Parent of the House of Commons

Father of the House
Incumbent Charles Wright since 21 February 2025
Style	The Honourable (within the Empire)
Type	Member of Parliament
Member of	House of Commons
Reports to	Speaker of the House
Seat	Westminster

The Parent of the House of Commons, more commonly known either as the Father of the House of Commons in the case of a male Member of Parliament, or as the Mother of the House of Commons in the case of a female Member of Parliament, is the title bestowed on the member of the House of Commons with the longest continous service. If two or more members have served the same length of uninterrupted service, whoeever has a larger tenure of accumulative service is bestowed the position.

The only formal duty of the Parent of the House is to oversee the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons. However, many Parents of the Commons have exerted considerable influence and a period of stabilising merit on the usually controversial composition and events of the Lower House.

Since Parliamentary records are unclear and speculative up until the Sixth Session of Parliament, it is unclear who the first Parent of the House of Commons is. However, Victor Somerset was the first assured Father of the House from the 8th until the 10th Session of Parliament.There has been only one Mother of the House, Cameron Romefeller, during the 27th Session. The longest serving Parent of the House (over a single tenure) is Thomas Carew, who served for a record six sessions and 307 days. The shortest tenure is that of Frederick A. Carandini Wright, at just 11 days. Victor Somerset is the only individual to be Parent of the House of Commons twice: from the 8th to the 10th Sessions, and then again from the 16th to the 18th Sessions. Victor Somerset also holds the record for most days overall as Parent of the House of Commons, his two tenures coming in at 330 days. Charles Wright is the current Father of the House of Commons.

List of Parents of the House of Commons

Portrait		Parent of the House (Constituency)	Term of Office			Session(s)	Party
			Start	End	Duration
​		Victor Somerset York Center	20 September 2020	25 February 2021	159 days	8th Session 9th Session 10th Session	British Workers' Party
​		Harold Macmillan Bromley	25 February 2021	3 May 2021	68 days	10th Session 11th Session	Conservative Party
​		Anish Reddy-Jameson Mount Albert	3 May 2021	30 October 2021	181 days	12th Session 13th Session 14th Session	British Workers' Party
​		James Sherwood York Central	30 October 2021	7 January 2022	70 days	15th Session	Socialist-Democratic and Labour Party
​		Victor Somerset Bishop Auckland York Central	7 January 2022	26 June 2022	171 days	16th Session 17th Session 18th Session	British Workers' Party
		Joshua Veralius Prince Edward Island	26 June 2022	5 October 2022	102 days	19th Session 20th Session
​		Albus Stuart-Windsor Cities of London and Westminster	5 October 2022	5 December 2022	62 days	21st Session	British Royalist Party
		Miann Somerset Edinburgh West	6 December 2022	26 March 2023	111 days	22nd Session 23rd Session
		Elio Somerset Exeter	26 March 2023	21 April 2023	27 days	24th Session 25th Session	Liberal Progressive Party
​		August Lleyton Stirling	21 April 2023	26 July 2023	97 days	25th Session 26th Session	British Constitutionalist Party
		Cameron Romefeller West Dunbartonshire	26 July 2023	20 September 2023	57 days	27th Session
​		Yeldon Wright North Yorkshire	20 September 2023	4 January 2024	107 days	28th Session 29th Session	Liberal Democrats
​		William Somerset Kensington	4 January 2024	5 March 2024	62 days	30th Session	Heron Party
​		Thomas Carew East Devon	5 March 2024	5 January 2025	307 days	31st Session 32nd Session 33rd Session 34th Session 35th Session 36th Session	Heron Party Unionist Party
​
​		Frederick Wright County Sligo	5 January 2025	15 January 2025	11 days	37th Session	Heron Party
		Llywellyn Evans-Jones Preseli Pembrokeshire	15 January 2025	21 February 2025	38 days
​		Charles Wright Orkney and Shetland	21 February 2025	Present	60 days	38th Session	Independent