Clerk of the House of Commons

For the Canadian official, see Clerk of the House of Commons (Canada).

Under Clerk of the Parliaments To wait upon the Commons
Incumbent David Natzler since 23 March 2015 (acting from 1 September 2014)
Office of the Clerk and Chief Executive
Residence	Outbuilding, Palace of Westminster
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	Robert de Melton
Formation	1363 first permanent appointment

The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England.

The formal name for the position held by the Clerk of the House of Commons is Under Clerk of the Parliaments.^[1] The chief clerk of the House of Lords is the Clerk of the Parliaments.

Duties

Sir Courtenay Ilbert

The Clerk of the House is the principal constitutional adviser to the House, and adviser on all its procedure and business, including Parliamentary privilege, and frequently appears before Select and Joint Committees examining constitutional and Parliamentary matters. As with all the members of the House Service, he is politically entirely impartial and is not a civil servant. Until 1 January 2008, when the reforms to the House's governance proposed by the Tebbit Review of management and services of the House were implemented, the Clerk was the head of the Clerk's Department.

He sits at the Table of the House, in the right-hand chair (the left-hand chair, looking towards the Speaker’s Chair) for part of every sitting. The historic role of the Clerks at the Table is to record the decisions of the House (not what is said, which is recorded by Hansard), and this they (but not the Clerk) still do. The Clerks at the Table wear Court dress with wing collar and white tie, a “bob” (barrister’s) wig and a silk gown. For the State Opening of Parliament and other State occasions, the Clerk of the House wears full Court dress with breeches, and a lace jabot and cuffs.^[2]

Incumbent

The office is currently held by David Natzler who replaced Sir Robert Rogers KCB, who retired on 31 August 2014. Natzler occupied the post initially on an interim basis, and was appointed permanently in 2015.^[3]^[4] ^[5]

List of Clerks of the House of Commons

14th century

1363 — Robert de Melton
1385 — John de Scardeburgh

15th century

1414 — Thomas Haseley
1440 — John Dale
1461 — Thomas Bayen

16th century

1504 — Thomas Hylton
1510 — William Underhill
1515 — Robert Ormeston
1547 — John Seymour
1570 — Fulk Onslow

17th century

1603 — Ralph Ewens
1611 — William Pinches
1612 — John Wright
1639 — Henry Elsyng the younger
1649 — Henry Scobell
1658 — John Smythe
1659 — John Phelips
1659 — Thomas St. Nicholas
1660 — William Jessop
1661 — William Goldsborough
1678 — William Goldsborough the Younger
1683 — Paul Jodrell

18th century

1727 — Edward Stables
1732 — Nicholas Hardinge
1748 — Jeremiah Dyson
1762 — Thomas Tyrwhitt
1768 — John Hatsell

19th century

1820 — John Henry Ley
1850 — Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bt
1871 — Sir Erskine May
1886 — Sir Reginald Palgrave
? — Sir William Augustus Ferguson Davie, 3rd Baronet (1833–1915)

20th century

1900 — Sir Archibald Milman KCB^[6]
1902 — Sir Courtenay Ilbert KCB KCSI CIE
1921 — Sir Thomas Lonsdale Webster KCB
1930 — Sir Horace Dawkins KCB MBE
1937 — Sir Gilbert Campion GCB
1948 — Sir Frederic Metcalfe KCB
1954 — Sir Edward Fellowes KCB CMG MC
1962 — Sir Barnett Cocks KCB OBE
1974 — Sir David Lidderdale KCB
1976 — Sir Richard Barlas KCB OBE
1979 — Sir Charles Gordon KCB
1983 — Sir Kenneth Bradshaw KCB
1987 — Sir Clifford Boulton GCB
1994 — Sir Donald Limon KCB
1998 — Sir William McKay KCB

21st century

2003 — Sir Roger Sands KCB
2006 — Sir Malcolm Jack KCB
2011 — Sir Robert Rogers KCB
2015 — David Natzler (acting 2014-2015, permanent 2015-present) ^[4]^[3]

References

↑ Parliamentary Corporate Bodies Act 1992, section 2(2): "The individual who for the time being is by letters patent appointed to the office of the Under Clerk of the Parliaments (and who is customarily referred to as the Clerk of the House of Commons) shall be the Corporate Officer of the Commons."
↑ "Clerk of the House and Chief Executive". Parliament.uk. 24 July 2014.
1 2 "Speaker's Statement". parliament.uk. 1 September 2014.
1 2 "House of Commons Commission decisions, 16 October 2014". parliament.uk. 20 October 2014.
↑ "House of Commons Governance Committee". parliament.uk.
↑ The London Gazette: no. 27164. p. 999. 13 February 1900.

External links

Information sheet - Clerk of the House - UK Parliament website

Officers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords
House of Commons		House of Lords
Speaker	John Bercow	Lord Speaker	The Lord Fowler
Leader of the House of Commons	David Lidington	Leader of the House of Lords	The Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Serjeant at Arms	Kamal El-Hajji	Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod	Lt-Gen. David Leakey
Clerk of the House	David Natzler	Clerk of the Parliaments	David Beamish

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