Wikidata:WikiProject British Politicians/Beamish

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This page outlines work done to integrate the Beamish peerages database (Q112619617) with Wikidata. This covers all UK peerages since 1801 (compiled by Sir David Beamish) and English/Irish/British peerages since 1603 (compiled by Sir John Sainty with some later additions). Scottish titles created before 1707 are not recorded.

• Beamish peerage database peerage ID (P10848) - for titles
• Beamish peerage database person ID (P10849) - for people

The database covers peerages at the point of creation, which means that some of the longest-established peerages do not yet have IDs. It also means that while the first holder of a title is reliably covered, later holders do not always have IDs.

For the time being we have only imported data for hereditary peerages, not life peerages.

Status

As of 19 Aug 2022:

• 3878 people have a Beamish peerage database person ID (P10849) value - there are 3883 entries in the main database
• 2330 peerage items have 2771 distinct Beamish peerage database peerage ID (P10848) values - there are 4942 entries in the main database

Data model - peerages

The underlying database has a seperate entry for all titles, distinguishing seperate creations. However, Wikipedia (and thus by extension Wikidata) tends to combine all titles of the same name, including independent creations.

So for example, the w:Earl of Leicester was created seven times:

• 1107 - not in Beamish
• 1267 - not in Beamish; later held as a junior title by the Duke of Lancaster and then merged into the crown
• 1564 - not in Beamish
• 1618 - Beamish 4898
• 1744 - Beamish 3977
• 1784 - Beamish 3613, held as a junior title by the Marquess Townshend until 1855
• 1837 ("of Holkham in the County of Norfolk") - Beamish 232

All four of these are currently merged into Earl of Leicester (Q639709), the item linked to the existing Wikipedia article. This is the simplest model but has some compromises as the data gets enriched - for example, the distinct titles have different start/end dates, and the four here were created in three different peerages (English, British and UK). In the case of the Earls of Leicester, there is also the more unusual complication that the 2nd Earl of the sixth creation and the 1st/2nd Earls of the seventh overlapped (1837-42 and 1842-55). Finally, looking forward, some titles may have distinct inheritance rules through eg special remainders.

Given this, in the long run, it will probably be desirable to seperate out the different instantiations of the title to make the modelling more consistent and clear, and to allow more robust reporting. One problem with this "splitting" approach is that it leaves it unclear where the Wikipedia article should go. The simplest approach is probably to leave it on the "main" (probably most recent/current) instantiation of the title. This is analogous to what is currently done with parliamentary constituencies.

Titles should be modelled as:

• instance of (P31): noble title
• subclass of (P279): duke, earl, etc
• part of (P361): peerage of the UK, peerage of Ireland, etc

Open questions

Modelling things still to work out:

• Does the P31/P279 model work reliably, and should it clearly say these are hereditary titles? Are there other distinct "classes" of eg baronies to list?
• Is P361 the most clear way to link to the overall Peerage?
• How should titles be linked to their territorial designations (if at all)? Would the same model work for eg "Duke of Sussex" and for "Baron Smith of XYZ"?
• Does the hierarchy above these parent items need cleaning up?

Data model - people

People should be modelled with a single ID (no person should be duplicated in Beamish, and if found they will be merged by the maintainers).

Their titles should be listed in noble title (P97), covering all titles held by that person, including subsidiary/junior titles - eg all of the current run of Earls of Leicester are also Viscount Coke, so they have one noble title (P97) claim for each title. This helps with overall consistency and lets us track titles which may pass in and out of a line of succession due to varying rules, as well as cases where (eg) a House of Lords membership stems from a barony in the UK peerage but the senior title is an Irish one with no comparable rights.

Generic noble title (P97) claims (eg "earl") can be replaced with the more precise title.

Claims should have these qualifiers:

• series ordinal - if in doubt, the number used for that person
• start date - the date of inheritance or of letters patent creating the title
• end date - usually date of death, sometimes revocation
• replaces/replaced by - as necessary

The "primary title" (eg Earl of Leicester not Viscount Coke) can be indicated with preferred rank, although a suitable qualifier may be found at a later date

Open questions

Modelling things to work out:

• is preferred rank the best way to indicate a "primary title"? It can sometimes change over time if a new title is recieved
• how should holders of courtesy titles (usually eldest sons) be listed? how should that affect the senior title's end date?
• how should holders of accelerated titles be listed (probably as full holders in their own right)
• should replaces/replaced by be follows/followed by?

Reports

• All Beamish titles with the # of Beamish IDs, all holders, identified "first" holders, and non-Beamish holders
• All Beamish people with associated Beamish titles and qualifiers

• All numbered holders of a given peerage and inferred dates for backfilling