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

Date	One	Two	Three	Four	Five	Six
10 August 1540	William Paget[3]
23 April 1543	John Mason[4]	William Honnyng
17 November 1545	vacant
18 December 1545	Sir Thomas Chaloner
March 1547			Thomas Smith
10 May 1548			Armagil Wade[5]
20 May 1550		William Thomas[6]
24 September 1551				Bernard Hampton[7]
12 May 1552	vacant
By 31 March 1553		vacant
19 July 1553			vacant
30 July 1553	Sir Francis Allen[7]	William Smith
After 23 December 1566		vacant
1570	vacant
29 April 1571	Edmund Tremayne[8]
1572				vacant
6 July 1572				Robert Beale[8]
18 July 1576		Sir Thomas Wilkes[8]	Henry Cheke
After 5 September 1581			vacant
September 1582	vacant
7 October 1584	Sir William Wade[9]
19 March 1587			Sir Anthony Ashley[10]
2 March 1598		vacant
21 April 1598		Sir Thomas Smith[8]
27 May 1601				vacant
18 June 1601				Sir Thomas Edmondes
25 May 1608					Sir Ralph Winwood[10]	Sir John Corbet[7]
15 August 1609					vacant
7 September 1609					Sir Clement Edmondes[7]
27 November 1609		vacant
By 31 May 1610			vacant
22 July 1610			Sir George Calvert[11]
7 December 1611						vacant
23 August 1613	vacant
24 September 1613	Francis Cottington[12]
24 February 1614				William Trumbull[7]
16 February 1619			vacant
February 1619			Sir Albertus Morton
13 October 1622					vacant
7 November 1622					John Dickenson[7]
11 December 1622	Sir Thomas Meautys[13]
24 January 1623			Sir William Beecher
September 1635				vacant
9 October 1635				Sir Edward Nicholas[11]
By 20 January 1636					vacant
26 May 1636					Sir Dudley Carleton[14]
27 January 1641			Sir Richard Browne[15]
27 November 1641				vacant

Date	One	Two	Three	Four
14 May 1649	Sir Edward Walker	vacant	vacant	vacant
18 November 1656		Sir George Lane
27 October 1658			Sir John Nicholas
22 June 1660				Sir Richard Browne
23 September 1664		Sir Robert Southwell
24 January 1672				Sir Joseph Williamson
16 September 1674				Sir Philip Lloyd
21 February 1677	Sir Thomas Doleman
5 December 1679		Francis Gwyn
16 January 1685	William Bridgeman	Sir Philip Musgrave
6 February 1685	vacant
22 October 1686	William Bridgeman			William Blathwayt
11 December 1688	vacant	vacant
21 February 1689	Charles Montagu	Richard Cooling
24 March 1692	John Dyve
12 January 1693	William Bridgeman
27 July 1697		John Povey
18 May 1699	Edward Southwell
11 January 1705			Sir Christopher Musgrave
2 November 1710			Sir Christopher Musgrave
12 May 1715		James Vernon
26 March 1716			Sir Robert Hales
23 October 1717				Abraham Stanyan
3 February 1720				Temple Stanyan
22 May 1729			Sir Walter Carey
11 February 1731	William Sharpe
21 April 1752				Gilbert West
14 April 1756				Henry Fane
6 May 1756		William Blair
19 May 1757			Francis Vernon
22 April 1762			Philip Sharpe
23 June 1764				Hon. Robert Walpole
11 September 1767	Sir Stephen Cotterell
4 December 1772			Sir George Chetwynd
1 January 1779		William Fawkener
25 August 1786					Grey Elliot
June 1787
19 April 1810				abolished
8 August 1810	Richard, Viscount Chetwynd
19 August 1811		James Buller
20 March 1821	Charles Greville
24 March 1824			abolished
15 December 1830		Hon. William Bathurst
May 1859	abolished
June 1860	Sir Arthur Helps
17 March 1875	Sir Charles Lennox Peel[16]
9 August 1898	Sir Almeric FitzRoy[17][18]
31 May 1923	Sir Maurice Hankey[19]
1 August 1938	Sir Rupert Howorth[20]
1942	Sir Eric Leadbitter[21]
30 June 1951	Major Francis Ford Fernau[22]
1953	Sir Godfrey Agnew[23]
1974	Sir Neville Egerton Leigh[24][25]
1984	Sir Geoffrey de Deney[26]
1992	Sir Nigel Nicholls
1998	Alex Galloway
2007	Judith Simpson
2012	Richard Tilbrook

See also

• Honours Committee
• Clerk of the Privy Council (Canada)

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

External links

• Sainty, Sir John. "Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Clerks to the Privy Council". Archived from the original on 2006-09-28.