The date, time and place of the meeting was set in a Royal Proclamation of 18 September 1959, issued on the day that the previous Parliament was dissolved. The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, who held the role of Lord Clerk Register, presided. When the Principal Clerk of Session George Macdonald read the roll of Peers of Scotland, 115 names were read, and 25 answered that they were present. None of the Peers produced any proxies for those who were absent, but 28 Peers had submitted "Signed Lists" as a form of absent voting.Minutes, HL 14 1959-60, p. 2. The Duke of Buccleuch himself chose not to vote; this was the "customary but not compulsory practice" of the Lord Clerk Register.
