Clerk of the Privy Council (United Kingdom)

The Clerk to the Privy Council is a civil servant in Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being Head of the Privy Council Office.[1]

This historic office is less powerful nowadays than it once was and than its Canadian equivalent, whose holder serves ex officio as Head of the Canadian Civil Service, whereas these roles in the UK have been divided between the Cabinet Secretary and the Head of HM Civil Service.[2]

Until 1859 there were multiple — usually four — clerks to the Privy Council. Three of the four positions then extant were progressively abolished in the 19th century until only one remained in 1859.

Clerks in Ordinary, 1540–present
DateOneTwoThreeFourFiveSix
10 August 1540William Paget[3]
23 April 1543John Mason[4]William Honnyng
17 November 1545vacant
18 December 1545Sir Thomas Chaloner
March 1547Thomas Smith
10 May 1548Armagil Wade[5]
20 May 1550William Thomas[6]
24 September 1551Bernard Hampton[7]
12 May 1552vacant
By 31 March 1553vacant
19 July 1553vacant
30 July 1553Sir Francis Allen[7]William Smith
After 23 December 1566vacant
1570vacant
29 April 1571Edmund Tremayne[8]
1572vacant
6 July 1572Robert Beale[8]
18 July 1576Sir Thomas Wilkes[8]Henry Cheke
After 5 September 1581vacant
September 1582vacant
7 October 1584Sir William Wade[9]
19 March 1587Sir Anthony Ashley[10]
2 March 1598vacant
21 April 1598Sir Thomas Smith[8]
27 May 1601vacant
18 June 1601Sir Thomas Edmondes
25 May 1608Sir Ralph Winwood[10]Sir John Corbet[7]
15 August 1609vacant
7 September 1609Sir Clement Edmondes[7]
27 November 1609vacant
By 31 May 1610vacant
22 July 1610Sir George Calvert[11]
7 December 1611vacant
23 August 1613vacant
24 September 1613Francis Cottington[12]
24 February 1614William Trumbull[7]
16 February 1619vacant
February 1619Sir Albertus Morton
13 October 1622vacant
7 November 1622John Dickenson[7]
11 December 1622Sir Thomas Meautys[13]
24 January 1623Sir William Beecher
September 1635vacant
9 October 1635Sir Edward Nicholas[11]
By 20 January 1636vacant
26 May 1636Sir Dudley Carleton[14]
27 January 1641Sir Richard Browne[15]
27 November 1641vacant
DateOneTwoThreeFour
14 May 1649Sir Edward Walkervacantvacantvacant
18 November 1656Sir George Lane
27 October 1658Sir John Nicholas
22 June 1660Sir Richard Browne
23 September 1664Sir Robert Southwell
24 January 1672Sir Joseph Williamson
16 September 1674Sir Philip Lloyd
21 February 1677Sir Thomas Doleman
5 December 1679Francis Gwyn
16 January 1685William BridgemanSir Philip Musgrave
6 February 1685vacant
22 October 1686William BridgemanWilliam Blathwayt
11 December 1688vacantvacant
21 February 1689Charles MontaguRichard Cooling
24 March 1692John Dyve
12 January 1693William Bridgeman
27 July 1697John Povey
18 May 1699Edward Southwell
11 January 1705Sir Christopher Musgrave
2 November 1710Sir Christopher Musgrave
12 May 1715James Vernon
26 March 1716Sir Robert Hales
23 October 1717Abraham Stanyan
3 February 1720Temple Stanyan
22 May 1729Sir Walter Carey
11 February 1731William Sharpe
21 April 1752Gilbert West
14 April 1756Henry Fane
6 May 1756William Blair
19 May 1757Francis Vernon
22 April 1762Philip Sharpe
23 June 1764Hon. Robert Walpole
11 September 1767Sir Stephen Cotterell
4 December 1772Sir George Chetwynd
1 January 1779William Fawkener
25 August 1786Grey Elliot
June 1787
19 April 1810abolished
8 August 1810Richard, Viscount Chetwynd
19 August 1811James Buller
20 March 1821Charles Greville
24 March 1824abolished
15 December 1830Hon. William Bathurst
May 1859abolished
June 1860Sir Arthur Helps
17 March 1875Sir Charles Lennox Peel[16]
9 August 1898Sir Almeric FitzRoy[17][18]
31 May 1923Sir Maurice Hankey[19]
1 August 1938Sir Rupert Howorth[20]
1942Sir Eric Leadbitter[21]
30 June 1951Major Francis Ford Fernau[22]
1953Sir Godfrey Agnew[23]
1974Sir Neville Egerton Leigh[24][25]
1984Sir Geoffrey de Deney[26]
1992Sir Nigel Nicholls
1998Alex Galloway
2007Judith Simpson
2012Richard Tilbrook

See also

References
  1. www.gov.uk
  2. Comparisons between UK and Canadian Government: The Role of the Clerk to the Privy Council
  3. Left office on being appointed Secretary of State
  4. Left office on being appointed joint Master of the King's Post
  5. Not continued by Mary I
  6. "By 31 March 1553 Thomas had surrendered the clerkship" - Dakota L. Hamilton, ‘Thomas, William (d. 1554)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 accessed 20 May 2016
  7. Died in office
  8. Probably died in office
  9. Resigned
  10. Surrendered his office
  11. Probably vacated office on appointment as secretary of state Clerks of the Privy Council 1540-1644 - A provisional list compiled by J C Sainty, April 2004
  12. Probably vacated office on appointment as secretary to Prince of Wales
  13. He performed the duties of his office until August 1645 when the office became virtually extinct. - The Private Correspondence of Jane Lady Cornwallis Bacon, 1613-1644, Page 56 - died 1649
  14. Died 1654
  15. In February 1641 he was sent on his first diplomatic mission as ambassador, to the queen of Bohemia and the elector palatine, who were then in the Low Countries, and in the following July he was dispatched as resident to Paris, where he was to remain until 1660. J. T. Peacey, ‘Browne, Sir Richard, baronet (1605–1683)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 accessed 13 May 2016
  16. "No. 24192". The London Gazette. 19 March 1875. p. 1685.
  17. "No. 26995". The London Gazette. 12 August 1898. p. 4844.
  18. www.thepeerage.com: Sir Almeric Fitzroy
  19. "No. 32829". The London Gazette. 1 June 1923. p. 3834.
  20. "No. 34536". The London Gazette. 29 July 1938. p. 4875.
  21. www.npg.org.uk
  22. www.thepeerage.com: Sir Eric Leadbitter
  23. www.independent.co.uk: Sir Godfrey Agnew
  24. www.burkespeerage.com: LEIGH formerly of West Hall
  25. Sir Neville Leigh KCVO
  26. Whitaker's Almanack 2012: Sir Geoffrey de Deney
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