The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and 24 diocesan bishops of the Church of England sit in the House of Lords, and are known as the Lords
Spiritual.
The Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester always have seats; the other 21 seats are filled by the remaining bishops in order of seniority.
The procedure for these 21 seats has now been amended by the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act which received the Royal Assent on 26 March 2015. Essentially, for a period of 10 years, the most senior eligible female bishop at any time will fill a vacant Lords Spiritual seat in preference to the most senior eligible male bishop.
The Bishops of Sodor and Man and of Gibraltar are not eligible as their sees are not part of the United Kingdom.
The Bishop of Sodor and Man is an ex officio member of the Legislative Council, one of the two houses of the Isle of Man Parliament.
See | Name | date of birth | became diocesan bishop | introduced to the House | |
Archbishops |
Canterbury | Justin Welby | 6 Jan 1956 | 2011 | 2011 (as Bishop of Durham) 26 Feb 2013 (as Archbishop of Canterbury) |
York | Stephen Cottrell | 31 Aug 1958 | 2010 | 25 Mar 2014 (as Bishop of Chelmsford) 22 Oct 2020 (as Archbishop of York) |
|
Three senior bishops | London | Sarah Mullally | 26 Mar 1962 | 2018 | 24 May 2018 |
Durham | Paul Butler | 18 Sep 1955 | 2010 | 3 Mar 2014 (as Bishop of Durham) | |
Winchester | vacant | ||||
21 other diocesan bishops | Birmingham | David Urquhart | 14 Apr 1952 | 2006 | 26 Oct 2010 |
Worcester | John Inge | 26 Feb 1955 | 2008 | 25 Jun 2012 | |
Coventry | Christopher Cocksworth | 12 Jan 1959 | 2008 | 15 Jan 2013 | |
Oxford | Stephen Croft | 29 May 1957 | 2009 | 14 Oct 2013 (as Bishop of Sheffield) 19 Jul 2016 (as Bishop of Oxford) |
|
St Albans | Alan Smith | 14 Feb 1957 | 2009 | 4 Nov 2013 | |
Carlisle | James Newcombe | 24 Jul 1953 | 2009 | 23 Oct 2013 | |
Peterborough | Donald Allister | 27 Aug 1952 | 2010 | 4 Feb 2014 | |
Ely | Stephen Conway | 22 Dec 1957 | 2011 | 7 Jul 2014 | |
Southwark | Christopher Chessun | 5 Aug 1956 | 2011 | 15 Dec 2014 | |
Leeds | Nicholas Baines | 13 Nov 1957 | 2011 | 5 Feb 2015 | |
Gloucester | Rachel Treweek | 4 Feb 1963 | 2015 | 26 Oct 2015 | |
Chichester | Martin Warner | 24 Dec 1958 | 2012 | 15 Jan 2018 | |
Bristol | Viv Faull | 20 May 1955 | 2018 | 23 Oct 2018 | |
Derby | Libby Lane | 8 Dec 1966 | 2019 | 2 Jul 2019 | |
Blackburn | Julian Henderson | 23 Jul 1954 | 2013 | 6 Feb 2020 | |
Manchester | David Walker | 30 May 1957 | 2013 | 7 Sept 2020 | |
Chelmsford | Guli Francis-Dehqani | 1966 | 2021 | 1 Nov 2021 | |
Exeter | Robert Atwell | 3 Aug 1954 | 2014 | 15 Nov 2021 | |
Guildford | Andrew Watson | 16 Jul 1961 | 2105 | 9 Feb 2022 | |
St Edmundsbury & Ipswich | Martin Seeley | 29 May 1954 | 2015 | 21 Mar 2022 | |
Southwell & Nottingham | Paul Williams | 16 Jan 1968 | 2015 | 13 June 2022 |
See | Name | became diocesan bishop | date of birth |
Leicester | Martyn Snow | 2016 | 1968 |
Lichfield | Michael Ipgrave | 2016 | 18 Apr 1958 |
Sheffield | Pete Wilcox | 2017 | 1961 |
Truro | Philip Mounstephen | 2018 | 13 Jul 1959 |
Norwich | Graham Usher | 2019 | 1970 |
Hereford | Richard Jackson | 2020 | 1961 |
Chester | Mark Tanner | 2020 | 1970 |
Portsmouth | Jonathan Frost | 2022 | |
Salisbury [designate] |
Stephen Lake | ||
Rochester [designate] |
Jonathan Gibbs | ||
Bath & Wells [designaate] |
Michael Beasley | ||
Newcastle | vacant | ||
Lincoln | vacant | ||
Liverpool | vacant |