Clerk of the House of Commons

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

Under Clerk of the Parliaments
Incumbent Robert Rogers since 1 October 2011
Residence	Outbuilding, Palace of Westminster
Appointer	Elizabeth II as Sovereign
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 current Clerk of the House of Commons is Robert Rogers, who succeeded Sir Malcolm Jack KCB on 1 October 2011.

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

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 remains the principal adviser to the Speaker on the House's privileges and procedures. The Clerk's other responsibilities relate to the conduct of the business of the House and its committees. The Clerk is also accounting officer for the House.

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

20th century

• 1900 — Sir Archibald Milman KCB
• 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 — Robert Rogers

External links

• Information sheet - Clerk of the House - UK Parliament website