Wikipedia:WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom/British Government

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Title

WikiProject on British Government

Scope

This WikiProject defines conventions for the succession tables that should be located at the very end of every member of the British government who held one of the enumerated offices defined later on this page.

Parentage

WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom

Descendant WikiProjects

No descendant WikiProjects have been defined.

Similar WikiProjects

Similar WikiProjects are:

Participants

Structure

Each article on a member of the British government should include, at the bottom, a succession table (defined in the Succession Tables section below), and a link to several relevant categories. Additionally, Prime Ministers have a specific infobox.

Templates

{{WikiProject British Government}} - the project banner, to be added to the talk pages of all relevant articles.
{{User WikiProject British Government}} - a userbox for use by members on their user pages.

Hierarchy definition

No classification of this project has been defined.

Goals

To facilitate navigation between members of a similar office, and to illustrate a specific statesman's passage through various different positions throughout his political career.

General strategy and discussion forums

Succession Tables

{{start box}}
{{succession box | title=[[Name of Position]] | years=xxxx–yyyy | before=[[Name of Preceding Statesman]] | after=[[Name of Succeeding Statesman]]}}
{{end box}}

There are specific conventions for peers:

Peers and peeresses in their own rights get simply a "The" affixed to their peerage: The Earl of Wilmington; The Duke of Wellington. Barons are termed "The Lord X" rather than "The Baron X". Baronesses remain "The Baroness X."
Courtesy peers follow the same rules as above, except they omit the "The": Viscount Castlereagh, Lord North.

Other conventions:

When noting a statesman who is preceding the guy you're writing about, use the most senior title he had when he left office. Therefore, Robert Walpole should not be noted as The Earl of Orford on Spencer Compton's page, even though he became Earl of Orford immediately after leaving his position as Prime Minister.
When noting a statesman who is following the guy you're writing about, use the most senior title he had when he entered office. For some cases, exceptions may be made: Alec Douglas-Home should probably not be termed "The Earl of Home".

Date conventions:

Use – for dates. Please don't use —, although hyphens are not as bad.
When the given person served during only one year, simply write the year: 1999. If he/she served for more than two years, write out both years: 1986–1987.

Offices that take succession tables

The following officers take succession tables:

Royal/ ceremonial officers:

Great Officers of State (excluding Lord High Stewards and Lord High Constables who served for coronations)
Officers of the Royal Household (Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, Master of the Horse, Mistress of the Robes, Treasurer of the Household, Comptroller of the Household, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Master of the Buckhounds, Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, etc.)
Viceroys of India, Lord Lieutenants of Ireland, Governors-General, colonial/ Commonwealth Realm Governors and Lieutenant Governors

Cabinet and Parliament:

Prime Ministers
First Lords of Commissions of Great Offices of State (First Lord of the Treasury, First Lord of the Admiralty, etc.)
Secretaries of State
Secretaries for Scotland
Chief Secretaries for Ireland
Chancellors of the Exchequer, Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster
Secretaries to the Treasury
Secretaries at War
Ministers of Health, other Ministers
Presidents of the Board of Trade, Presidents of the Board of Education, Presidents of the Board of Control, Presidents of the Poor Law Board, Presidents of the Local Government Board, Presidents of the Board of Agriculture
First Commissioners of Works, First Commissioners of Woods and Forests
Speakers of the House of Commons
Leaders of the House of Lords, Leaders of the House of Commons
Leaders of major parties (Whig, Tory/Conservative, Labour, etc.)

Military:

Law officers/ judges:

Church of England:

Archbishops
Diocesan bishops

Church of Ireland:

Archbishops
Diocesan bishops

Church in Wales:

Archbishops of Wales
Diocesan bishops

Other:

Postmasters-General
Paymasters-General
Masters of the Mint
First Ministers of Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland