer descent as an elaborate imposture which is now incapable of deceiving the most credulous, of course, the heirs to the Prince of Wales, Princes William and Harry are half Spencers. A close relative of Henry Spencer was John Spencer, who in 1469 had become feoffee of Wormleighton in Warwickshire and a tenant at Althorp in Northamptonshire in 1486. His nephew, Sir John Spencer, first made a living by trading in livestock and other commodities, Wormleighton was bought in 1506, the manor house was completed in 1512. In 1508, Spencer also purchased the estate of Althorp with its moated house and he had grazed sheep here from the 1480s. Impressed by the quality of the land, he bought it. At that time, his estate and mansion in Warwickshire were considerably larger, in 1511 he made further purchases to acquire the villages of Little Brington and Great Brington as well their parish church of St Mary the Virgin, from Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset. By putting down roots at Althorp, Spencer provided what was to become a home for the next 19 generations, in 1519 he was knighted by King Henry VIII, died three years later and was buried in the new family chapel at Great Brington. The Spencers rose to opulent prominence during the 16th century, Sir John Spencers grandson Sir John Spencer was a Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire. The Spencers’ administration of their Northamptonshire and Warwickshire estates was admired, sheep from their pastures were purchased for breeding and it is probable that the family’s success as farmers was rarely equalled in the century. In the late 16th century, the latter Sir John Spencers grandson Sir Robert Spencer represented Brackley in Parliament, in 1601, he was made a Knight of the Garter, and created Baron Spencer, of Wormleighton, in the Peerage of England in 1603. During the reign of King James I he was reputed to be the richest man in England, Lord Spencer then instantly replied, When my ancestors as you say were keeping sheep, your ancestors were plotting treason
